A Southampton Cottage, Now and Then

Two visions – same house – now and then. You may likely recognize the woman welcoming us at her home. She is fashion designer Lorry Newhouse, and her Southampton cottage was featured in the April issue of Elle Decor. The second photo reveals a bit more of the same entrance, long before the front door and surround were painted a vibrant lavender blue. It was photographed a long while back, in 1998, for a feature in House Beautiful. The cottage then belonged to designer Ronald Grimaldi, heir to Rose Cumming textiles and furniture. Ten years ago Newhouse purchased Grimaldi’s cottage as a weekend retreat, retaining much of the home’s existing decorative elements, such as the French chinoiserie wallpaper, and even some furniture that came with the house. But over time Newhouse wanted to put her own decorative stamp on its rooms and decided to tone down the elegance factor and lighten things up with the aid of decorator Rain Philips. In the process the rooms and their contents have turned from a mix of Continental influence reminiscent of the 1920’s to rooms akin to Sister Parish’s colorfully happy retreat in Maine.

NOW

What Grimaldi had referred to as the entry hall is now called the sitting room chez Newhouse. Walls, floors and ceiling were painted in varying shades of yellow and all of the previous silvery-green trim has gone white. Magenta taffeta curtains and lively floral chintz lend a garden room atmosphere that is far more simplified and certainly more feminine that its previous incarnation, below. The only item of notice that remains is Grimaldi’s showstopping chaise longue at the window.

THEN

The air of a Russian country house welcomed guests in Ronald Grimaldi’s entrance hall, where an eclectic mix of styles and periods are arranged in a fashion reminiscent of fine homes past. This certainly must have been a surprise to encounter given the cottage’s humble shingle-sided facade. While neither version of this space really speaks to my own decorative sensibilities I appreciate elements of each and more than likely would eliminate a great deal of both. In other words, I’m not of the Happy Preppy Chic set nor of living in the past for the sake of the past. As with Newhouse, I would have kept the honeyed-leather chaise, along with the gnarled table. I absolutely would not have painted the gloriously rich chestnut floors with what I can only assume is deck paint.

NOW

In this view of the main living room it appears very little has changed. Newhouse kept the elegant and whimsical French chinoiserie wallpaper and Victorian era fireplace mantel original to the house. The cottage had once been part of a larger estate designed by Stanford White and Charles McKim known as The Orchard, the cottage known as the garçonnière, or bachelor’s cottage.

NOW

From this photo featuring another view of the living room you will notice a marked difference from  photos taken at the time of Ronald Grimaldi. The room now appears almost white, which leaves me to believe that House Beautiful and/or the photographer, Robert Starkoff, took creative license when publishing the living room to reflect that decade’s earlier taste for bohemian tea-stained rooms invoking the passage of time. Simple lines from mid-century French armchairs designed by Jules Leleu and Jean Prouvé and a 1950’s cocktail table contradict the exotic exuberance of the painting and delicate tracery of the botancial wallpaper.

THEN

The living room appears as though it could have been decorated many decades earlier by Rose Cumming herself. Through the lens of Ronald Grimaldi a restrained palette of bronzes and browns further invokes a Russian country house, accented with Franco-Italian decoration. Free-spirited eclecticism brings together an 18th-century gilt scone, a vintage Baroque sofa, a 1940’s mirrored table, and leopard-print silk velvet-covered stools. Highly unexpected in a house so humble I rather delight at this room as theater. It has all the trappings of a room made for Bright Young Things, circa 1920’s. I can almost hear Cole Porter playing in the background, and over in the corner is Stephen Tennant, posing with his coterie of fashionable parvenus.

THEN

This view of Grimaldi’s living room reveals his talent at unifying elegance, comfort and a more casual way of living. The inherent rusticity of the room somehow does not contradict the more sumptuous appointments, such as the pagoda-inspired pelmets, through his achievement of complimentary scale and proportion. His grand gestures are simply exclamation points in a room furnished with an easy mix of inherited and acquired furniture, covered in Rose Cumming damasks and taffeta.

NOW

Painted floors continue throughout Newhouse’s new vision for the cottage and, here, in the dining room the walls have been painted a vibrant Lily Lavender by Benjamin Moore. A Merimekko fabric enlivens the dining table and white painted Chippendale-style chairs freshen the space. Bright, spirited, happy and easy.

THEN

This view of Grimaldi’s dining room also takes in the entrance hall/sitting room beyond and features the Chippendale-style chairs before they were painted.

NOW

The pale yellow checkerboard pattern of the floors continues into the kitchen, which was not photographed for the Grimaldi feature. Newhouse had the entire room remodeled, with walls and ceiling covered in a wallpaper by Thibault, as Rose Cummings might have. The dining table and chairs were painted in the style of folk artist Peter Hunt.

NOW

Also not featured in House Beautiful in 1998 was this room, the suroom, a veritable knock-off of Sister Parish circa late 1960’s.

NOW

The guest room was the only room in the house Newhouse left in tact, covered top to bottom in a blue-and-white floral Rose Cumming wallpaper and coordinating fabric for windows and chair.

NOW

The master bath was also left virtually unchanged, retaining its Rose Cumming wallpaper, as you can see in the following photos.

THEN

A pen-and-ink version of the living room’s botanical design was installed in Grimaldi’s bedroom, lending a more casual and Continental air. The gilded valance over his bed was salvaged from the back of his company’s furniture truck and made into a cornice.

THEN

Proof his master bath has changed little … and the late Mr. Grimaldi posing in his dressing gown.

NOW

The original poolhouse remains much as it did, though not photographed earlier, and now serves as Newhouse’s studio.

NOW

The exterior and gardens featuring a bench from English Country Antiques in Bridgehampton.

THEN

The Frederick Law Olmstead gardens of the former estate’ circular entrance featured a Renaissance basin.

House Beautiful, August 1998. Photography by Robert Starkoff. Photos for Elle Decor by Simon Upton