Real LI

The 2006 Hampton Designer Showhouse is back on the market, now for an asking price of $16.9 million.

The 14,000-square-foot Bridgehampton home, which was listed for $24.5 million when it went on the market three years ago, had been in foreclosure; earlier this year, through a series of legal maneuvers, it was turned over to a holding company that is now trying to sell the property, says exclusive listing agent Mary Slattery of The Corcoran Group.

The investors behind the holding company are now paying to have the house completed, she says. The media room was never finished, and neither was the patio, she says. Even some trim and knobs are missing — "the kinds of things you'd expect to see in a house on the market for $16.9 million," she says.

Still, she says, "It's a spectacular property. It's just under four acres in one of the most beautiful spots in Bridgehampton south of the highway."

The eight-bedroom, 9.5-bath Arts & Crafts style house on Sagg Pond was designed by architect Peter Cook, Christie Brinkley's ex-husband. There is a wine room, a pool and a tennis court.

— VALERIE KELLOGG

The 2009 Hampton Designer Showhouse will be held this year at a new home on David’s Lane in Water Mill.

The shingled house, which has an asking price of $9.9 million, was constructed by Hamptons-based Farrell Building Company — whose principal, Joe Farrell, just put a Bridgehampton home he built for his family, “Sandcastle,” on the market for $50 million (it’s also available this summer as a rental for $500,000 for two weeks).

The show house will start July 26, and is being sponsored this year by Traditional Home.

The annual event is a fund-raiser for Southampton Hospital.

— VALERIE KELLOGG

Get a glimpse of how artists live — or at least how they work — when the Oysterponds Historical Society’s annual spring house tour next month opens the studio doors of nine North Fork painters and watercolorists.

The artists who will allow you to tramp through their studios as they display their works — much of it landscapes of North Fork vistas — are Kinga Crary, Dom DiLorenzo, Gerard E. Lehner, Sylvia Newman, Suzette Delia Reiss, Alanna Rose (whose painting is seen above), Marianne Weil, Laura Westlake and Marilyn Uhl-Utz. Most of the studios are connected to the artists’ homes in Orient and nearby East Marion.

The tour is from 1 to 4:30 p.m. June 6.

Tickets are $22 ($20 for historical society members), and are available by sending a check to OHS, P.O. Box 70, Orient, N.Y., 11957. Or you can buy them on June 6 at Orient Congregational Church on Main Road. For details, call 631-323-2480 or click here.

— STEVE PARKS

Set atop a 120-foot bluff, the picturesque village of Sea Cliff is widely known for its painted ladies — Victorians and Queen Annes, that is — as well as craftsman-style homes. Enthusiasts of such architecture will have an opportunity to take a close-up look of nine homes during a tour hosted by the Sea Cliff Landmarks Association from noon to 4 p.m. May 17.

Included in the tour is Cliff Cottage, seen here, an Arts and Crafts bungalow that was built between 1908 and 1910 into the cliff overlooking the water. And if one were to say this scene is as pretty as a postcard, he or she would be right: The house was often depicted on vintage postcards of Sea Cliff when it was a resort area.

The fee is $25. Proceeds fund the association’s grant program and historic survey project. For more information, call 888-475-1049.

— LISA DOLL BRUNO

Today she's Jenny from a private road in Brookville. But as the 2009 Kips Bay Decorator Show House is reminding the public, Jennifer Lopez really used to be from a block in her native Bronx.

A framed photo of Lopez sits on a desk in one of the rooms at the show house, a fund-raiser for the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club which opens today on the Upper East Side. The prop is an ode to Lopez, one of Kips Bay's most famous alums.

The Manhattan design firm of Paula + Martha designed the room -- a fantasy office for the executive director of the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club, which serves disadvantaged children. Many of the materials used by the designers were natural or inexpensive or even both -- like the distinctive burlap embroidered in bright colors with slogans by some of the kids currently in Kips Bay programs.

