Photo by Gieves Anderson.
Drum roll please. BMD’s long-awaited Sag Harbor project is finally complete and photographed, and as the summer begins to wane, I am so excited to share it with you.
This home had all the makings of a low budget spec house, but all the passion of a Texas-born hostess and her desire for a polished look. So we set out to transform the challenging existing conditions into something elevated while still having the makings of a casual, family-friendly home.
This house was begging for some love. The floors were orange-colored with heavy knotted detailing, and the home had cheap light fixtures and door hardware. Bathroom renovations were gut-necessary, and the architecture needed a boost in a big way.
Come construction time, the orange pine floors were the first thing to go. We stained them as dark as possible, and paired them with stark white walls and black painted detailing on moldings and windowsills to accent and dramatize the architecture.
We elevated the aesthetic in the kitchen, including changing the wood colored cabinetry to shiny white, adding gold knobs, and installing a sleek black stone counter. The bathrooms underwent gut renovations, and we installed sturdier door hardware everywhere, which enhanced the feel, literally.
The dining room.
Photo by Gieves Anderson.
A closet turned bar in the dining room.
Photo by Gieves Anderson.
The dining room was in possession of a very oddly-placed closet, which seemed a lost opportunity. We transformed it into a bar with splashy blue lacquer cabinetry and a printed grasscloth wallpaper backsplash. Glass shelves kept the look airy and simple.
The powder room is quite small. Contrary to popular belief, adding a pattern on the walls of a small room can actually help normalize the size of the space. Adding a whimsical wallpaper here created a focused design in this room, and an all-encompassing feeling upon entry.
Finally, we come to the upstairs kids’ room. This room, with its odd shape and large square footage, seemed challenging. We kept it simple, covering the windows with white blinds and masking the incongruous shapes by continuing the crisp look from downstairs. The bold navy stripes on the headboards ties everything together.
Photo by Gieves Anderson.
Construction is an amazing thing. The change that can occur with even the simplest edits can be surprising and transformative. And often, it’s the pairing down, rather than the adding, that has the biggest effect. This project was a lesson in the power of simplicity.
In good design,
Brooke