A Hamptons Home Renovation

Combining new and old, a home gets an open layout but keeps its classic details

Written by Mervyn Kaufman • Styled by Donna Paul
Photographed by Keith Scott Morton

For over 20 years my wife, Nancy, and I owned a weekend home on a third of an acre in East Hampton, New York, a bungalow that had been kit-built during the Great Depression. We'd loved the house's vintage charm and generous spaces. When we decided to sell, we hoped the new owner would feel similarly -- and fortunately he did.

"I felt the house had good bones," says that new owner, TV executive Cory Shields. "I had a great feeling about the property." Shields did have a wish list: a couple of new bathrooms and a more open layout indoors, plus a swimming pool outside. But both he and his architect, New York City-based Jack Wettling, were keen to make these changes while retaining as many of the original design elements as possible -- windows, woodwork, and oak floors, for example.

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