OUTSIDE IN
No drapes. No blinds. No shades. Look closely at this home and you will soon see that there are no visual barriers between what’s indoors and the great outdoors. A summer home is meant to be enjoyed inside and out. It’s a place for relaxation, where one can escape the everyday routine. This bright and airy waterfront home provides a refuge for the couple who lives there, as well as their extended family.
Designers Benjamin Bradley and David Thiergartner, of Bradley Thiergartner Interiors of New York, have collaborated with this couple on the designs of their other homes. “These clients find absolutely beautiful properties,” says Thiergartner, “and the property that this house sits on is magnificent.”
As inspiration for this specific project, the design duo took full advantage of the views surrounding the home. “The back of the house has tremendous amounts of glass and water views,” Bradley explains. “The light floods from the rear of this house, so we tried to get the light to go through all spaces.” Though much of the house is open, there remains a sense of coziness: “The post and beam construction covers you as you come into the house. It provides a cosseted, enveloped feel and a very warm welcome. As you step into the other spaces of the house, they open up. The light floods in and lifts you. You are taken by how light and airy the house is.”
“They wanted their beach house to allow for a lot of people to be comfortable, at ease, and to enjoy the inside-outside atmosphere of the house,” says Thiergartner. “We tried to balance all of those elements together.”
Much of that balance is achieved with consistency of color, tone, and theme throughout the home. “We tend to look at interiors as a whole composition; the artwork, the lamps, the sofas are all part of the same story,” says Thiergartner. “I think that’s one of the things we find most enjoyable about traditional and classic interiors: you can’t really date them. If you don’t buy into trendy colors and silhouettes, it can carry you a long way.”
A sense of calm threads together the public and the private rooms of the home. “It’s important that you are never jarred from one room to the next,” Bradley says. “There needs to be a common thread that tells a story of what the house is and who the people are who live in it. [In] the bedrooms, we made a subtle shift in color, but, for the most part, there was a conscious decision with the light maple floors and the white walls to set a light, beachy tone.”
In the bedrooms and baths of the home, light floods each room to make the most of the setting and the view. The interesting architecture of the windows is never hidden but instead is used to make a strong statement. Even the master bath is a room with a view; a window at the foot of the tub allows for soaking up the sun as well as the suds.
A crucial element of any summer home is its outdoor space. During the long, hot days of summer, the outdoor spaces are just as important as the interiors. Thoughtful and structural plantings, such as indigenous grasses and large-leaf hosta, highlight the outdoor area, while the pool is lined with hydrangeas.
