Coast-Modern Home Makeover in Little Compton

Christopher and Lindsay Brislin lead a busy life. Lindsay owns her own dental practice in Pawtucket, Christopher is Director of Sales at the Providence Warwick Convention & Visitors Bureau, and they have four children active in sports. The family always enjoyed getting away from it all while visiting Lindsay’s parents’ home in Little Compton, but when her father suddenly passed, they decided to buy the house. “We wanted to create similar memories for our kids here,” says Christopher of the homestead they now use during summer and long weekends during the school year.

Christopher shares that at the time of taking ownership, a contemporary beach house with cathedral ceilings wasn’t exactly what they’d been dreaming of, but once they started making it their own, came to love its clean design. “We like to keep it simple and modern and easy. Clutter-free is really something that we focus on,” he says. An early and easy fix was removing drapes to let in as much natural light as possible. “Even with the many windows we have in the house, we still look out at woods and not much else. Now the windows act as nice design features themselves.”

To highlight the architecture of the house, walls were repainted in lighter hues. “The colors keep things clean and bright; the open living room and kitchen all flow together so it’s nice to have the design be light. The simplicity is huge for us as our life back at home is so hectic.”

From the start, the couple did like the beams, wood ceiling, and large central two-story fireplace. One feature they weren’t quite sure of was the hot tub – in view from the dining room. “The hot tub is such a throwback feature to the 1980s but it has always been such a highlight of the kids’ summer days after the beach, that we decided to keep it.” To solve this issue, they enlisted the help of home stylist and co-owner of Blanc & Bleu Jenna Kinghorn, who sourced barn doors from Utah to create some separation. “It gives us the ability to not stare at the hot tub during dinner!”

Once the renovations were done, the couple decided that any artwork brought in would have a connection to the family’s travels and the local area. Says Christopher, “I love that all the paintings and prints have a connection to Little Compton or somewhere that we’ve traveled. They make it our home, which is nice.”