Luxe: Making an Understatement

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MAKING an Understatement A WAINSCOTT HAVEN CELEBRATES HUMBLE MATERIALS AND THE SOOTHING COLORS OF THE BEACH.

WRITTEN BY CHRISTINE DEORIO / PHOTOGRAPHY BY TIM WILLIAMS

ARCHITECTURE / HOWARD BACKEN, BACKEN & GILLAM ARCHITECTS INTERIOR DESIGN / BRAD KREFMAN, BK INTERIOR DESIGN HOME BUILDER / KEVIN WARREN, JOHN HUMMEL & ASSOCIATES, AND MATHIAS THOERNER, MTD GROUP

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Designer Brad Krefman’s search for a “great” dining table ended at Tucker Robbins’ studio in New York, resulting in a custom piece from a slab of live-edge acacia wood. To complement its rich grain, the designer layered in more texture: Roman and Williams Guild’s Seamoor chairs with woven seagrass backs and seats, lanterns from Bone Simple Design with copper filigree outer shades by Zak & Fox, and a Japanese tansu chest and sumi ink drawing from the homeowners’ collection.

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Hamptons beach is beautiful in a subtle way.

It doesn’t confront us with dramatic forms or clamor for attention. Instead, it lulls us with its reliable rhythms, calming textures and quiet hues that shift softly from sand to sea to sky.

Not far from the shore in the hamlet of Wainscott, there’s a house with an equally gentle nature. Designed for a Manhattan-based family, it’s large but with a comfortable intimacy that belies its size. On the outside, it nods to its neighbors with wood-shingled walls and gambrel roofs inspired by the local vernacular. Inside, it celebrates the elegant simplicity of a few humble materials. “The emphasis is on what you use and how you use it—and whatever we do, we like to do it with two or three pieces of material,” says architect Howard Backen, who partnered with architect Loren Kroeger to design the home, which was built by Kevin Warren and later updated by Mathias Thoerner.

In this case, the architects and designer Brad Krefman used combinations of reclaimed wood, bluestone and beachy white wood planks to give spaces a sense of unpretentious luxury.

The home’s first floor, which includes a large entertaining kitchen and a great room with areas for lounging and dining, is defined by warm, rustic finishes, including reclaimed European oak floors, whitewashed vertical wall planking and hefty, exposed beams that span the wood-clad ceilings. On the second and third floors, the paneled walls and ceilings are painted a soft white color, creating a lighter mood for a more casual kitchen, living areas and a handful of bedrooms.

“Downstairs you feel quite different than you do upstairs—that was the idea,” Backen says, “but they’re good neighbors.”

As for the interior design, “the clients wanted this home to provide a place to be more carefree; a real contrast to their more formal and structured life in the city,” explains Krefman. With that in mind, and with the clients’ collection of Asian furnishings and artwork as a guide, Krefman began searching for new and antique pieces that felt approachable enough for a casual beach house, yet fine enough to match the quality of the architecture. For the luxesource.com / 151

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A 19th-century French dressmaker’s table discovered at Obsolete gallery in Los Angeles separates the great room’s dining and living areas; in the latter, Hans Wegner’s iconic Hoop chair—from Lost City Arts in New York—cozies up to the fire. Just beyond it is the home’s entertaining kitchen, which features ceilings and a range hood clad in planks of reclaimed wood from Oregon.

Durable finishes in soft, beachy hues—reclaimed wall and ceiling paneling from Arc Wood & Timbers, cabinets clad with vertical wood planks, bluestone floors and a sink wrapped in Bardiglio Light marble— make this mudroom a charming place to rinse off the sand before entering the home’s living spaces.

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A vintage Italian nightstand and swing-arm wall sconce—both from the 1960s and purchased through 1stdibs—add a pop of flair to the soothing master bedroom, which is paneled with rough-sawn Western red cedar painted a soft white.

great room, he took cues from Belgian design guru Axel Vervoordt when selecting a linen-slipcovered sofa and armchairs to face the fireplace, and when giving other key pieces—including a Wegner hammock chair and surfboardshaped solid-wood coffee tables—plenty of room to breathe. “The goal was striking that balance of the space feeling furnished and full, but still leaving a lot of room for the pieces to hold their own,” he says.

In the adjacent dining area, an antique Japanese tansu chest from the clients’ collection does just that while complementing the warm wood tones of a custom acaciawood dining table and an antique French dressmaker’s table that functions as a sideboard, room divider and display area for beachcombers’ finds. Meanwhile, upstairs

Krefman chose refined, comforting details befitting the seaside setting. Case in point: The monochromatic mix of linen-upholstered furnishings and pewter-gray bedding in the master bedroom, which defers to views of nearby Wainscott Pond and the sea beyond.

There and throughout the house, soft colors and textures feel perfectly at home amid their surroundings—which is no accident, as Krefman explains. “If you take a handful of sea glass and sand, you get this crazy range of neutrals, and always these pinks and blues. So, it’s like we took a handful of the beach and built a color palette around it.” It’s little wonder then that here, whether you’re inside or outside, there’s never any doubt you’re in a place designed to capture—and celebrate—the quiet beauty of the shore.

In the master bathroom, Sun Valley Bronze hardware and basketweave marble mosaic floor tile from Waterworks create crisp moments of contrast. The Lenox medicine cabinet and Oliver sconce are both from Urban Archaeology.

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