The Fantastic thing about a One-Bed room Home? No Room for Friends.

Because the founders of Haver & Skolnick Architects, an upscale agency based mostly in Roxbury, Conn., Charles M. Haver and Stewart R. Skolnick spend most of their days designing expansive nation estates. However when it got here time to design their very own getaway, they wished the precise reverse.

“We wished one thing very small, with privateness and an ocean view,” mentioned Mr. Haver, 64.

Particularly, they wished a house that was simply sufficiently big for the 2 of them and their German shorthaired pointer, Keeper, after discovering that sustaining a 1790s home in Connecticut was a full-time job.

“In Roxbury, now we have about 3,500 sq. ft in our residence, and our offices are in an vintage barn that’s an extra 3,500 sq. ft,” mentioned Mr. Skolnick, 68. “So you have got two guys rambling round in 7,000 sq. ft.”

Trying to construct a weekend home close to the ocean, the couple purchased two adjoining tons totaling 3.1 acres on Fishers Island, in Southold, N.Y., for $500,000 in 2012.

Deciding what to construct there took them practically a decade. “We went by way of in all probability 100 completely different schemes,” Mr. Skolnick mentioned. “It was actually good, although, as a result of with every scheme we fleshed out what was actually essential to us with out worrying concerning the examine marks from an actual property viewpoint.”

A home with a single bed room and a single full lavatory, they decided, would go well with them simply effective — though it may not be splendid for resale. Their builder, HP Broom Housewright, started building on the 1,200-square-foot home, tower-like home in September 2020.

The primary ground accommodates only one bed room, one lavatory and a laundry room. The second ground feels surprisingly expansive, with a 20-foot hip-roof ceiling and water views on three sides. Nevertheless it accommodates solely a lounge, a small galley kitchen and a powder room.

“The actual thrust of the design was to seize the views,” Mr. Skolnick mentioned. “We’re wanting on the Atlantic Ocean, however we additionally see Fishers Island Hold forth to at least one aspect, and we’re surrounded by ponds.”

To maintain upkeep to a minimal, they selected exterior supplies that might climate over time, together with Alaskan yellow cedar shingles, bronze railings and aluminum-clad home windows in a charcoal grey. “The one paint that’s required to keep up the outside is on the entrance door and the mudroom door” within the walkout basement, Mr. Skolnick mentioned.

Inside, they put in mild oak flooring and doorways, a beamed ceiling on the primary ground and nickel-gap paneling on the second ground. For furnishings and lighting, they mixed finds from auctions and antiques outlets, an exercise Mr. Haver excels at, as he’s additionally an antiques seller.

“In Roxbury, we dwell with Americana antiques, so on this home we wished to combine it up a bit of,” Mr. Skolnick mentioned. “A lot of the antiques are European, and we actually appreciated the concept of contrasting vintage furnishings with trendy summary artwork.” The lounge furnishings, as an illustration, embody a Nineteenth-century French fruitwood chest and an 18th-century walnut armoire together with colourful up to date work by Denise Driscoll and Michael Hedges.

To open up the views, the panorama round the home required loads of work, too. The location was a part of a Twenties growth by Frederick Regulation Olmsted Jr., a son of the Central Park designer, however it had grow to be so overgrown with dense brush and invasive vines that it was tough to see a lot of something.

Mr. Haver and Mr. Skolnick labored with Jeff Edwards, of Race Rock Garden Co., to return it to an open panorama impressed by Mr. Olmsted’s imaginative and prescient. They cleared out the invasive vegetation to make means for a grassy meadow that spills from the home towards the ocean with meandering strolling paths, and so they pruned and preserved the cherry, hickory and oak bushes.

Subsequent to the home, they put in a backyard of easy rocks like these discovered on the island’s seashores. It sprouts with easy-to-care-for ornamental grasses, lavender and caryopteris.

The home was accomplished in March 2022, at a price of $1,500 a sq. foot. And there’s no room for company, which was the intention.

“We’ve got a number of visitor rooms in Connecticut, and so they’re welcome to return there,” Mr. Haver mentioned.

“Or they’ll come for lunch,” Mr. Skolnick added.

Their Fishers Island home — named Pointer Perch, after their canine — affords a non-public place for quiet downtime. Though that doesn’t at all times occur.

“We love the home, however what hasn’t labored out is the stress-free half,” Mr. Skolnick mentioned. “We spend each weekend on the land doing varied tasks — pruning, clearing, planting — and we love that. However on the finish of every day, we’re completely exhausted.”

Dwelling Small is a biweekly column exploring what it takes to guide an easier, extra sustainable or extra compact life.

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