My love-hate relationship with East Hampton was veering more toward the hate end of the spectrum on a recent Saturday visit to the East End of Long Island. But all negative feelings washed away the minute I stepped into the Monogram Shop to say hello to Valerie Smith, who opened the homewares boutique with her daughter in 1997 on Newtown Lane. I wanted everything in the store. Naturally, I asked Valerie if I could visit her home. This is her bedroom, with rose wallpaper (in Bowood from Colefax and Fowler), which, she says, “has been somewhere in every house I’ve lived in.” Photo: Wendy Goodman
The front-porch floor is stained deep brown and then coated with polyurethane. The wood box has been painted Rembrandt Red from Fine Paints of Europe. “It’s the greatest red,” Valerie says. Photo: Wendy Goodman
This is one of a pair of canvas-covered deck chairs from Sage Street Antiques in Sag Harbor, the latest addition to Valerie’s patio. They look like they could have been on the QE2 once upon a time. Photo: Wendy Goodman
Valerie installed a mantel in the winterized screened-in porch. The house had once belonged to a Miss Mulford, who took in female boarders during the summer and was from one of East Hampton’s old families. Photo: Wendy Goodman
This niche was part of the original dining room, and now it holds dinnerware and provides storage for tablecloths and napkins. “It’s a sweet little zone,” Valerie says. It’s the first thing my eye was drawn to when I entered the house. Photo: Wendy Goodman
Valerie’s friend, the decorative painter Charles Butler, came up with the idea for the painted border along the dining-room floor. “We kicked around a bunch of ideas, but that very simple band was the right way to go,” she says. The dining room is the oldest part of the house and dates from the 1700s. The rest of the house was added on over time. Photo: Wendy Goodman
The chaise in the porch room was found for $200 at the now-defunct used-furniture store, the Yard Couple, in Sag Harbor. Photo: Wendy Goodman
This guest room is my dream of a summer bedroom and recalls the days when the Hamptons were as fresh and simply gorgeous as these linens from Julia B. Photo: Wendy Goodman
The spongeware pitchers in the guest room were found from a dealer in South Egremont, Massachusetts. Photo: Wendy Goodman
