When a West Coast couple tapped interior designer Victoria Hagan and Botta Sferrazza Architects to renovate their carriage house in Amagansett, everyone was on the same page from the start. The 6,600-square-foot six-bedroom residence—which was built during the 1920s or ’30s—had great bones that they wanted to preserve and celebrate. The clear selling point, aside from the property’s bucolic two acres being only steps from the beach, was the soaring living room featuring a vaulted ceiling studded with original beams. “Do you know when a home gets you at Hello?” says Hagan. “This living room is that moment. It has great proportions, and I love the juxtaposition of scale between this space and the smaller, cozier rooms. We reworked the fireplace and added a large picture window. The house was an unpolished gem that just needed some tweaks that were in keeping with the personality of the property.”
For all its drama, there were also some major issues that needed to be addressed—including an obvious addition that was more modern than the rest of the house. “We took the badly done addition down to its foundation and rebuilt it to blend in with the more traditional architecture,” says architect Charles Sferrazza. Now that portion of the structure contains two ensuite bedrooms. The kitchen was also in dire need of some reworking. “The original kitchen had no natural light,” says the architect. “It’s still located in the front of the house, but we added a skylight and tore down a wall to open up the space to the new family room. From the kitchen, you can look past the family room and out the French doors to the pool and pool house beyond.”
In the living room, a coffee table from Demiurge complements sofas from Shoppe Amber Interiors. The curtain fabric is from Schumacher.
In the living room, a coffee table from Demiurge complements sofas from Shoppe Amber Interiors. The curtain fabric is from Schumacher.
A chair and ottoman from Lawson Fenning are placed in the room’s loft area.
In the kitchen, stones for the backsplash and island countertop are from Connecticut Stone.
Cabinetry in the butler’s pantry is painted in Benjamin Moore’s Mineral Alloy.
In the dining room, chairs from B&B Italia surround a custom table from Bright Group.
A custom bar features a Waterworks faucet and a Petit Granite stone countertop.
Another guest room is anchored by a rug from Serena & Lily. The bedside tables are from Mecox.
Meanwhile, the primary was essentially left intact, but a deck was added. The living and dining rooms, with their original beams, also remained. “The clients didn’t want to change the barnlike structure of the living room,” says Sferrazza. “There were lots of modifications to the structure, but the changes came from a desire for an open, relaxed sense of flow. Initially, the residence had a large number of doorways, with some snaking hallways and railroad-style rooms. We expanded upon the traditional architecture and tried to keep its charm.”
Hagan concurs that establishing the right flow was essential. “This was built at a different time for people who lived differently,” she says. “For a beach house, the flow is very important. The clients have grown children who visit and they also like to entertain, so we wanted it to be fun and casual and maintain that feeling of being near the dunes. It was dark before, but now there’s a sense of light and being connected to the ocean breezes.” This proximity to the beach had a profound impact on the palette, which highlights natural elements, a variety of neutrals and soft blues, while providing a soothing backdrop for the clients’ art collection.
“It’s all about simplicity, the relaxed quality of the beach and appreciating nature,” says the designer, who filled the home with a variety of vintage and found items featuring pale oak tones that jibe with the beams and flooring. “There’s also a California-like, laid-back energy that comes through. I’m not a big fan of decorating. Rather, I enjoy creating homes that feel connected to the architecture, lifestyle and beautiful setting. We tried to bring this place back to life and keep its spirit.” Sferrazza concurs, “It’s essentially a new structure filled with amenities and quality finishes, but it feels as though it has always been there.”