Lopez performed at the Castle Hill-based Kips Bay for the "Today" show in 2002 -- on the same stage where she danced as a youth.

See more photos of the show house -- including the room by Paula + Martha -- here.

- VALERIE KELLOGG

Newsday photo / Valerie Kellogg

Want to design the perfect room in your house? "Always start with a plan," recommends Merrick designer Marlaina Teich, one of about 20 Long Island designers and architects sharing their secrets in the recently released "Can't Fail Room Makeovers" (Creative Homeowner Press, $19.95).

Other pearls of wisdom in author Lucianna Samu's book include Susan Calabria of Locust Valley-based Noli Design ("The accent color is just as important as your main color"), Patrick Falco of Falco Designs Inc. in East Islip ("Form follows function") and Jackie Higgins of Beach Glass Designs in Huntington Bay ("The perfect eating room always starts with a crisp and energetic color choice").

Samu's husband, Mark, an architectural photographer, shot some of the room makeovers at Long Island show houses. He and Lucianna -- a decorative painter, interior designer, space planner and color expert -- lived on Long Island until 2003.

VALERIE KELLOGG

Two Long Island designers will be decorating at the 2009 Kips Bay Decorator Show House: Huntington-based Eileen Kathryn Boyd of Eileen Kathryn Boyd Interiors and Fire Island resident Gail Shields-Miller of Shields & Company Interiors. The fund-raiser will take place this year at 22 East 71st St., a neo-Italian Renaissance-style townhouse on the market through Sotheby’s International Realty for $75 million. The show opens April 17.

- VALERIE KELLOGG

This "Butterfly Chair" by Vermont artist Johnny Swing is in Manhattan architect and designer Campion Platt's family room at the 2008 Idea House in Sagaponack.

The 2008 Hamptons Cottages & Gardens Idea House, at 151 Sagg Main in Sagaponack opens tomorrow with a gala from 7 to 9 p.m. Developer ModernGreenHome and more than 25 designers and architects have given the 150-year farmhouse -- the former home of "From Here to Eternity" author James Jones -- a "green" makeover, turning it into an eco-friendly, energy saving showhouse. The Idea House is opened for viewing 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays through Aug. 24. Tickets for the gala are $150, advance purchase only; tickets for weekend tours are $30, available at the door only. Proceeds benefit five East End charities. For more information call the Peconic Land Trust at 631-283-3195 or visit peconiclandtrust.org.

- M. BOZENA SYSKA

The doors of the 2008 Hampton's Designer Showhouse open tomorrow at 6 p.m. at a gala preview party, where more than 25 of the best interior designers, landscape architects and decorative artists showcase their work in the shingle-style mansion. The newly constructed 7,500-square-foot, six-bedroom, 6-1/2 bathroom home sits on 1.4 acres of land at 59 Farm Court in Sagaponack. The showhouse is open to the public through Aug. 31. Gala tickets are $250; admission to the show house is $30. Hours: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Sunday. All proceeds go to benefit Southampton Hospital. For tickets and more information, call 631-537-0455 or visit hamptondesignershowhouse.com.

- M. BOZENA SYSKA

See professionally decorated rooms of donated furniture and accessories, and win trips, fashion, rare and unusual wines and goodies for the home at Southampton Fresh Air Home's annual "Decorators-Designers-Dealers Sale, Auctions and Cocktail Benefit Party" from 5 to 8:30 p.m. tomorrow at 3 Barkers Island Road in Southampton. Admission prices start at $150 and go up. Proceeds go to benefit the Home, a camp for physically challenged children. For more information, call 631-283-5847 or visit sfah.org.

If you’ve been busting to get a glimpse inside some of the swankier homes in the Hamptons, you know -- the ones behind privacy hedges -- here’s your chance: On June 20, the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club and Architectural Digest are sponsoring the First Annual Hamptons House Tour.

