Press

"Snug Harbor"
by Jill Kirchner Simpson
Country Living, October 2007

Left: Richard added a pantry bar off the kitchen; a wine cooler is hidden in the cupboard with the old wooden door. Right: The exterior was reclad in cedar shingles with a clapboard front and landscaped with boxwoods.

Sag Harbor is a small village on the bay on Long Island characterized by charming historic houses that date from the early to mid-1800s, when it was a thriving whaling port. These days, Sag Harbor's main business is tourism, but its centuries-old houses are still appreciated and preserved by its summer and year-round residents alike.

One of three compact but inviting guest rooms.

Seven years ago, Richard Ferrari, a real estate agent in New York City, bought a tiny, early 1800s house that his friend Bob Tortora had renovated. When a larger house of similar vintage across the street came on the market three years later, Richard traded up, and Bob again renovated the house, preserving as much of the original architecture as possible, including the pumpkin pine floors, handblown glass windows, ceiling beams (uncovered beneath Sheetrock), and fireplace mantels. "The beauty of the floors and beams are 200 years' worth of nicks and crannies, warping, weathering, and nail holes. They look beautiful just as they are," says Richard. He and Bob updated the kitchen and baths with timeless materials, such as mahogany countertops, beadboard walls, and in the baths, subway tile and marble. They opened up the kitchen to a new family room addition with a sloping 11-foot ceiling, and Richard opted to add a few modern amenities such as air-conditioning and a pool.

When it came time to choose paint colors for the house, Richard asked his neighbor, Steven Gambrel, a noted interior designer in New York City, for a favor. "I told him I wanted a yellow living room, a red dining room, and a blue kitchen. Steven rattled off paint numbers for each of them," says Richard, "and they all turned out perfectly.”