LEFT: The upstairs playroom allows the two kids plenty of room to roam. A collection of beanbags builds on the home’s color scheme, and the Crate & Barrel artwork mirrors the geometric infl uences. RIGHT: The bleached oak X-Base kitchen table by Avant Garden, of Pound Ridge, NY, is paired with Crate & Barrel Folio chairs that easily wipe clean—perfect for casual family dinners. A Bone Simple Design pendant light adds a modern touch.
THE EAST END MAY HAVE more than its fair share of rules and regulations when it comes to real estate and curb appeal, but there’s nothing on the books that says when you buy a beach house, surf shack must be your aesthetic. So when a married couple recruited Jennifer Mabley and Austin Handler to renovate their Sagaponack home, “modern beach” was the order of business.
“The inspiration came from the client,” says Mabley. “As we were showing her fabrics and paint colors, she was really gravitating toward a sophisticated blue palette, white furniture and silver. This house is such a reflection of her. I felt that she really knew what she loved, and once that was established, everything fell into place so quickly.”
Each room blends seamlessly into the next thanks to a soothing blue-gray color scheme paired with contemporary silver accents. A collection of Dana Volkert paintings brings a Hamptons-appropriate natural element to the décor, but its abstract influences make the ambiance more original than ordinary. Several Karen Robinson pieces, particularly in the upstairs guest suites, add an ocean element without succumbing to cliché.
Mabley and Handler worked with Robert Allen to design the bed in the master bedroom, and a set of white side tables from Worlds Away and Lucite lamps from Homenature in Southampton add a geometric element. Alan Campbell linens and a Kravet chaise and love seat in purple-blue velvet complete the room’s curated look.
The couple, who love to entertain, chose white furniture for an elegant living room but added color-cohesive throw pillows in a variety of patterns for a bit of whimsy. “It’s sophisticated, but it’s comforting and relaxing and soft,” says Handler. “You see so many of these Hamptons houses that are done so seriously. The average person coming out here is living in New York City and probably has a stressful job. Our point of view is the house should relax you the second you walk in the door, and as you move from room to room, it should have a very calming, soothing feel.”
Using a limited color spectrum could have made the interior design fall flat, say the designers. Mixing up the textures, shapes and patterns gave the home an extraordinary level of dimension: Square tables and ottomans complement the square frames on the sofa, love seat and chairs; circles on the silver tables reflect those of the large Dana Volkert painting in the living room; geometric wallpaper in turquoise and silver shades gives the main powder room unexpected punch. “She really wanted the powder room to make a bold statement,” says Handler. “As much as we would have liked to have redone all the bathrooms, this was one area where we really felt we could, with minimal renovations, make a huge statement.”