The estates on tour -- from East Hamtpon to Southampton -- are those that feature the work of several top architects and interior designers, including John Barman (his house, shown here, also will be on the tour), Thomas Britt, Jamie Drake, Wayne Nathan, Carol Egan, Preston Phillips, Campion Platt, Ann Pyne and Betty Sherrill.

The cost: $150 per person. But breakfast is included ... well, it’s actually required in order to pick up the tickets and maps. The breakfast begins at 10 a.m. and the self-guided house tour is from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. To purchase tickets, call 718-893-8600, ext. 245.

Photo by Eric Piasecki

Back in 2006, Newsday wrote of the opening of the Hampton Designer Showhouse: "Oh, how to sell a $25 million-plus house? Especially one designed by Christie Brinkley's likely soon-to-be ex-husband, architect Peter Cook. That's the real ticket for the 18,000-square-foot new mansion in Bridgehampton that's hosting this year's Hampton Designer Showhouse, a fundraiser for Southampton Hospital." Well, guess what? The Highland Terrace house still has not sold. A lis pendens has been filed against the house, now listed for $19.995 million. "Mortgage defaults, foreclosures and the Hamptons were words that until recently were never mentioned in the same breath," reports today's Newsday. "Defaults and foreclosures took place elsewhere. But over the past year across the East End there's been a noticeable increase in 'lis pendens' -- the first legal foreclosure notice -- and even foreclosure auctions, which take place in courtrooms or on town hall steps." Read the full story here.

Photo by Doug Kuntz

View homes on the North Shore, have lunch at the Thatched Cottage in Centerport, see a fashion show by The Pink Link, and browse boutiques during the “Sammis Family House Tour,” 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today. Tickets are $55 in advance, $60 day of event, including lunch. Luncheon only from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. for $25. Boutiques are open from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Call 631-427-3700, ext. 255, or click here.

Resting on 1.4 acres, this newly constructed traditional home in Sagaponack will be included in the Hampton Designer Showhouse this summer. The listing price is $12.5 million. The 7,500-square-foot residence, which has an additional 3,000-square-foot finished basement, was built “green” with renewable energy components. Designed with extensive moldings and cabinetry, the floor plan includes six bedrooms, six and a half bathrooms, formal living and dining rooms and a chef’s kitchen. Amenities include a pool and a tennis court. The listing agent is Janet Hummel of Town and Country Real Estate in Bridgehampton.

The Lane Estate in Nissequogue boasts a colorful history. Built in 1860 as a shingle-style Victorian, it came into the possession of Albert Stewart, whose lucrative affiliation with the Barnum and Bailey Circus and friendship with the New York City Mayor William Gaynor didn’t save him from death aboard the Titanic. The house was purchased in 1914 by James Lane, who moved it up to a nearby hill, redressed its exterior in Greek Revival fashion, and hired the legendary Elsie De Wolfe to festoon the interiors with trellis work, mosaics, murals and fountains.

By the time Deborah Dufton and her husband bought it in 1998, the mansion had fallen into dreadful disrepair, its walls crumbling, its floors leaking sticky residue, its infrastructure a shambles. The couple diligently restored the mansion to the heights of its De Wolfe-ian splendor and then decided to sell. But the ailing market forced them to lower the price and Dufton worried that the home might not attract a buyer who could appreciate it.

“Builders were sniffing around [threatening to knock it down], and I wanted to preserve its history. It’s a special house.” So she decided to organize a showcase on the premises featuring just under 20 designers who are based mostly on Long Island. Dufton has stipulated that they work around the De Wolf fixtures and integrate them into a relatively cohesive, traditional style. She is putting the house back on sale the day her event opens.

The Lane Estate, located at 707 Short Beach Rd., will be open from May 31 to June 29. For more information about tickets and reservations call 631-734-5894 or click here.

