This house in Westport includes wide open spaces

above: A trailer of the manschett studio hangs over a custom sock table that is designed with the copper ships of the customers.

Design professionals come together to deliver a contemporary port for the next chapter of a couple

Interview with Meghan de Maria And Courtney Yanni, Moss Design
Michael Greenberg, Michael Greenberg & Associates And Marybeth Woods, Marybeth Wood's architect
Photography by Amy Visschio // styling of Kathleen Friedler

Who lives here?

Maria Meghan: They are an older couple who lived and tried to be reduced in Westport. Michael Greenberg was the architect who led this project and worked on her former home, where she raised her children. As grandparents they wanted something different. Mike worked with Marybeth Woods and called us for all interiors. It was really a collaboration. We all worked beautifully as a team.

What was your overall goal with the design plan?

Michael Greenberg: Our goal in every project is to combine beauty and function. As a design company, one of our signature aesthetics was the introduction of the post-and radiation construction. It not only helps to define the program, but also gives the overall architecture warmth. In this house, it is highlighted on the veranda and pergola to create outdoor spaces and in the interiors to give an open layout and to frame key elements such as the stairs and other areas with double heights. In cooperation with Marybeth, we used new white oak as a medium to complement the clean and bright cupboards and to create a layered backdrop for Moss' furniture selection.

With a limited palette and more contemporary feeling, this feels like a departure from the brave color for which moss is known. Would you agree?

MDM: Yes. Mike is known for his use of wood, and we really leaned into his architectural design and dipped deep into the. It was very gratifying because it is something completely different from the aesthetics for which we were known. Ultimately, I think that we are very diversified what we can build as a designer and as a company.

Courtney Yanni: Customers also have a very extensive art collection that we really wanted to lead. We retired to pattern and color and let art have the stronger moments. Placing art was an art in itself. They have such a large collection and we had to make sense in this new backdrop. But it's a nice, very interesting collection. It was really an honor to work with what they had.

What guidelines have you given you for these living rooms?

Cy: There were many of their own pieces – not only art – but furniture that they had collected over the years when they wanted to include us. They were beautiful pieces, but it was also about making sense in the new context, which is a large part of our work. What we like to do is mixed periods. So it was an entertaining challenge, and it was not that out of our comfort zone, because that is usually what we like to do. We have just started with the pieces of customers instead of procuring our own antiques and vintage pieces.

Tell us about this kitchen.

Marybeth Woods: They are big chefs. And like most projects, it was a marriage of two different aesthetics. One wanted more minimalistic and the other wanted the warmth of wood and stone and a mixture of materials.

So we mixed the oak with the white -painted cupboards, the dark steel and the book matched Lincoln Calacatta. The gallery and workstation on the island are a kind of core. Then we drove the satin nickel to lighten it. We mixed this with the blackened steel customer hood and the insert on the back of the island. This absorbs the way in the Custom Steel Stab shelf, the stair railings and the black windows and doors.

It was a mandate to keep everything open. So the oak then carries from the kitchen cupboards to the post and the beam, the ceiling of the hallway and the base of the bar cabinets.

What did you want for your main bath?

MW: They wanted a very spa-like restorative place. They knew from their travels that they wanted to have a Japanese bathtub. We combined this with the shower to create a nastroom with glass walls in the bathroom. Some of the touches that warm up this type of warmth are the satin nickel hardware and the very structured gray tiles. Everything has a uniform, soothing palette.

Was it difficult to work with this open plan?

MDM: I think it's really fun. There is a real rhythm, right? Go visually from one room to the next and then see how you all connect.

Cy: We always think about rivers, so that was really not a distance.

MDM: Because Mike uses so much wood, it was about integrating other wood tones in a way that made sense in the room. We wanted to make sure that it was not overly saturated with the white oak, so we brought this beautiful walnut table with the brass feet for the kitchen and also focused on not adding too much color.

Do you have a favorite room?

MDM: The primary bedroom. This resealing bed was made for this house. It is always difficult to win the customer's trust at the beginning, but they really dived and came with us.

RESOURCES:
Architect: Michael Greenberg & Associates, Westport; Michaelgreenberg-assoc.com
Interior architecture/cupboards: Marybeth Woods Architect, Norwalk; marybethwoodsarchitect.com
Interior architecture: Moss Design, Southport; mossdesignct.com
Green: Outdoor Design & Living Fairfield; Outdoordesign.com