For many years, Susan Herman beloved her second house in Sag Harbor, N.Y., a lot that every time circumstances modified in her life, she most popular adjusting her residing house over shifting someplace new.
After shopping for the home for $74,000 together with her husband in 1978, the 1860s construction, a former butcher’s store that had one lavatory and some tiny bedrooms, offered a low-key escape from the couple’s main residence in Manhattan.
“Within the late Seventies, Sag Harbor was simply rising from a depressed time,” mentioned Ms. Herman, now 78, who retired from working a preschool program on the Y.M. & Y.W.H.A. of Washington Heights and Inwood final November. “So I’ve watched the city evolve over time,” she famous, because it attracted extra prosperous urbanites.
Her house has additionally advanced. When Ms. Herman and her husband had two sons within the Eighties, they wanted more room and added a two-story extension to accommodate the entire household, increasing the home to about 3,500 sq. ft.
However Ms. Herman’s husband died in 2005. Her sons grew up, obtained married and ultimately gave her 4 grandchildren. The Eighties model of the house not made sense.
“Once they all came around, there was actually restricted house for everybody to sleep — that was one of many issues,” Ms. Herman mentioned. “There was additionally a proper lounge we constructed within the ’80s that nobody was utilizing.” As a substitute, everybody appeared to wish to squeeze into the cramped kitchen, she famous.
Ms. Herman additionally wished to transition to single-story residing. “I’m getting older and the staircase is extraordinarily steep,” she mentioned.
Deciding it was time to renovate as soon as extra, she interviewed a couple of architects however failed to seek out one who shared her imaginative and prescient for reconfiguring the inside whereas sustaining the house’s unique bones and historic really feel.
As an answer, certainly one of her sons put her in contact with Annie Leslau, a New York-based inside designer who had completed a commendable job renovating his Brooklyn brownstone.
Ms. Leslau shared Ms. Herman’s need to mix new with previous. “Each time they obtained an architect in there, they instructed them they needed to rip down the home and begin new,” Ms. Leslau mentioned. “She actually didn’t wish to do this.”
As a substitute, Ms. Leslau deliberate a considerable renovation of the inside that largely reorganized the ground plan whereas preserving many of the architectural particulars.
“We didn’t do something to the outside as a result of it was in fairly fine condition and we favored the attraction of it,” Ms. Leslau mentioned. “However inside, the home was very darkish, and the format was poor.”
To reorganize the bottom flooring, she reclaimed the unused lounge and turned it into a brand new main suite with its personal lavatory. The place there was an occasionally used secondary sitting room, Ms. Leslau created a brand new eating room and doubled the dimensions of the doorway resulting in the kitchen in the back of the home for a extra open really feel.
Figuring out that the kitchen was the place everybody congregated more often than not, Ms. Leslau redesigned the house to incorporate an extended island with a waterfall marble high, which leads right into a sunny lounge with a fuel fire. Uniting the kitchen and lounge below one ceiling with uncovered beams displays how the household really lives in the home, Ms. Leslau mentioned, and supplies them with more room and luxury.
“That room is full of gentle and everybody gravitates to it,” she mentioned.
Upstairs, she redesigned two of the three bedrooms as calming retreats for Ms. Herman’s two sons and their spouses. Then, she turned the third bed room right into a bunk room with 4 beds for the grandchildren.
All through the home, Ms. Leslau saved as many unique supplies as she might whereas making an attempt to lighten and brighten the sensation of the inside. She stripped the orange-y end off the unique pine flooring and utilized a easy clear coat for an virtually unfinished look. The place the house had wooden paneling, doorways and home windows that had been stained darkish brown, she painted them white.
Precision Improvement started work in October 2023 and was largely completed by the next April, at which period Ms. Leslau put in furnishings and artwork, mixing extra new with previous.
Among the many new items are eating chairs from the Swedish firm Gemla, a customized desk by Hedge Home and a brass pendant by Allied Maker within the lobby. Household heirlooms embrace a lot of work accomplished by Ms. Herman’s mom, Florence Friedman, in addition to a pair lounge chairs she used to personal, which Ms. Leslau had reupholstered.
Ms. Herman moved again into the home in Could 2024, after spending about $650,000 on the mission, and has discovered it’s the right design for her newest chapter in life.
“There’s loads of room, the kitchen is so usable and I really like my new bed room,” she mentioned. “It’s simply superb.”
Her kids prefer it simply as a lot, she added. “They’re so enthusiastic about it,” she mentioned. “They usually come out much more usually now.”
