Built for a family moving from their Manhattan apartment, these clients wanted an informal but spacious home both to raise their 3 young children and to entertain. James Smiros, of Smiros & Smiros Architects, collaborated with designer Ronal Fenstermacher to create this sun-drenched, classical home facing the Long Island Sound.
The front door frames a jaw-dropping view through a bank of floor to ceiling windows which span the rear of the house. Inside, European white oak floors run throughout the first floor and up a shaker staircase leading to a long, sun-swept hallway. Each room along the vaulted corridor has lavish views of the Sound across a vast lawn rolling down to the beach.
On the ground floor, an “enfilade” style great room strings together den, kitchen, dining and spacious living room. Long sides maximize both northern shore views spanning to Danbury, Connecticut and large windows filter southern light.
In the living room, a coastal color palette is given new life with pops of bright orange.
“I work with both bold and soft colors depending on the room, and I usually feel that a dark color in a small space is more interesting,” says Fenstermacher. “Adding pops of color can change a neutral scheme – as in this sun-drenched room – quickly and easily.”
At the rear, a large arch frames a vista from the den through a Palladian loggia sheltering outdoor living spaces, and out over the pool and to the open waters beyond.
The perfect representation of the benefits of waterfront living, this Long Island home embraces the Sound while providing a comfortable year-round backdrop for this family’s unfolding story.
Photography by Durston Saylor.
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