Check Out This Beach House With A Visually Refreshing, Hamptons-Style Design

A beach house is a top fantasy for those in need of escape and sometimes, enlightenment. Whether it’s a small hut right on the sand or a grand hotel in a swanky seaside city, to live by the ocean shore is an enduring dream. The bracing sea air and the ever-changing yet everlasting vista of the water and the sky speak deep to the human heart and stir the soul. For this particular family, taking on this beach house project was a way to become whole again.

 

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“I don’t know if this is a good anecdote to share,” the lady of the house begins, with some trepidation. “But when we were thinking of taking on this (project), we had been trying to have a baby, and it wasn’t happening. So my husband said, ‘Let’s build this house.’ Maybe it was a way to get my mind off it. And the great thing is now, we have both! We have this house, and then we also have our baby girl! So it all worked out!”

 

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A course in the classics

“We’re lucky that we like the same style,” the lady of the house enthuses. “We like a more classic, European country style, with a touch of the Hamptons, that American Colonial look. Like in that movie, Something’s Gotta Give. Lots of shutters, an open layout and nothing too precious. I could also say that I like the French Provincial style, but my husband is Italian and he would never like that! Casual and comfortable. Maybe the only difference is in the art, while my husband likes figurative art, I also like abstract art. But in most things, we like the same style.”

 

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Classics are classic for a reason. They have stood the test of time. Just as this family looks to their past to craft the future. “My Lola has a farm outside Bacolod and we would always visit during the summer. And my favorite spot in her house had view of a kalachuchi tree. So when we were building the house, we brought in two kalachuchi trees, and seeing them brings me back.

“My husband grew up surrounded by furniture, his dad ran one of the bigger export firms, so he likes to be the one to fix the cabinets. And we have pieces that were built by my father-in-law. Oh, and our first two marital beds are now in this house, too!”

But as many beautiful and sentimental pieces they have in this house, she is quick to add, “We do have some nice things, and though no one has ever broken anything, if ever that happened, we would be fine with that. We just want our friends to be comfortable.”

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An open house

“We really built this house for friends and family to come over. In fact, our daughters have to share a room because we wanted to have more guest rooms!”

When asked what reactions from guests truly warm their heart, the lady of the house barely pauses to exclaim, “They feel like it’s an instant spa! As soon as they enter, they like that everything is open, and that they can really relax. We have lots of friends with young kids, and I know how parents worry so we made sure that the pool is not so deep and that there’s a ledge so the parents can also have a place to sit while they watch their kids.”

 

 

And being at the beach has done wonders for their family bonding. “Since we’ve been spending more time here, my children hardly get sick. We travel so much less, we just come here. Last Christmas, we were here for almost a month! We spend all our holidays here.”

It’s no wonder then that as the interview winds down, she intones, with hope and wistfulness, “We hope to have this home forever.”

 

*This article was originally published in Metro Home & Entertaining magazine

 

Photographs by Jar Concengco for Metro Home & Entertaining