Low-Maintenance Living
August 13, 2009
Instead of furnishing their East Hampton, N.Y., house with the overstuffed sofas and antiques favoured by so many of their neighbours, Russell Groves, 45, and Neal Beckstedt, 32, took a different approach.
“We asked ourselves, ‘What’s the most practical, low-maintenance solution?’ ” Mr. Beckstedt said. “And it always came down to something that would be used in school.”
The schoolhouse décor, which incorporates elements like linoleum, mop sinks and graffiti-covered classroom chairs, is their “tongue in cheek” way of countering “the excess we were seeing in the Hamptons,” he said.
The couple, who run S. Russell Groves, a Manhattan architecture and interiors firm, finally found what they were looking for in the woods of Springs, N.Y., a town on the South Fork of Long Island. They loved its weathered cedar siding and simple H-shape layout — an airy central living room flanked by a master bedroom and kitchen on one side and two spare bedrooms on the other, offering privacy for weekend guests.
Best of all, Mr. Beckstedt said, the modest 1980s spec house, about 1,800 square feet, which they bought for $685,000 in 2005, “had no character at all, so we knew we could really put our stamp on it.”
Now that the house is complete, and the couple are welcoming a constant stream of guests, upkeep is one thing they don’t have to worry about: Like the rooms in a schoolhouse infirmary, the guest bedrooms are outfitted with iron hospital beds bought on eBay for $100 apiece. In some places, the paint has flecked off, exposing the rust-speckled metal beneath.
Thanks to http://www.nytimes.com/ for the quotes. Please visit the site for more details.
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