home+ design - Susan Lawton Interiors

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SEPTEMBER 2009
HOME
EAST COAST
+ DESIGN
EAST COAST HOME + DESIGN
www.echomeanddesign.com
$4.95 September 2009
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B Y ta n ya d e t r i k
If
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P H O T O G RA P H Y B Y o r i o n b i s hop
RYE REDUX
your esthetic palate hungers for a taste of the imaginative, the
dramatic design of this stunningly renovated waterfront property will surely satisfy
your appetite. When it came time for the owners to redo their 1950’s style twostory stucco home, they decided to work with the existing structure rather than to
begin anew. Many of their design requirements focused on the need to accommodate
formal entertaining, as well as holiday and weekend visits from children and grandchildren. They told architect James Margeotes, principal of JBMP Architects, that
prior experience had prepared them for the challenges ahead. Having worked with
them for more than 20 years, New York interior designer Susan Lawton, of Susan
Lawton Ltd. Interiors, knew that to be true.
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Steel marquee over front entry is a
3,000-pound focal point which required
extensive structural reinforcement.
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OPPOSITE An elliptical domed ceiling
and dark metallic Venetian plasters grace
the foyer. Custom door grilles create interesting shadows when backlit.
BELOW Family Room was designed for
comfort and everyday living. Amenities
include a desk area, a wet bar and water
views from the built-in window seat.
Architectural and design challenges were faced collaboratively
While the architect’s challenges included removing a large center chimney and relocating staircases, and the interior designer’s challenges included working around the
asymmetrical layouts in many of the rooms,
no amount of description conveys the magnitude of the renovation as well as this excerpt from the architect’s summary:
“Additions and alterations to the existing single family, waterfront residence
included: a new detached pool house with
kitchenette, shower and changing rooms;
a three car garage with guest suite above
and a breezeway connector to the main
home; bump-out expansion of the kitchen, family room and second floor bed-
room suite with balcony; new detached
staff quarters; pool, exterior terraces,
pergola adjacent to living room, front
entrance marquee (glass and steel), new
front doors with custom architectural
metal grilles. The existing home interior
was completely gutted, reconfigured, and
new finishes installed throughout.”
It isn’t often that at the end of such
an extensive renovation one hears that the
experience was a good one. “It worked because, on this project, everyone respected
everyone else’s role and things just jelled,”
says Susan Lawton. “The solutions were
collaborative so they worked for all aspects of the designs.”
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LEFT At one end of the living room, French
chairs from Greenwich Living, and a glasstop table create one of four seating areas.
RIGHT The dining room’s Chinese screen
comes from Braswell Galleries. Lawton
finds Stamford’s antique district to be a
great design resource.
BELOW Black walnut kitchen cabinets
have doors inset with etched black glass.
“What also made the project and
the final product so special is that the
owners are well traveled and have a keen
design sense, so they inspired many of
the ideas that were incorporated into the
final product,” says principal architect
Margeotes. “A good example was the inspiration for the design of the marquee
over the front entrance. It was actually
taken from something that the owner
had seen in Paris.”
The architects refer to the stunning
3,000 pound, blackened galvanized steel
and frosted glass canopy as a “labor of
love.” The piece was designed to visually
balance and highlight the home’s entry
in relationship to its mass. Having gone
through many design iterations, the architects say that the real challenge was to
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attractively and structurally support the
large canopy, so that it would be stable
enough to resist the extreme winds and
weather conditions so common in coastal
areas. The final masterpiece also incorporates recessed down lighting into the primary curved beam, and drain chains are an
attractive alternative for channeling rainwater from the beam to the ground.
To further transition the entry ’s
scale, the architects used large double
doors with independent decorative
grille work panels designed by JBMP’s
Kristen Rinaldi. The grille work design
incorporates the owners’ favorite geometric architectural shapes. From a distance the designs provide the necessary
visual weight, but when viewed up close,
they exhibit their unique sculptural de-
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OPPOSITE The
living room seating areas work for
family gatherings
as well as more
formal entertaining. Room doubles
as a projection
screening room.
LEFT French arm
chairs face a small
French sofa to form
a conversation
seating area.
tail to the delight of visitors awaiting entry.
Adding to the interesting design elements of
the front entry, Lawton completed the drama with
pair of unique armchairs, which were actually finds
from a previous design project she did with the
owners.
Standing at the entry, one can see straight
through the house and out onto views of the water
beyond; so once inside, being enveloped in the dark
tones of the foyer comes as the next surprise. For
the foyer walls, Lawton chose Venetian plaster in
very dark smoky metallic gray, an in playing them
against the illuminated domed ceiling, created a
sensual, Art Deco inspired experience. The round
mirror above the marble-topped console table repeats the circular patterns of the white plaster light
fixture, said to have once hung in a Parisian restaurant. The Tibetan rug is by Stephanie Odegard.
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LEFT The off-white master bath is
sheathed in stunning white onyx.
BELOW Master Bedroom is both
sumptuous—with walls in Shantung silk—
and practical with it’s concealed motorized
drapery pockets.
RICHT Portal to the master bedroom
includes graceful curved Venetian Plaster
walls and elliptical steps with clear Lucite
hand rails.
An entry portal separates
the master suite from other
second floor bedrooms
To the left of the foyer, the large 24 by 40 foot front-toback living room presented design challenges for both the architect and the designer. One such challenge was the owners’ desire
to have the room double as a projection screening room. To
satisfy this requirement, the architects designed retractable fixtures to disguise the equipment when not in use. For maximum
light control, windows and doors are outfitted with blackout
shades to achieve a full theatre experience.
