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The homeowners fell hard, and they fell instantly. They weren’t even looking for a house—not seriously, but once they set eyes on the one-acre retreat in the lushly manicured heart of Southampton Village, there was no going back. They toured the house in the morning, put in an offer by noon, and then it was theirs.
What made the California couple fall so quickly, incurably in love? First, there were the trees: Towering and transportive, they revealed the house and pool in stages, making the property feel elusive, enticingly mysterious. And then there was the solid, perfect form of the building beyond. Known as the Sugar Cube House, it was not at all a traditional shingled Hamptons manse. Instead, the rooms offered up gracious volumes of space, each with a pleasing modern geometry courtesy of a Daniel Romualdez–led renovation completed in the early aughts.
A modernist colonnade frames a soaring loggia that extends from the rear of the house, doubling the size of the living room.
Francesco Lagnese
A bluestone path leads out to the parterre garden, which is dotted with shaped yew and squares of boxwood filled with white rosa rugosa.
Francesco LagneseWhen they walked through the wide-open living room doors and out onto the sprawling loggia framed by a modernist colonnade, it was a magical moment. “That flow from the indoors to the outdoors sealed the deal,” says Quinn Pofahl, founder of Southampton’s Jetsam Studio, who worked with the couple to reimagine the interiors over a period of two years. “All the rooms on the first floor connect to the garden and grounds, so you get an additional layer of living space.”
With 12-foot ceilings and a wall of French doors leading to the outdoor terrace, the living room feels more than generous in its proportions, yet interior designer Quinn Pofahl managed to infuse it with a supreme sense of ease. Colorful art— including a pair of paintings by William Berra (left) and color-blocked studies by Anthony Vanbiervliet (right)—and a chair in Penny Morrison’s Haveli printed linen energize the neutral space, while the vintage wooden chandelier, Palecek rattan chairs (in C&C Milano’s Delfi fabric), and an abaca rug from WM.NY lend rusticity. Floor lamp, BDDW.
Francesco LagneseThe couple, who have family on Long Island, had long been summer renters in the Hamptons, but never felt truly at home there. Pofahl set about remaking the spaces in the spirit of a casual getaway fit for a sporty couple who go for long runs and daily beach walks with their dogs, then return to a home full of even sportier grown children and other assorted relatives who drop in to visit. “Everything is beautiful, but nothing is fancy,” says Pofahl, who brought in “a lot of livable, soft, and comfortable linens, bouclés, and cottons.”
The media room’s linen Minotti sofa is a foil for a powerful work by Aboriginal artist Puna Yanima.
Francesco Lagnese
Pofahl used texture and pattern to transform the formerly all-white box of a kitchen. The counter stools are covered in Moonstone fabric by No.9 Thompson.
Francesco Lagnese
A custom live-edge mango wood table by From the Source nestles between two ample islands, one of which serves as a bar. Pofahl found the vintage Le Corbusier coatrack in the South of France. Chairs, Serena & Lily; chandelier, Currey & Company.
Francesco LagneseAnother endeavor: turning the many white boxes into rooms full of character and color with a touch of vacation-y exoticism. Pofahl let the couple’s art collection lead the way, borrowing broad strokes of color from the canvases and splashing them throughout the rooms. In the living room, shades taken from Belgian artist Anthony Vanbiervliet’s series of painted color blocks bleed into the watermelon green throw pillows, the vintage chinoiserie vase found at a local flea market, and the red linen upholstery on the saddle-arm chair. Likewise in the media room, a painting by Aboriginal artist Puna Yanima depicting a ceremonial site speaks to the walls, which are dressed in a moody and highly slubbed chocolate brown linen. The painting also echoes in the kitchen seating, upholstered in a wiggly, mazelike pattern. To keep the on-holiday feeling at the fore, Pofahl relied on doses of rattan, teak, roughly hewn wood, and abaca.
The dining room is set for summer with chairs upholstered in flowery Malati from William Yeoward; pendant light, Formations; wire sculpture, Joseph Janson; ceramic vase, Joe Christensen for Jetsam Studio.
Francesco LagneseSpeaking of abaca, identical woven rugs in every room enhance the house’s perfect geometry and play a key role in uniting the public spaces, which radiate from a central gallery and are all visible to each other. Walls are what give each room its own personality: Cyprus gray polished marble tile in the kitchen, linen in the media room, and glowing Venetian plaster in the living room. That last space is anchored by an ingenious abstract sculptural mantel composed of overlapping recessed shapes, designed by Pofahl. “The room needed more texture, but I wanted to keep the fireplace quieter because the art was so colorful and dynamic,” says the designer. “I literally got down on the floor and drew it out on brown paper with big pencils.”
Pool-blue hues—in the Nina Campbell striped Roman shades, Hollywood at Home quilt, and Harbinger ottoman in a nubby Pierre Frey cotton—wash through the primary bedroom like quietly lapping waves. Chateau Linen wallcovering by Phillip Jeffries adds subtle texture. Console, Sedgwick & Brattle; alabaster pendant, The Brass Fixture Company.
Francesco LagneseUpstairs, everything is quiet and serene, accomplished with details like primary bedroom walls enveloped in a heathered linen wallcovering. “It immediately changes the sound quality in the room. It’s wonderfully hushed,” says Pofahl. He worked with architect Brian Brady to turn a deck into a new primary bathroom and dressing room for her, which is the definition of luxury on mute: She can bathe with the doors thrown open and soak beneath a cerused white oak ceiling while mica-flecked Venetian plaster walls shimmer around her.
In the newly added primary bath, the French doors behind the Barcelona tub from Victoria + Albert are almost always open, affording alfresco ablutions. Pofahl chose “a pale, pale, pale gray” for the mica-flecked Venetian plaster walls to complement the cerused oak ceiling; the room shimmers in the sunlight, or beneath the glow of the Barbara Barry hanging shade.
Francesco LagneseAnd everywhere there are glimpses of the pool and views of those towering, transporting trees, and what seems like a million doors—in the dining room, in the kitchen, in the living room, in the bathroom—that bring you there
The volume of the living room terrace matches that of its indoor counterpart, making the space feel especially generous. “We tested seven or eight shades of blue on the ceiling before we found one that matched the color of the sky in Southampton,” says Pofahl. (The winner? Sheer Bliss by Benjamin Moore.) The seating and coffee tables are by Harbour; patterned pillows in Kabba Kabba Performance fabric by Martyn Lawrence Bullard.
Francesco Lagnese
Shaded by a crepe myrtle, the dining garden is filled with the sound of falling water from the 16-foot-long fountain. The stone table is surrounded by Janus et Cie chairs.
Francesco Lagnese
Separated from the house by a privet hedge and evergreen topiaries, the lap pool feels like a world unto itself.
Francesco LagneseTHIS ARTICLE ORIGINALLY APPEARED IN VOLUME 16 OF FREDERIC MAGAZINE. CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE!
