The experimental midcentury-modern structure of the Hamptons has lengthy been a supply of fascination to many within the design world — together with Timothy Godbold, an inside designer based mostly in Southampton, NY So within the fall of 2019, when he seen an uncommon modernist home on the town listed on the market, he was intrigued.
Extra intriguing nonetheless: It was in-built 1973 by Eugene L. Futterman, a reputation he did not acknowledge.
The 1,700-square-foot house was all angles, with two intersecting, triangular roof planes and a main bed room that rose into the treetops like a periscope. However the inside was dated and the weathered-cedar exterior had been repaired with mismatched boards, so the home had languished available on the market. “It was actually quirky, and it was a very good value,” Mr. Godbold, 55, stated.
“The minute I noticed it, I assumed, ‘Oh, that is going to be a black home,'” he continued. “The form of the home was so unimaginable, however the completely different shades of wooden had been distracting to the attention. Portray it a strong coloration introduced the structure collectively.”
The asking value was $925,000, however he provided considerably much less and closed for $832,500 in January 2020.
A number of months later, Mr. Godbold established Hamptons 20 Century Fashionable, a company devoted to preserving trendy homes within the space. However in his own residence, he wasn’t beholden to the previous.
After shifting in, he started planning an overhaul of the inside and the grounds. His purpose: to mix the sensation of his architecturally bold childhood house in Perth, Australia, with the vibe of a villain’s hide-out from a James Bond film.
“I’ve all the time been obsessive about James Bond villain lairs,” Mr. Godbold stated, citing the films “Thunderball” and “Moonraker” as sources of inspiration.
“I am not married. I haven’t got a accomplice saying, ‘No, honey, do not do this,’” he defined. “It is simply me, so I can do no matter I need.”
Main as much as the home, he designed a collection of cantilevered bluestone steps that wind by the backyard and are lit from beneath, so they seem to hover on gentle. Additionally, they conceal built-in audio system. “I can create no matter temper I need,” he stated. “If I am having a celebration and wish ’70s disco, it will be within the staircase.”
The spherical metal firepit is ringed by a terrace completed in sections of small and enormous black-pebble mosaic — a design based mostly on “the nuclear image,” Mr. Godbold stated, which additionally reminds him of Charlotte Perriand’s Rio espresso desk.
In the lounge, he put in a brief wall that is angled so it looms over a snaking Sixties sectional couch upholstered in nubby white wool. A big planter crammed with monstera vegetation sits atop the wall. Under, the present fire has a brand new profile recalling a stepped pyramid.
“It is based mostly on ‘Moonraker,'” he stated. “Keep in mind when he goes to Brazil and he is coming into the lair and there are all of the angular partitions?”
However the lounge is not a homage simply to 007. “That is additionally Paul Rudolph,” Mr. Godbold stated, naming the revered Twentieth-century American architect recognized for his geometric constructions. “He is one among my idols.”
For gentle switches and dimmers, Mr. Godbold selected steel toggle switches and knurled knobs from Buster & Punch that look able to triggering machine weapons or ejector seats.
After all, few well-funded villains construct lairs solely for the aim of orchestrating dastardly deeds. Luxurious is normally a precedence, and Mr. Godbold made certain to not fall brief on that depend. Within the main bed room, he positioned his mattress on a carpeted riser with lighting beneath it and Belgian linen material surrounding it, for the sensation of a cocoon. Then he knocked down a wall to open the area to his toilet, the place he added ribbed fibrous cement panels from Equitone to the partitions and a soaking tub set beneath skylights.
For one of many two visitor rooms, he designed a customized stainless-steel mattress with a smoky grey travertine headboard and a built-in desk because the footboard. Within the eating room, he created a desk by inserting a customized terrazzo prime on a planter from West Elm — “a $10,000 stone prime on a $400 base.”
Though he splurged on a couple of particular items, Mr. Godbold pinched pennies elsewhere. To maintain renovation prices right down to about $350,000, he lived in the home in the course of the 18-month undertaking, which he accomplished final August, and served as his personal basic contractor.
“I had no kitchen — only a microwave and paper plates and cups,” he stated. “However I did it, and it was nice.”
He estimates the home could also be value twice what he spent on it. “Nobody needed this home,” he stated. “It had been sitting available on the market. However I knew precisely what I used to be going to do after I noticed it.”
If others observe his instance, he added, “I hope they’ve as a lot enjoyable as I did.”
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