Houses require something that people do too. "This is a house that needed love,” says Christine Stucker, who, along with her partner in design and in life, James Veal, provided that to this centuries-old residence in Southport.“Over time, it had become a kind of ‘Frankenstein’ house, with many faux antiques and ornate trims added, as well as finishes and materials that had just aged,” she adds.

Stucker and Veal, cofounders of Stewart-Schafer design studio, convinced the new homeowners to strip away the tacked-on, weathered elements—so many that the house had tried too much to look like something suited for another country. “This was very a beautiful American Colonial-style house when it was built sometime in the early 1800s,” says Veal. “There is a real heritage to this place, and we wanted to bring it back.” When Stucker first toured the house with her clients, she says, “I felt immediately connected to it and I could see, right away, how, with the right restoration, the house could once again be beautiful.”

It’s hard for a house to win a beauty contest in Southport given the bountiful competition. The lovely, sophisticated town on Long Island Sound is noted for its streets of period Colonial, Greek Revival, Victorian and vernacular homes.This residence is situated further inland, where the density of the town gives way to horse farms and estates.

The design duo undertook a nearly complete gutting. While the budget was tight, Stucker and Veal managed to imbue the once-dark interiors with an abun-dance of natural light and furnish the rooms in such a way that each assumes a thoroughly modern, clean aesthetic while adhering to the house’s original roots.

Among the most dramatic changes are those that occurred in the kitchen, which was wholly replaced, redone and replanned. “We totally transformed it into an inviting place for the family of five to hang out in,” Veal emphasizes. He and Stucker designed a spacious island as the hub, able to easily seat four, while also standing out in the room as an exemplar of modernist design, composed of striated white oak and a white marble top, and accented with brass hardware.The room’s prevailing monochromatic black and white palette has resulted in
a space that “reads as a kitchen right away but doesn’t come across as a typical kitchen,” says Stucker. The stove, for instance, is encased in a wood-and-marble-clad alcove, while other equipment and furnishings, notably a black-matte-faced refrigerator, echo hues in the adjacent living room.

The transformation of the living room involved creating a pair of French doors, thus establishing, for the first time in the house’s history, a direct link to the grounds. “The theme for the living room is that I wanted to balance hard and soft,” says Stucker, pointing to a softly rounded ebonized coffee table, a cloud-like tufted bouclé sofa/sectional, and linear chrome and leather chairs. A handsome white-oak bookcase functions not only as a wall separating the room from the kitchen, but also assumes the role as a major geometric element in the room.

In a house this old, some rooms are, as Veal acknowledges, “awkward.” The designers’ response was to make every room inviting and sensible. A once-awkward sitting area, for instance, right off the front door now features a cow-hide rug and pair of wing chairs set by a fireplace, suggesting it as a place to pause and linger in the home.

The success of a project of this scale (the house has five bedrooms) requires not only the right furnishings, but also a team that works well together. “Here’s the secret of how we work together so well,” confesses Veal. “I’m very linear and precise in how I design, while Christine is very artistic and pays close attention to textures. She’s able to see balance in chaos. We can see our individual touches in every project and, so, we really trust each other.”

“And we fight sometimes, too,” Stucker adds, suddenly, with humor. “Of the many projects we‘ve worked on together over the years, this one, in particular, best represents the amalgam of the both of us.” ✹

‍

‍

‍

‍