At Home With The Martins

So many people had looked at Nick and Christina Martin’s house on Montauk Highway in Sagaponack before they bought it, that it had become an inside joke, and perhaps a realtor’s worst nightmare.

“Every person that came here, said they had looked at the house,” Ms. Martin said during an interview at family home.

Everyone may have looked at the house, which was a mess of contrasting styles and more than a little scary, but it was the Martins who stepped up to the challenge and bought and renovated it.

The original 1770 Colonial farmhouse had a Queen Anne turret added in the 1800s. And three or four previous renovations formed a “Neo-I’m-not-sure-what” look, said Mr. Martin.

Fortunately, he is an architect with his own Sagaponack-based firm, Martin Architects. And Ms. Martin, who owns an estate management company, said she loves a good project.

From the driveway, the entryway draws one’s gaze right into the white clapboard home. Two weeping purple fastigiate beech trees flank the walkway, which Reilly Rose, Ms. Martin’s daughter, calls “Princess trees,” because they look like they are out of a Gothic fairy tale and tower almost 20 feet tall.

The trees against the glass front, HardiePlank fiberboard siding and stainless steel roof all work together to create a grand, yet simple entrance. Two granite benches flank the front walkway.

Inside, an artichoke lamp hangs overhead. A painting by Richmond Burton was traded for a renovation and made specifically for the space. Artwork by Hans Hoffmann and Pope Noell also hang on the first floor.

The open and inviting plan of today is a huge difference from when Reilly Rose was afraid to enter the house. Originally, it had been a tight and dark space with low ceilings.

“It was a horrible house,” Reilly Rose said, “I thought it was haunted, especially at night.”

Her mother concurred.

“It smelled of death,” she said.

“There were black snakes in the basement,” Mr. Martin added with glee. “Everything was orange and black.”

The rooms were circular with strange configurations such as two steps up, two steps down. It was necessary to walk through bedrooms to get to bedrooms.

Ms. Martin answered the question as to why in the world anyone in their right mind would want to buy a house that seemed so scary and discombobulated.

“We were young and ready for a great project,” she said.

The couple met several years ago at Belle’s Restaurant in Southampton, where she was working while attending graduate school to become a teacher. They married last December in East Hampton during the biggest storm of the year.

Standing in front of the stove that was in the kitchen when they purchased the dilapidated property in 2008, the family was in the midst of planning a “Jack and Jill” party the following day.

“I love my kitchen. I like to cook,” said Ms. Martin.

The couple can also come as a package deal professionally. Ms. Martin said she often helps her husband’s clients move into a home or stage the interior for rent or sale.

“We manage all of it” Mr. Martin said, “Generally, people don’t know what they want. We lead them.”

Ms. Martin runs her business, Estate Hamptons, out of an office on the first floor of the house. She does everything from overseeing construction to making sure pipes don’t freeze. She said her clients have so many people in their lives doing things that they need someone who will have the same eyes as they would when coordinating people and staff in their second, third or fourth home.

Mr. Martin, who grew up in South America, New York and London, has designed everything from wall coverings to renovating a meditation pond. The architect designed the family’s exotic dining room table out of wenge, a sustainable wood from the Costa Rican rain forest, he said, adding that sustainability is important to him.

“There’s nothing more green than reusing a house,” he said.

When renovating his family’s home, Mr. Martin reused as much as possible. The original dark flooring was reused for walls in small sections of the house, contrasting with the new white and pickled oak flooring. Outdoor porches were incorporated into the living area to create the final 6,000-square-foot space.

Room doors were reused as closet doors. Old beams were kept or re-purposed in the master bedroom, including the master bathroom vanity. There, light pours into a claw-foot tub, which sits on light grey porcelain tile from Spain.

When building, Mr. Martin carefully observed how the light came into the house at different times of the day, and he said he was intent on getting the most light into the house as possible. Even sitting at his desk in his basement office, he can see the sky from the light wells, and on this night, the full moon. He kept windows high to read as sky and trees. The stairway going to basement from the entryway is not a full wall, but rather slats to let the light in.

The second floor is where the family bedrooms are located. On the third floor, a guest suite occupies the space, as does a foosball table in the turret.

The Martin house, like most of Mr. Martin’s projects, is passive solar and has a high R-value insulation.

Concerned with highway noise, the architect made the structure completely sound-isolated.

“You can’t hear a thing,” he said.

“There are no nails,” added Ms. Martin, “Nail holes conduct sound.”

Eventually, two fences will be erected, with material between them for sound deadening, according to the couple.

The property, which is connected to a 17-acre preserve donated by Henry O. Golightly, also boasts a chicken coop and three boarders who each lay an egg a day.

“That’s 21 eggs a week. That’s not bad,” said Ms. Martin.

In the backyard, a water element shoots water out of a tree and bush, which arcs into the deep end of pool to create white noise, not to mention a dramatic visual effect. To continue the theme, the outdoor shower also comes out of a tree.

Among the large trees on the 4-acre property are five sugar maples, sassafras, locust and tupelo trees. Interestingly, the property sits dead in the center of the Long Pond Greenbelt, a glacier path that runs from Ligonee Creek in Sag Harbor to Sagaponack Pond in Sagaponack.

“We wanted to create a beautiful oasis,” Mr. Martin said.

For those who now visit the home, the transformation from darkness to lightness, from “haunted” to peaceful, has been made complete.