Designers

Humming Along…

A designer fine-tunes a new build in Southampton.

It’s a myth that a new-build house is a cinch to decorate. Yes, it’s true that you know exactly what you’re getting. And no, you’re not dealing with other people’s interior design mistakes or bad architectural gambits. But while each element betokens a fresh start, the reality is that new builds can be awfully bland. How, then, to bring style and flair to a property that was conceived to please everybody? That was the challenge Emma Corner, a New York City-based interior designer, came up against when a married couple with two children brought her on to design the interiors of their two-story, six bedrooms soon-to-be-built weekend house on a quiet cul-de-sac in Southampton.

“They were looking for an easy house, one they could put their own twist on,” says Corner, who is originally from the UK. The place they chose was built in a contemporary-traditional style by a well-known developer and it included an expansive basement that now houses a movie theater, a gym, a guest bedroom, and a children’s play area. Corner was in their corner, so to speak, before the house was completed. Thus she was able to choose the finishes, the trim, the flooring, and the components in the open kitchen – a big win for the homeowners. Once construction was finished, she set about furnishing what was essentially an empty shell. Luckily, her tastes were very much in synch with those of her clients. The wife, says, says Corner, “had a great eye and we shared a similar design philosophy.” The two women also gravitated toward the same colors, and they decided to liberally employ navy blue, a favorite, throughout. “I popped blues and warm tones into fabrics and wallpaper wherever we could so that it wasn’t just another white box in the Hamptons.”

Her other moves to avoid white box-syndrome included paneling the double-height entrance hall and kitchen, “framing out those spaces to give them personality” Corner says. She introduced lighting that’s a bit of a wow such as the Apparatus Studio pendants in the entrance hall and in the formal dining area, respectively. The first, The Cloud, is made of silk-wrapped brass, porcelain, and cast bronze, and, she says, “provides wonderful ambient lighting”. The other, The Tandem, is a dream of brass and gray calfskin and makes the room glow. In all her projects, Corner gives a lot of thought to lighting, which she believes should highlight the features of a room rather than constitute a focal point in its own right.

“When I design a home, I don’t ever want you to walk in and be like, Oh my goodness look at that light fixture! I want everything to be cohesive and to hum together,” she says.

To wit, the adjoining kitchen features a pair of imposing twenty-four-inch blackened brass pendant lights by Allied Maker over the island, which cast a lovely glow over the white Danby marble countertops. A white oak round table with bronze detailing that seats eight is used for casual meals. Corner topped the table with a Nero Marquina lazy Susan and paired the assembly with ultra-modern Gubi chairs.

The living room projects a similarly laid-back vibe with its outsize custom sectional upholstered in performance velvet by Holly Hunt and two sets of doors that open to a bluestone terrace, a covered porch with a second L-shaped sectional, and a grilling area. Also in the living area, she designed a fireplace surround that was “a little more modern than what the builders intended” – a wood mantlepiece that is minimalist in its simplicity.

Corner positioned a second dining area for more formal gatherings off the entrance hall. “The only things my clients moved in with were a set of walnut chairs and a matching walnut dining table and a sideboard, all of which, she felt, belonged in a more traditional home.” To make these pieces more beach house-y, Corner had her millworker bleach the table and chairs and sand and refinish the sideboard, which is now stained navy blue. She also reupholstered the chairs in navy Holly Hunt leather for the back and a cream boucle for the backs.