Another challenge was to break down the scale of the large
room. The architect’s solution was to add ceiling coffers and
built-in bookcases. The designer’s solution was a plan that
incorporates four separate but coordinated seating areas to
provide intimacy, scale and great entertaining space. This is
one of several rooms in the house with a totally asymmetrical
arrangement of doorways and windows, making furniture arrangement even more difficult.
“Small furniture groupings help balance the room,” says
Lawton. At one end she positioned four French chairs around a
glass table, great for cocktail party seating, and tucked behind
a sofa grouping sits a restored, now self-playing Steinway Baby
Grand piano.
Three of the room’s openings have French doors, which
lead out onto a quartzite terrace set beneath a pergola. The
pergola, constructed of cedar beams and cast stone columns,
is designed to support growing wisteria vines, which will even58
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ABOVE In the pool house, the fireplace’s
bluestone mantel and surround are
punctuated by an elliptical window.
Ceiling is done in cedar.
RIGHT Retracted Nanawal doors create
an open-air room. Quartzite floors have
radiant heat for off-season warmth.
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tually convene to create a ‘living’ roof.
Here Lawton saw the perfect stage
on which to feature the owner’s vintage Salterini wrought iron collection,
freshly reupholstered in aqua and white
striped Sunbrella fabric from Kravet.
Across from the living room is the
dining room. This is perhaps the most
unusual of rooms—situated in the interior of the home, the dining room has
no windows. Rather than attempting to
disguise the absence of natural light, Lawton capitalized on the room’s nighttime
drama by back-dropping the room with a
wall-sized black-lacquered Oriental screen
from Braswell Galleries. Above the coffers,
the ceiling, papered in platinum leaf foil,
shimmers softly. The elegant simplicity of
the white silk chandelier, a redesign of a
Fortuny fixture from Stephanie Odegarde,
is reflected in the finish of the ebonized
dining table below.
Upstairs, the master bedroom suite
is separated from the rest of the rooms
on the second floor by three curved
steps, which are set into curved Venetian Plaster walls, creating an inviting
entry portal to the space.
“There are always surprises in renovation,” says Andrew Baekey, JBMP’s project manager for core and shell, master site
plan. “This one was discovering that the
living room floor and ceiling were actually
constructed of steel and concrete, much
like you’d find in a parking garage. We
can’t say why it was originally built that
way, but it did make running duct work
and the master bath plumbing more of a
challenge than expected.”
Now the beautiful retreat is decorated in soothing shades of green. Law-
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ton used a gray-green Shantung silk wall
covering and an upholstered headboard in
a textured green and white Fortuny print.
The sensuous silk satin bedspread suggests a bit of 1930s Hollywood drama.
On the left is the entry to the elegant
Deco-flavored master bath. The room, a
vision in off-white, was designed by Kristen Rinaldi, JBMP’s Project Manager for
Architectural Interiors. In understated elegance, rare, milky slabs of onyx were chosen for counter tops and are accompanied
by onyx floor tiles set in a herringbone pattern. The room is back-dropped in marble
walls. Silvery Deco-inspired hardware and
onyx switch plates are thoughtful details.
The new floor plan provides the
kitchen, family room, living room, master bedroom and sitting room—as well
as two other bedroom suites—with
expansive water views. The master bedroom is the only room on the second
floor which has its own terraced balcony.
Outside, also inspired by magnificent water views, the pool house
design includes NanaWall glass doors
that, when fully opened, transform the
space into an open-air room. Enhancing
ABOVE A magnificent view of the home
from the water
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LEFT The wisteria at the base of the living room pergola will
become a ‘living roof.’ The owners’ Salterini furniture collection sets
the stage for entertaining.
ABOVE Master bedroom balcony sits above the family room
expansion. In the forefront, Restoration Hardware lounges surround
the pool. Left, framed with minimal railings, glass panels of the
pool fence make the most of water views.
RESOURCES
Architects: JBMP Architects (203) 531-1588, jbmparch.com
Andrew Baekey, Kristen Rinaldi; Project Managers; James Margeotes,
Principal
Landscape Design: James Doyle Design Associates LLC
(203) 869-2900, jdda.com
the expanse, the quartzite floor, chosen for its cooler-onbare-feet quality, extends to surround the pool. Pool lounges
are from Restoration Hardware, as are the sofas in the pool
house. To provide a touch of the unexpected, Lawton included an antique chaise, painted to withstand the elements. The
immense wood table and matching benches are Bali imports.
On closer inspection, the oval picture above the fireplace is
actually a window, framing the ever-changing view.
Code dictated that the pool be framed by railing, but the
architects outfitted the barrier with glass panels so as to maintain water views from inside as well as exterior terraces. n
Interior Design: Susan Lawton Ltd. Interiors (212) 794-8580,
susanlawton.com
General Contractor: Taconic Builders, Inc. (914) 698-7456, taconicbuilders.com Mark Cunningham, Project Superintendent; Matt Davis, Project
Manager; Jim Hanley, Principal
Sub Contractors: HVAC, ENCON; Electrical, Mars Electric; Plumbing,
Albano Plumbing; Architectural Metal Work, Studio Pompea; Architectural
Millwork, Hallmark Woodworkers, Candlewood Valley; Architectural Stone,
Millenium Stone; Masonry and Planting, Alfredo LDC; Front Entrance Gates,
Tanya Detrik is a writer, aka All Write Resources, and partner in Creative
Relief, a marketing communications company. She can be reached at 203881-9008 or [email protected].
Grand Entrances, in collaboration with Studio Pompea; Stucco and Plaster,
TJ Keetly: Painting, Wall Art, David Lara; NanaWall, Sliding Exterior Doors;
Structural Engineer, James Moore of Moore Associates
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