An interior designer's New England beach house filled with collected treasures
“The biggest compliment I could ever hope to receive is that people feel comfortable in the homes I design. I want people to want to stay,” explains Max Sinsteden of his decorating ethos. It's the mentality he brings to his work, and nowhere more so than in this shingled beach cottage on Rhode Island.
Until recently, it belonged to Max – one half of US-based interior design company Olasky & Sinsteden alongside his business partner Catherine Olasky – and his husband Jordan Rundell. Max has an impressive CV for a decorator in his mid-30s, having interned for David Easton for several years during his school years, before moving on to work for Charlotte Moss. Following that, he came to London, worked at the V&A and met Catherine. At that time she was working alongside Roger Jones at Sibyl Colefax and John Fowler, having previously worked for Bunny Williams for five years. Fast forward to September 2009 and they went into business together, combining all the knowledge they'd learnt from their various bosses and mentors along the way and taking it back to America in 2012. “I give so much credit to Catherine,” Max details, “because I feel like I had the most incredible education by osmosis from her time at Colefax. The level of intent that’s put into the smallest of details is intrinsic to us now and we pursue the smallest details that make a project”.
Although Max and Catherine work together on projects for clients, he went solo for his own home and approached it in an entirely different way. “When you do it for yourself there is a different process – you’re not putting together a scheme presentation or ordering things in a linear fashion, and things are much more cobbled together.” The house itself reflects this, being somewhat cobbled together in its architecture. A small, shingled house built in the 1920s, it has some extensions dating to the 1940s. The ground floor has, according to Max, about four different floor levels which change between rooms. “It's not so good for the older cocktail-inclined friends we like to have over but great for the homey, cottage feel of the house”.
According to Max, when his father first saw the cottage, his initial comment was, “I wonder if it even has a foundation?” “It’s definitely a shack, as we’ve called it many times,” Max laughs, but to see the house in its current guise, no one would describe it as such. It is a light, airy beach house, able to withstand the informality of life by the sea: “We embrace the reality that there is sand on your feet and there are wet towels, so it’s OK to sit down on the chairs in a semi-wet swimsuit,” Max explains. He keeps all his expensive prints and delicate fabrics in his New York apartment, where the visitors are less likely to be bedraggled and sandy.
The house came together remarkably quickly, in about six weeks. It helps that Max took inspiration from the architect Gil Schafer's house – a man he admires and is friends with – and painted the whole house in ‘Sea Pearl’ by Benjamin Moore. “I’m obsessed with stuff,” Max admits, “furniture, art, objects – so I said to myself, as a maximalist, maybe I need a visual break at home to accommodate all the things I collect. Giving myself the edited quality of only having white walls gave me permission to pile on my things.”
Piled on they are, and it's immediately clear that Max's biggest passion when it comes to collecting is ceramics. There's an étagère that Max found in Arundel ("I walked into the shop and gasped and had to have it even though I didn’t even have a house for it at the time") which is so weighed down with plates and bowls and jugs and tureens that he's had to have supports made for each shelf to keep it secure. So large is the collection that he has had to create an overspill in one of his garden pavilions, where stacks of plates are sequestered into custom-designed shuttered cupboards.
While there is a certain deliberateness in the choices Max has made, the finished result feels spontaneous, since the process has simply been to fill the house with objects the couple loves. There was no scheme; even the overall blue-and-white theme that runs throughout is in great part coincidental. Every piece in the house has a story to tell. “Decorating isn’t about making a pretty picture,” say Max, “it’s about living it and enjoying your home, finding the positives and benefits of doing it well.” As such, the things in the house aren't simply there to fill it and make it look good, they're there to bring joy and comfort.
“I’ll never forget when my best friend from college came to visit me at home in my parents' house and she said, ‘Gosh, I just feel so tucked in’ and that expression surmises how I’ve always aspired a home to be,” he concludes. Max and Jordan may no longer own this house – instead, they've bought one down the road to accommodate their growing family – but for the time they did spend there, it was a revolving door of guests and dinner parties. We've no doubt everyone felt tucked in to the many comfortable corners of this charming beach house.
Photography: Read McKendree | Styling: Mieke Ten Haave1/17The vintage arm chair is upholstered in batik found on Etsy and paired with cushions in additional batiks by Artemesia. The applique pillow by Holland & Sherry. The sofa in covered in Pierre Frey's “Shanghai” in Ivoire with a “Cambridge Cord” trim by Samuel & Sons.
Photography: Read McKendree | Styling: Mieke Ten Haave2/17The wooden mantle above the fireplace was the only thing in the entire house that the couple didn’t paint. An ocean etching by Barbara Newcomb rests on top of it. Max's collection of sea urchins he's found, organised by size, also sit on the mantel.
Photography: Read McKendree | Styling: Mieke Ten Haave3/17The shelves are stacked with the couple's collection of cookbooks, in front of which is a vintage wing chair purchased at Stair Galleries covered in ‘Dahlia Hand Block’ in Green by Clarence House. The side table is from the estate of Mario Buatta and houses a collection of baskets from La Tuile à Loup, Dior Maison, Cabana Capri, the Mexico City market, the streets of Lima Peru, and many more places.
Photography: Read McKendree | Styling: Mieke Ten Haave4/17A French enamel topped bistro table is paired with custom chairs by Maison Gatti in the kitchen dining space. The cafe curtains are made from a Chelsea Textiles check and based on a design by David Easton. Max found the 19th-century etagere at Spencer Swaffer. The artwork comprises a modern work on paper by Wayne Pate – a second anniversary gift from Max to Jordan – and an oil painting, which was a gift from Charlotte Moss.
