When people walk into Lisa Duffy’s 10,000-square-foot, Shingle-style home in Prides Crossing, they know right away they’re entering a place like none they have seen before. “They’re going to see a lot of surprises. I love that,” Duffy says. “I love knowing that nothing is cookie cutter.”
For Duffy, who owns Savoir Faire Home, the elegant Andover interior design and home décor shop, those surprises take the form of unique, treasured items that spark curiosity and are personally meaningful. Duffy’s home is interesting and comfortable, exuding an easy-going, Bohemian elegance that’s welcoming and never stuffy. Although it’s a large home, Duffy says she loves the way it doesn’t feel cavernous, cold, or too big, thanks to its cozy layout.
“It’s sophisticated, but it’s lived in. It’s rustic and it’s warm. I like textures and I like layers,” she says. “I’m a risk taker when it comes to designing. I don’t mind trying new things.”
In fact, when it comes to designing her home, she says there are no rules, except for one: “I have a sense in my gut…does it feel right?” Duffy’s home certainly feels right in its evocation of its natural surroundings. A path stretches from the seaside house right to the beach. “We have these spectacular ocean views,” she says.
For instance, the house’s living room faces the water, and French doors open to the backyard. With that in mind, Duffy used cool, natural tones in the room’s décor: Lots of creams, grays, greens, and blues. The result is a natural-feeling environment that “makes your shoulders relax.”
“Wherever you’re sitting in the room you have a great view of the water,” Duffy says. “I really wanted it to be an extension of the outdoors.” Duffy also filled the room with interesting things that are showcased in thought-provoking and unexpected ways. “Very few books are on my bookshelves,” she says. “I’ve used it more as displays for my most favored pieces.”
There are naturally harvested turtle shells perched on metal stands and displayed along with thick, beautiful old books that are tied together with twine. Elsewhere, chunky shells and lovely sprays of blue and white coral sit atop apothecary bottles.
“I love taking pieces of old, encrusted seashells and putting those on antique bottles to make them interesting in the display, as well as the piece itself,” Duffy says, illustrating the way she likes to mix palettes and ideas, pairing the rustic with the shiny. “It’s this juxtaposition of new and old, which is fun to do.”
Keep looking around and you’ll also see a constellation of sea stars on thin rods underneath an antique French cloche; sparkling white crystal geodes; textured ceramics, and a 1 filled with a colorful array of seashells, some hinged open to display their geometric perfection. A huge chunk of bright blue sea glass catches the light in different ways; Duffy says she loves to see the light that reflects off it.
“I really wanted a very organic feel about it,” she says. “Making it feel like it’s a little indigenous to the area. I wanted it to feel like it belonged there.”
Duffy and her family moved to their house in Prides Crossing after an electrical fire claimed their previous home in North Andover. She says she “didn’t have it in my heart” to rebuild, and instead wanted to find a new home that was on the water.
“It has a great flow to it, amazing bones. I needed to just make it feel, really, my own,” she says.
One way she’s done that is by scouring the globe for interesting pieces that speak to her, whether it’s a fantastic flea market find with a stunning patina or beautifully embroidered textiles from Morocco. If an antique piece is broken or a piece of beautiful ceramic is chipped, Duffy doesn’t mind.
“That’s all the more interesting to me,” she says. She says that she delivers that one-of-a-kind design aesthetic to her clients, too, who know they can count on Duffy to help them decorate their homes in a way that speaks to their own, unique styles.
Duffy also takes a lot of design inspiration from her around-the-world travels. Her most recent jaunts have taken her to Paris, Vienna, Budapest, and Cambodia, not to mention places throughout the United States. Wherever she goes, she seeks out the local artisans, finding people who practice their culture’s age-old, artisanal workmanship. Bringing home pieces from her travels not only adds uniqueness to Duffy’s space, but also acts as a living scrapbook of the places she’s been and the people she’s met.
“Every time I look at something like that, it’ll bring back memories,” she says. “Those are all just little snippets of our lives. I love looking at that.”
Photos by Lea St. Germain