-- ARIELLA BUDDICK

Maybe everyone is ready for a change and not just in politices. Change, modernizing, freshening up -- that's the idea this time around for the 36th annual Kips Bay Decorator Show House, which recently released its list of decorators.

Seven of the 21 spaces went to young first-time participants in the venerable showcase. No Long Island designers in the bunch, though most do work here.

And instead of the usual townhouse mansion, the decorators get to inject glamor into four apartments on the 10th floor -- and the penthouses -- of the 1950s white brick Manhattan House apartment building at 200 East 66th St. which, not surprisingly, is going condo. Expect to see more contemporary design, fewer swags.

When the show house doors open April 24 through Memorial Day (and possibly longer), you can check out the work of: Andrew Edward Kepler Design & Interiors, Bilotta Kitchens of New York with Chef Daniel Boulud (yep, that's right, the celebrity chef isn't just lending his name and expertize to cookware but to an entire kitchen which may spawn a marketable product line), Bograd Kids, Inc, Charlotte Moss Interior Design, Ellen Ward Scarborough Ltd. with Pariscope Design, Inc., Geoffrey Bradfield, Inc., Ian Halliday, David Katon and Tania Balafoutis for BKH New York, Inc., Jeff Lincoln Interiors, Kondylis Design, Larry Laslo Designs, Michael McKinnon, Inc., Nancy Ruddy for CETRARUDDY, Philip Gorrivan Design. Richard L. Ridge & Roderick R. Denault Interior Design, S. Russell Groves Interior Design, Sara Bengur Interiors. Sara Story Design, Stephen Miller Siegel Architects, P.C., TRUCK Product Architecture for Nurseryworks, White Webb, LLC and William McIntosh Design.

For more of this season's show house information, go here.

-- CAROL POLSKY

The next Hamptons Cottages and Gardens Idea House will be green, thanks to Peter Sabbeth. He and wife, decorator Melissa Green, own Sag Harbor-based Modern Green Home, which they started almost two years ago, according to an article in the East Hampton Star. The Sagaponack farmhouse was built in 1860, and is being completely renovated with “a very, very modern addition onto the back of it.” The house was once owned by author James Jones, who wrote “From Here to Eternity.” “It’s going to be the first ecologically friendly designer showhouse in the Northeast,” Sabbeth said. When done, the house will be 6,300 square feet, with a 2,700-square-foot finished basement.

The East Hampton Star photo by Carissa Katz

For the first time ever, a designer show house will be held at Mill Neck Manor, a historic mansion on the property of the Mill Neck Manor School for the Deaf.

The 1922 house once belonged to artist Robert Leftwich Dodge and his wife, Lillian Sefton Dodge, who owned the Harriet Hubbard-Ayer Cosmetics Co. The house is a tudor revival. "At the time, it was the chic way to build," says Arlene Travis, a Mill Neck Designers' Showcase '08 organizer. In addition to European artifects that Lillian Sefton Dodge collected from around the world after World War I, the house contains five Shakesperean stained glass windows by Charles J. Connick, who worked in the medieval style. Many print ad campaigns have been shot at the house, including those for Ralph Lauren and Mercedes Benz, as well as movies, including "Death Wish" and "Trading Places."

The show house will run from April 26 to June 15. For more information, call 516-628-4333.

Old Westbury Gardens today announced the first-ever Orchard Hill Designer Showhouse. Scheduled to kick off May 2 with a preview party, the show house will be held at the former home of Peggie Phipps Boegner. The home, known as Orchard Hill, is a Quaker farmhouse built in 1859 by the Hicks family. Peggie Phipps Boegner, who founded Old Westbury Gardens, lived at Orchard Hill home from 1930 until her passing in 2006. The six-week event will benefit Old Westbury Gardens. About 25 interior designers and decorative artists will participate. Designer Mario Buatta -- the so-called Prince of Chintz -- will be the design chairman. The show house will last for six weeks. Call 516-333-0908 for details.