Real LI

What’s in a luxury bathroom? Plenty — for some it’s the most Zen place in the entire house — especially if the kids aren’t banging down the door. Somewhere along the line, these private spaces became less of a pit stop and more of a really pleasant — and often tranquil environment.

Check out some of these swanky bathrooms which will be be published this fall in “The Luxury Bathroom” book: In one Sagaponack weekend retreat, belonging to Diane and Craig Soloman, each have their own bathroom. But it’s Craig who went for the show stopper.

According the book, Diane wanted calm, peaceful and practical. Her bathroom is described as an “airy, hushed room with dark-stained wide-plank floors and wood-paneled walls painted soothing cream.” The focal point is “a voluptuous freestanding tub with an undulating profile.” An antique silver-leaf vanity mirror, a metal console made from a vintage armor box, and pieces from the Soloman’s growing art collection appear to complete the room.

As for Craig — the walls in his bathroom are striped with bold horizontal bands of limestone and beige marble, which “play off exotic accents like the rosewood vanity, which is repurposed 1960s Danish console.” A rosewood armoire stands in the corner. And his glass shower is all about the fixtures and multiple shower heads.

Another airy and spacious bathroom featured in the book, also in the Hamptons, has black and white subway tile, a vintage looking steam shower, an oversized tub and a pair of custom cherry vanities, including one to apply makeup.

This bathroom was included in the renovation of the 1930s farmhouse -- a weekend retreat for designer Betty Wasserman. According to the book, Wasserman wanted the "bathroom's interior to mesh seamlessly with the rest of the house," which she is calling a country-modern style. A high contrast palette of ebonized woods are offset by the black and white subway tile.
The ebonized wood floor and the cherry vanities compliment each other.

What's really impressive is this bathroom's storage. A mirrored medicine cabinet was installed above the sink and beside it, a low slung glass fronted unit for towels as described in the article. And how's this for creative? The cabinet was salvaged from the kitchen, where it hung on a wall. The designer added legs and set it on the floor. It's just the right height for her 5-year-old daughter too.

For more on Long Island bathrooms, read today's Newsday story here.

Photographer Elliott Erwitt's East Hampton house is one of dozens featured in the new book "America At Home: A Close-Up Look at How We Live," out in April from Running Press. The book came out of a week-long project last September in which "100 of the top photojournalists and millions of Americans documented the concept of home." The photo of Erwitt's house features his two young grandchildren -- Phoebe, 7, and Jesse, 5 -- standing inside whimsically painted school lockers. Since the two were toddlers, they have always climbed inside the lockers as soon as they arrived at their grandfather's home "to see how much they've grown since their last visit." Among its 250 photos is another of a nearby home that's on the market. "On a quiet East Hampton lane, minutes away from the train that brings commuters into Manhattan, a brand-new house glows brightly, waiting for prospective buyers to tour its four bedrooms. While most of America is reeling from the subprime mortgage crisis, a few communities like this one ... maintain their value." One reason? "President Clinton spent his summer vacations there, two First Ladys spent their youths playing on the town's beaches, and famed artist Jackson Pollock created his most famous paintings in East Hampton."

The new book "Robert Moses and the Modern City: The Transformation of New York (W.W. Norton, $50)" pulls together essays, photographs and a catalog of planning programs that highlight the master builder’s impact on the metropolitan landscape.

Love him or hate him, Moses opened up Long Island to the masses. For years, he reigned over the Long Island State Parks Commission, a group that was responsible for creating a string of parks linked by parkways stretching from the Queens line to Montauk Point. Thirteen parkways, including the Southern State, Northern State and the Meadowbrook, were built during his tenure. Heckscher State Park, Belmont Lake State Park and Jones Beach State Park were also developed by Moses as leisure destinations for the everyman.

Long Islanders Gary Lawrance and Anne Surchin will be signing copies of their book "Houses of the Hamptons: 1880-1930" from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Dec. 4 at the Rizzoli Bookstore, at 31 West 57th St. between Fifth and Sixth aves.

Need some design advice? The editors at Elle Décor have some ideas for you, straight from the homes of the rich and fabulous, compiled in the new book, "So Chic: Glamorous Lives, Stylish Spaces" (Filipacchi Publishing, $40). Included in the richly illustrated pages are profiles of three East End homes that at one time or another were owned by Ralph and Ricky Lauren, Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick, and Reed and Delphine Krakoff.

The Laurens still own the Montauk compound where they raised three children. Built in 1940 by Antonin Raymond, a Czech native who became a leader in Japanese modernist architecture in the 1950s, the main house is decorated with vintage pieces in pale woods and bamboo, rattan and wicker. There are three outbuildings on the property, including a guesthouse, cottage and screening room. Lauren tells the editor that the home is primarily used as a summer place, but that he sometimes stays there year-round. "There is something serene and rejuvenating about being there during the winter."

Sarah Jessica Parker and husband Matthew Broderick’s Bridgehampton home -- which they sold in 2005 for a reported $4.5 million -- is described as a 19th century farmhouse to which they added a wraparound porch. Parker asked interior designer Eric Hughes to create a home with, "color and light, and comfort, comfort, comfort." The couple swapped the home in 2005 for an oceanfront dwelling in Amagansett, reportedly paying $4.7 million.

Reed and Delphine Krakoff’s Southampton abode also made the cut. Krakoff is president and creative director for Coach, and his wife, Delphine, is a designer. The couple’s 1970s-era modernist Southampton home, which records show they sold for $11.5 million earlier this year, was decorated with artwork and sculpture and hand-painted furniture. Krakoff’s selection criteria is simple: "We don’t buy it unless we both like it."

The book was edited by Margaret Russell, editor-in-chief of Elle Decor and judge on Bravo's "Top Design," who has spent many a summer in the Hamptons.

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.