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After a whirlwind world tour, one family needed a soft place to land.
Two years ago, designer Kristin Fine sold her house of 19 years, put her business on hold, and packed her family’s bags for a yearlong trip around the world. But after seven months away, the pandemic derailed their adventure and the family returned stateside. There was, Fine says, one other glaring problem: “We obviously needed a house.”
After a speedy search, they landed in a 12-year-old modern farmhouse in Westport, Connecticut. “We wanted a palate cleanser, something bright and clean and easy,” Fine explains. Still, she could see the dated space was in need of some TLC: “I thought, We can make something fabulous here.”
After closing, the designer got to work on a new kitchen, a new owner’s suite, a revamped staircase, and new flooring. To remedy the home’s lack of natural light, Fine added more windows to the living room and to the kitchen, where an opalescent Clé tile backsplash covers an entire wall and adds another layer of brightness. “One of the most important things I do when I’m designing is to watch how natural light moves through the space, and try to make the most of it,” Fine explains. Once that assessment has been made, she goes shopping for lamps: “That’s often my starting point.”
Fine found the living room’s bulbous Josef Frank table lamps on a trip to California. Their warmth and unusual shape immediately captured her imagination, and she decorated the rest of the room in concert.
Furnishings in neutral textured fabrics throughout the home have a calming effect. Even when bombarded by four children and three dogs, “hardworking” textiles like wool and Sunbrella are, Fine insists, up to the task. (“Maybe it looks really white, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s precious,” she explains.) Soft colors also highlight the family’s art, which they’ve been collecting for decades.
The designer spent more than 10 years running her interior design firm Fine Concepts. But this spring Fine will launch The 1818 Collective in Sag Harbor, New York, a completely new venture. Being her own client for once, she says, was freeing. In the powder room, she converted a black marble fragment into a custom sink and paired it with a bold striped wallcovering: “When it’s your house, you can take some chances.”
(Above) “This space was meant to be cozy,” says designer Kristin Fine of her Connecticut home office. Chandelier: Y Lighting. Pendants: vintage. Armchair: Cassina. Striped pillow: Home Union. Stool: Reinaldo Sanguino, The Future Perfect. Sofa: custom, The 1818 Collective, in Dedar fabric. Desk: Atelier de Troupe. Paint: Pale Oak, Benjamin Moore.
A TV is hidden behind asymmetrical plaster sliding doors that look like a piece of contemporary art when closed. Plasterwork: Kamp Studios. Paint: White Dove, Benjamin Moore. Ceiling fixture: vintage Paavo Tynell, 1stDibs. Lamps: vintage Josef Frank, Galerie Half. Sculpture: Suddenly So Strange by Klara Kristalova. Sofa: custom, Wyeth. Long table: 18th-century Swedish, Galerie Provenance. Accessories: vintage. Stool: vintage. Rug: Woven. Upholstered chair: Monc XIII.
A custom The 1818 Collective bench in Dedar fabric offers leafy views under an existing ceiling beam. Chairs: Giancarlo Valle. Stool: vintage.
To “bounce the light around, as it was a darker area,” Fine used a glossy trifecta of zellige tile by Clé Tile on the walls, Calacatta Vagli from ABC Stone on the counters, and vintage opaline pendants sourced on 1stDibs. Paint: White Dove, Benjamin Moore. Flush mounts: Y Lighting. Stools: vintage, BK Antiques, in Pierre Frey fabric.Hood: custom in Kamp Studios plaster. Range: BlueStar. Refrigerator: Sub-Zero.
A seating area off the kitchen, inspired by Fine’s favorite coffee shops, is used for reading and caffeinating in the morning. Bench: Monc XIII, with Casa Ahorita shearling pillow.Coffeetable: vintage. Rug: vintage, Plain Goods. Console: Rooms Studio, The Future Perfect. Art: Untitled11/11 by Yoshiaki Mochizuki (near wall); Untitled by Linda Matalon (far wall). Sconce: Apparatus. Flush mounts: Y Lighting.
Fine reworked the existing “busy and cold metal staircase” with drywall and a plaster finish by Kamp Studios. Paint: Arum, Ressource Paints
Contour #4, a bronze sculpture by Tania Pérez Córdova, crowns a The 1818 Collective bed in Dedar fabric.Sconce: Garde. Drawing: Merlin James. Nightstand: custom, Antony Todd. Lamp: vintage Murano. Bedding: Society Limonta (linens); Hermès (blanket).
The plush Giancarlo Valle chair and ottoman create a cozy corner for reading. Side table: Anthropologie. Lamp: vintage Georges Pelletier. Art: Merlin James. Rug: Woven.
A custom Eskayel wallcovering was hand-painted. Mirror: vintage, Wynsum Antiques & Interiors. Faucet: Waterworks. Marblesink: The 1818 Collective. Art: Snowflake by Wilson Bentley. Towel: Jenni Kayne.
A new opening from designers Kristin Fine and Analisse Taft-Gersten, this shop-slash–event space will feature a rotating selection of sought-after vintage and contemporary decor, and host artisan workshops, meet-the-maker gatherings, and more .