Rise and Shine

The airy design of this Hamptons home makes it the ideal family retreat and the perfect foil for a vibrant art collection

- Melissa Twigg

A holiday home in the Hamptons: these words alone conjure up images of glamour and exclusivity. This stylish house by the beach creates the sense that nature is pouring into a warm family home—a place that has quickly become a refuge from frenetic Manhattan life.

The light-filled, 17,000sqft abode features eight bedrooms and 10 bathrooms; it is big enough to accommodate the family of five plus 20 of their friends over the summer, while being cosy enough for the parents to enjoy a romantic weekend for two. Achieving all this took some clever design on the part of architectural firm SBP Homes and interior designers Pembrooke & Ives. These two firms often pair up to create the kind of sunlit houses that are becoming increasingly popular on America’s east coast.

ARTISTIC BENT

The challenge was to make this home’s design sufficiently different from another similarsized holiday house that both companies had already designed for this family in Palm Beach. The client wanted the home to feel like a contemporary beach house which was both comfortable and liveable. As art enthusiasts, they wanted a home that would be a beautiful backdrop for their collection—the solution was to use their paintings as the starting point, and base the aesthetics of each room around the artworks selected. The chosen pieces included works by German artist Janaina Tschape, American painter Katherine Bradford and British artist Darren Almond.