When Joe Nahem works, he’s decisive, quick, finishes a project on time, all the while remaining—as he’s well known in the industry—a true visionary. For this Southampton home, however, it took him more than five years to complete all of the rooms. But that’s not his fault, nor that of the homeowners.
“Unlike any other project of mine, this one came together in stages,” he explains. “It’s a big house, six bedrooms, and the owners, who I’ve been working with for over 15 years, had me first do their lower level years ago. And when they saw my work there, they had me change their outdoor spaces. Then it was on to the dining and living rooms. Then they had me work on their bedroom. On and on it went, until now, when it’s truly done.”
That one-level, one-room-at-a-time approach, was simply the way the project proceeded. The owners, a couple with three adult children, had been living in the house for nearly two decades before they even recognized the need to have their rooms redone. “That happens with people who love their home and live there a long time, even if the original room designs weren’t working so well,” Nahem says.
The residence is a dignified shingled Hamptons house, ensconced on several acres of land, and within hearing distance of the breaking ocean waves. But one of the original design quirks occurred at the entry. There was no official foyer, leading from the front door into the spacious double-height living room. “It felt odd to suddenly walk inside and be completely inside,” Nahem remarks. It took some lobbying for him to convince the clients that a decorative divider, comprised of canning and walnut, would provide a needed visual barrier to make people pause as they entered the home and get oriented. “They were nervous about doing this, afraid that it might close off the living room, but, instead, it now makes the room stand out even more.”
The backyard features landscape design by Patrick Manley.
A curvacious coffee table from Suite NY complements a sinuous sofa from Jouffre. The sofa is covered in a custom fabric from Cowtan & Tout. Lighting fixtures are by Lindsey Adelman. The artwork above the fireplace is by Ati Sedgwick.
In the living room, a custom screen divider by Fox-Nahem Associates is by City Joinery.
A curvacious coffee table from Suite NY complements a sinuous sofa from Jouffre. The sofa is covered in a custom fabric from Cowtan & Tout. Lighting fixtures are by Lindsey Adelman. The artwork above the fireplace is by Ati Sedgwick.
An ottoman by Nuala Goodman and Patricia Urquiola for Moroso is from 1stDibs.
A custom wall covering from Fromental envelops the dining room. Chairs from Tuleste Factory are covered in a fabric from Opuzen. A ceiling fixture by Ercole Barovier for Barovier & Toso is an auction score from Bonhams.
In the primary bedroom, a custom bed by Fox-Nahem Associates is covered in a custom designed fabric by Le Studio Anthost for Jebara & Co. The bed covering is from French Presse, and the wall covering is from Fromental. The mirror is from Alexander Knysch Massivholzmöbel Studio.
In the outdoor seating area, the rug is from Studio Four NYC, and the sofa is by Kettal.
At the pool area, the umbrella is from Walters Wicker, and the chairs are from Dedon.
The living room is sufficiently large that Nahem created multiple seating areas, even at the very center. There, he placed a sinuous, two-sided sofa that allows guests to face in opposite directions to designated seating areas. Nahem is so “hands-on” as a designer that he literally watched as another person’s hands helped finish the room. He had chosen a Lindsey Adelman lighting fixture, an exhilarating, sculptural piece composed of multiple, massed frosted globes, interspersed with green-blue orbs. “She personally came to the house to hang the fixtures,” Nahem recalls with genuine awe. “She came and arranged each ball to its best effect.” And for an even greater lighting effect, Nahem applied a reflective white paint to the ceiling’s high coffers. “The sheen on the paint holds the light better,” he emphasizes.
Upon first approaching the redo of the dining room, he remembers opening doors on either side of the window to find closets, with not much inside. He convinced the clients to refashion them into lighted display cabinets, each shelf of which now displays sculptural ceramics. The cabinets provide extra depth to the room, which is bathed in a soothing blue, a favorite of the wife, evidenced, too, in the blue Venetian glass of the chandelier.
Designers often talk about adding texture to rooms, but in Nahem’s case, he actually wants people to touch those textures, not just see them. For the primary suite, he used a French company noted for their ability to apply hand-sewn fabric flowers to an already quilted surface, resulting in a near three-dimensional quality when touched. A sweep of matching mauve draperies, accented with an amorphously shaped mirror, spans the width of the wall behind the bed.
Prior to Nahem’s redesign of the outdoor living spaces on the property, including his wholesale design of a gazebo, the homeowners said they rarely used such areas. “Now they tell me, ‘We live out there in those rooms’,” Nahem says. “Because they’d lived in the house for a while prior to my doing work, they already knew what worked and what didn’t. I helped them along the way, and I’m grateful that they continue to express their appreciation for what is now a finished home.”