'Sconset Sweetheart
'SCONSET REAL ESTATE $3,350,000
What are you looking for in a home on

Nantucket? If it is a house which is suited either to year-round occupancy or gracious summer living, if it is house that combines the facets of comfort and convenience with a striking element of design, if it is a house which lends itself as much to a casual family style as it does to a more formal approach, then 93 Sankaty Avenue will be well suited to you.

Newly listed, the property is just north of the village of 'Sconset, across the road from Sankaty Golf Club. As you approach through the front gate, you see the house as it has evolved from what was probably once a summer cottage into the fine residence it is today. Completely renovated and enlarged within the last ten years, it exudes warmth as you approach past the perennial garden.

Only once you are inside, do you realize that this is a sort of an upside-down house. Since the home is actually three stories high, it is not typical of the genre, but the redesign prior to the renovation utilized each space to its best advantage.

Your tour begins on the first floor. Immediately you notice the soft, southern pine flooring. There is a cozy family room/study with a fireplace, built-in cabinets and a speaker system. Of the three bedrooms, the first is a bright, cheerful, guest room. The en suite bathroom features a large, tiled shower stall. This could, in fact, be the master bedroom, but more on that shortly.

Two other double bedrooms share a large full bath with a double sink. One bedroom is currently set up as a bunk room but could, just as easily be another guest room. All three rooms have walk-in closets.

To the rear, a door leads directly to the outside stairs going up to the second floor deck, as well as to the large, enclosed outdoor shower.

Taking the main stairs to the second floor, you are immediately struck by the design element which impacts the two upper floors. You first see the dining area, which rather than being the usual box, is triangular. The main support wall runs from one corner of the house to the other. In the dining area, a fireplace breaks up the long wall (the hypotenuse). To the right of the stairs, a pair of French doors leads to an open deck overlooking the front yard and the golf course beyond.

Opposite the fireplace is the large entry to the living room, built as part of the 1999 addition. With its high, vaulted and beamed ceiling and large floor area, you realize what an attractive, awesome, yet snug room it is, even before you focus on the fireplace framed by two daybed-sized window seats on either side and the built-in bookcases.

In considering your options, you might choose to make what is now the dining area into a more formal living room and convert the current living room into a family room.

Another set of French doors leads from the living room to the rear deck which wraps around the south and west sides of the house and features a covered outdoor dining space overlooking the forever natural area behind the house and affording peeks through to the Atlantic Ocean.

The eat-in kitchen with high ceilings and room for a table for eight is reached both from the front stairs and from the back of the dining area. It takes advantage of the house's design to provide a very efficient workspace as well as a wonderful dining area.

Continuing upstairs, where the master suite takes up the entire upper floor, the triangular design element is maintained, providing the master bedroom with an unusual dressing area. The two double closets and bathroom are behind the center wall, again affording options for the use of the space. This room is flooded with light from a skylight, casement windows along the south wall and from clerestory-windows above the eat-in portion of the kitchen. The open clerestory also gives the space a loft effect - but it can be shut off for privacy!

The full basement under the addition provides laundry space.

The house abounds with thoughtful amenities such as a second, high-capacity hot water heater and a back-up generator, along with a security system and lawn irrigation

This wonderful, four bedroom, three and one-half bath house is offered for $3,350,000. I