Photography: Read McKendree | Styling: Mieke Ten Haave5/17Max's treasures have pride of place on the étagère. The hanging plate was a wedding gift from a friend and sits above years of collecting green Wedgwood majolica, a silver water pump cruet set from Van Royen Antiques, as well as French, English, Mexican, Japanese, Italian, Peruvian, Irish, and Japanese salt & pepper shakers collected on the couple's travels.
Photography: Read McKendree | Styling: Mieke Ten Haave6/17Max and Jordan kept the cabinets of the kitchen and replaced the hardware. The tap is an antique surgeon's tap and the sconce was a gift from Max's decorator friend Ashley Whitaker.
Photography: Read McKendree | Styling: Mieke Ten Haave7/17The custom wicker pelmets were designed by Max and based on the awnings at a favorite restaurant in NYC, The River Café. They sit above curtains made from hand blocked indigo linen that was originally made for tablecloths in Budapest, but Max asked for the maker, Zsuzanna Nyul, to print more for him so that he could have it as curtains. A set of dining chairs from the collection of Kevin McNamara from Stair Galleries surround a French 19th-century dining table on loan from Max's business partner Catherine Olasky.
The early 20th-century reproduction of an 18th-century Dutch chandelier is nearly identical to the 18th-century chandelier that hung over the dining table in Max's childhood home. “We only ever had candlelight for every dinner of my childhood ,” explains Max, “and one of my fondest memories is the ceremony of lighting the candles each night before we sat down as a family. Jordan & I have continued that tradition both in our apartment in New York and here in this home.”
Photography: Read McKendree | Styling: Mieke Ten Haave8/17Shell brackets by Matthew Zwissler of Irwin and Lane are topped with a collection of prunus porcelain vases. A 19th-century mahogany sideboard made in Cork, Ireland hold a lucite and cane tray full of bottles, martini glasses from Robin Birley of 5 Hertford Street on a vintage silver plate tray, 18th-century English wood & brass candlesticks which wired as lamps with rattan lampshades purchased in Bombay, India, and platters including the un-marked shell platter from the estate of Mario Buatta and an octagonal Irish delft platter.
Photography: Read McKendree | Styling: Mieke Ten Haave9/17The beds in the house came from Max's childhood home. On the master are sheets by D. Porthault and a multi-coloured sham bought at auction from the collection of Mrs. Henry Ford. The ink drawing below the window is Patrick Procktor and Max details “it was left to me by our first and most special client after he passed. He bought it from the Redfern Gallery in London.”
Photography: Read McKendree | Styling: Mieke Ten Haave10/17The bed in the guest room is one of a pair from Max's childhood bedroom. Max found the lamp base in Rajasthan and added a custom shade by Lisa Simkin. The sconce is Rose Uniacke.
Photography: Read McKendree | Styling: Mieke Ten Haave11/17The two bedrooms are adjoined by a Jack and Jill bathroom, in which sits a medicine cabinet by RH, taps by Drummonds, an Albert Hadley-designed luggage rack holding D. Porthault towels, a paper geranium by the artist Livia Cetti of The Green Vase on a 19th-century stone topped mahogany table. The swing arm sconce is by Hector Finch and the floor tiles are painted in Benjamin Moore “Galapagos Green”.
Photography: Read McKendree | Styling: Mieke Ten Haave12/17The garden features two outbuildings by Hillbrook Collections, which are designed and made off site. They are delivered ready and painted – interiors too – to be sat on foundations and hardwired in. One houses a bedroom, which Max and Jordan use when guests visit and the other is known as “the party shed”.
Photography: Read McKendree | Styling: Mieke Ten Haave13/17This is the only place in the house that could be wallpapered and Max chose a design by Warner Fabrics. A mahogany and brass English Victorian bed has a quilt purchased at Rafael Osona Auctions on Nantucket, MA, while a faux bamboo chair from the estate of Mario Buatta sits at the end. Max made the paper flower in a paper flower class with Livia Ceci of The Green Vase. The curtains and pelmets are in a discontinued Lee Jofa fabric.
Photography: Read McKendree | Styling: Mieke Ten Haave14/17The party shed is painted in “Avocado” by Benjamin Moore. Max and Alison Carabasi of Hillbrook Collections designed the counter and dry sink and had it fabricated by Alison’s metal roofer. The ceiling is lined with inexpensive garden screening.
Photography: Read McKendree | Styling: Mieke Ten Haave15/17In the party shed a cabinet made from louvered shutters store piles and piles of dishes and tabletop items. The wicker buffet domes are by Amanda Lindroth, the mugs by Tory Burch and the striped mugs are Cornishware. These sit alongside many antique, vintage, and new dishes and glasses.
Photography: Read McKendree | Styling: Mieke Ten Haave16/17The outdoor furniture is from Kingsley Bate and the metal mesh chair is called “Sculptura”, designed by Russell Woodward. The parasols are from Business & Pleasure Co.
Photography: Read McKendree | Styling: Mieke Ten Haave17/17A set of vintage wicker from a tag sale is joined by an antique wicker sofa the couple found on the side of the road. It is all painted in Benjamin Moore's “Essex Green” and recovered in a white Kravet outdoor fabric with Delaney & Long “Cabana” in Navy making contrast piping and covered buttons. The zinc planter came from an auction of Martha Stewart’s props.
