Chatham, Massachusetts — Cape Cod & the Islands
Cedar, carved
by hand.
Custom shingle art and tile work, designed and installed on homes across Cape Cod — one gable, one backsplash, one shoreline story at a time.
Start a project
See the work
Tree of life, hand-carved from white & red cedar shingles
A craft, not a catalog
Formerly builders. Now, one craftsperson, full time.
Old Harbor Shingle Art grew out of Old Harbor Homes, a Cape Cod design-build company. These days, Carol Hutchings — who holds a Massachusetts construction supervisor license — has set down the general-contracting side of things to focus full time on one craft: hand-carving cedar shingles into lasting, site-specific artwork, and setting custom tile inside the homes those shingles cover. When she isn’t carving or setting tile, she’s running Old Harbor HERS Raters, testing and certifying home energy performance across Cape Cod.
Every piece starts with a conversation about the house and the people in it — a gable that wants a tree, a mudroom that wants a lighthouse, a kitchen wall that’s been waiting for an octopus made of glass. The gable above is a tree of life, hand-carved from a mix of white and red cedar shingles so the grain and color do the shading.
“I start with your vision, and carve from there.”— Carol Hutchings
Every commission is measured, sketched, and cut to the specific gable, wall, or dormer it will live on — no two pieces are identical.
Selected work
Motifs cut into cedar and glass.
Glass tile mosaic
Deep-water octopus
Fish
Carved & cedar
Lighthouse
Carved cedar
Starfish
Carved cedar
Lobster
Painted ceramic tile
Shell
Carved cedar relief
Moon & Stars
Carved cedar, dormer accent
Beach Medallion
River stone & glass tile
How a piece gets made
From sketch to shingle, on your house.
01 — Design
Walk the house
Carol measures the gable, dormer, or wall in question and sketches the design — considering, windows, trim and any other components.
02 — Carve & stain
Cut by hand
Each shingle is individually shaped and layered to build the image, then hand-cut and organized to fit naturally in withi the rest of your siding.
03 — Install
Set in place
The finished piece is installed course by course, flashed and fastened to the same standard as the surrounding shingle field.
Pebble tile shower, Cape Cod
Custom tile
Where the carving comes inside.
The same eye for a shoreline motif carries indoors — backsplashes, shower surrounds, and accent walls set in hand-cut glass and stone tile.
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Backsplashes
Full mosaic scenes or a single accent panel above the range.
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Shower surrounds
Floor-to-ceiling tile work, waterproofed and set to last.
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Accent panels
A single framed mosaic — entryway, mudroom, or powder room.
Part of a Cape Cod family
Old Harbor Homes
Net-zero, energy-efficient modular homes built across Cape Cod. No longer taking new projects — shown here as a portfolio of past work.
oldharborhomes.com →
Energy consulting
Active
Old Harbor HERS Raters
Certified HERS testing & energy-code compliance for Cape Cod builds, led by Carol Hutchings.
oldharborhersraters.com →
As featured in The Cape Cod Chronicle — “A Tree Grows At MCS: Shingle Art Replaces Iconic Depot Road Tree”
Get in touch
Tell Carol about your house.
Based in Chatham and working across Cape Cod. Send a few photos of the wall or gable you’re picturing something on, and she’ll take it from there.