Real LI

OK, we all know Isabella Rossellini is Bellport's most famous resident. But did you know she prefers the indoors to the outdoors? According to the new issue of Hamptons magazine, the actress says, "I like inside. It's always a little cold outside, or too hot." Her house -- a converted barn -- "is a very big space, and very rustic. I feel like a squirrel living in a tree." While she may commune with nature, she tells the magazine that she will kill termites and carpenter ants. "But I don't use pesticide on the grass because it washes into the bay. And if I have a few ants or spiders, I'm not going to [contaminate] the whole house."

Designer Kathryn Letson owns this 1876 former post office in Bellport. The four-bedroom, four-bath Italiante-style house was built for Richard Gerard, a Bellport postmaster, and his wife, Nancy. Around 1915, it was a tearoom. The home has incredible period details, including wide plank pegged pine floors, a marble fireplace mantle and pedestal sinks, says Bryan Cronin, who is co-listing the house with Gina M Vigliotti for Coldwell Banker Residential in Patchogue. "Everthing's been restored or updated," he says, including the kitchen, which has marble counters and Viking and Bosch appliances. The original carriage house on the 100-by-165-foot lot has been converted into a separate cottage. Letson is asking $1.2 million. Letson is a former designer for DKNY and the The Gap who is now a fashion forecaster and owner of Trend Inc. in New York

Long Island shows proudly in the new book "Vogue Living: Houses, Gardens, People" (Alfred A. Knopf , $75), out this month. Written by Hamish Bowles with a foreword by Calvin Klein, the book about "spectacular houses and gardens -- owned by celebrated figures in the worlds of fashion, music, art and society" opens with photos of Aerin Lauder's East Hampton Greek Revival home (which once belonged to grandmother Estee, whose 1962 Mercedes is parking out front) and of former Duchess of Marlborough, Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan's study in Southampton.

Also captured from the pages of Vogue over the past two decades is actress Isabella Rossellini's Bellport house, which appeared in the magazine in 1999. She chose the house not only because she found it "magical" but because she could walk to the Long Island Rail Road station (she doesn't drive). She worked with architect Pietro Cicognani to restore the barn on the property, which had been abandoned. "I enjoy fixing houses up," she says. "I think I enjoy the fixing up more than the living!"

Another chapter in the 400-page book features the Springs home of Carolina and Ian Irving, done in the English style. (She's style editor for Vogue Living; he's a Sotheby's auctioneer who handled the 1988 sale of Andy Warhol's collections.) The photos were taken in 2006.

A wall-raising today in Bellport marked the start of what will be the fourth all-women's built home supervised by Habitat of Humanity of Suffolk County.

The recipient of the home will be Claudia Hunt, who lives in substandard conditions in East Patchogue with her son, Jayron, 4, say Habitat-Suffolk officials. Hunt, whose parents live blocks away from the Habitat project on McDonald Avenue, is an office supervisor for a car auction firm. She will be required to put in hours of sweat equity -- meaning labor on the home -- before she is granted an interest-free mortgage for the residence.

According to Les Scheinfeld, associate director for Habitat-Suffolk, Hunt has hoped for a home in the same area where she grew up for the longest time. "We're happy to be part of making her dream come true,” he said.

Aura Levitas, a retired Broadway dancer, is the project's sponsor. It's the third time Levitas, who was instrumental in beginning the women’s build program on Long Island, has sponsored a Habitat home.

-- GARY DYMSKI