When COVID-19 forced a Manhattan couple to escape to the Hamptons, they asked designer Todd Raymond to do the impossible: Turn a builder’s spec house into a livable home in just four months, just before the couple’s baby was born. “You’re always up against time on any project,” Raymond explains. “But we were more limited as to where we could source product because of the time crunch.”
The house had been used as a rental property, so it needed a lot of tailoring to fit the family’s needs. “Our job was to come in and make it a little bit more appealing,” says the designer.” This meant that while the kitchen and bathrooms needed customizing, the living area became the top priority. A two-sided fireplace and French doors separated the living and family rooms. Raymond removed the doors and made the openings larger to make the two rooms feel as if they were originally one. He wrapped the lower portion of the fireplace in black marble veined with white to give it a more commanding presence. The stone pulls together the space.
For the furniture to fill this new central room, the clients gave Raymond an idea of what they liked and he ran with it, finding pieces that were comfortable—like the French mattress-style sofa—and unprepossessing, yet stylish. A baby grand shares the room with Hans Olsen Gesture chairs and a Charlotte Perriand 529 Rio Table. The lightly colored pieces mesh perfectly together and make for a happy place to kick back in chic comfort.
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Photography by Adrian Gaut.
