Lydia and Rudy Touzet’s Southampton Village Charmer

When Lydia and Rudy Touzet purchased their Southampton Village house in 2019, they were already seasoned Hamptonites, having owned a large estate home fronting a pond off Wickapogue Road for 10 years.

“It was perfect for raising our two boys,” said Lydia, who grew up in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and has, throughout her life, borne a striking resemblance to a certain American First Lady famous for her impeccable style and taste. Rudy, a real estate financier, was only 1 year old when his family fled Cuba for South Florida, where he was raised. Together, they are well-known for possessing an engaging charm that lights up rooms wherever they go.

As their kids got older and becoming empty nesters loomed on the horizon, they started the search for something more manageable and closer to town and, more importantly, walkable to the beach. They found the perfect fit: a shingle-style two-story traditional on a quiet, leafy street barely a half mile away from Little Plains Beach. While built in just 2016 by developer Joe Roperto, the house was designed by East End architect Mathias Thoerner with a heady dose of post-Victorian style details, such as generous eaves, a wide columned front porch, and a single dormer featuring a pair of arched, diamond-paned windows. The sum of the parts equals an unassuming but pristine, ageless village-appropriate house that fits well with its neighbors.

“We bought the house right before the pandemic, fully furnished,” Lydia said. “We were so lucky!” And so they settled in, doing little adjustments to put their own stamp on what was, essentially, someone else’s taste. With white walls and predominantly oatmeal linen RH upholstery everywhere, the décor and furnishings were completely neutral and unoffensive, but the house lacked punch and did little to reflect their own personalities. Given that this was essentially just a summer home for them, their initial focus was on the outdoors. “We relaxed all the brick walkways and added new landscaping,” Lydia recalled. But the Touzets knew that ultimately, they needed to do more.

Enter Quinn Pofahl, who after a long career in fashion creative services and visual merchandising rose to the position of senior vice president of Ralph Lauren Home, overseeing all aspects of the company’s robust décor business, from furniture, textiles and lighting to tabletop, gifts and bedding. In the throes of the pandemic, Pofahl took an extraordinary leap of faith by opening his own design firm and retail shop on Southampton’s Jobs Lane, which he titled Jetsam Studio as his nod to all things nautical. Lydia and Rudy visited the shop and purchased a piece for their Miami house. They were captivated by his aesthetic and engaged him to reimagine each and every room of their Hamptons home.

“The house needed color and more contemporary, interesting pieces,” Pofahl explained. “I was inspired by their collection of landscape paintings that have a youthful, vibrant feel.” By taking a host of blues found in the paintings, he gave the rooms a much-needed injection of clear, albeit soft color. The illusive “pop” that all good interiors need came via the introduction of black, in the most subtle way: painting the windows and doors of the main entertaining spaces a glossy black, which added drama and a decidedly of-the-moment edge.

“They are a fun loving and energetic family with cool kids,” Pofahl said. “The house needed to reflect that in a modern way. From Day 1, it’s been a blast!”