Though he says they’re a family of modernists and his firm is “grounded in transitional modernism,” Andrew felt drawn to exploring a more traditional aesthetic with the renovation, infusing much more color than the prior interior had ever experienced, plus ever-so-nautical shiplap, moldings, and high-gloss lacquer in a subtle Benjamin Moore green that reflects nature while bouncing light beneath not-enormous ceilings.
Traditional doesn’t quite do the 3,200-square-foot, five-bedroom home justice, however. While the classically styled white exterior didn’t change, it now masks delightful surprises inside, such as a funky, rainbow-hued ceramic Sean Gerstley coffee table, meaningful works by Derrick Adams and Douglas Pendleton, an LED chandelier made of old burnt-out light bulbs, and a vintage Guillerme et Chambron finger chair. Most of the rooms open to the outside, and on the ground floor to each other too. And “we have one room that’s essentially for a tub,” says Alexia of her favorite part of the house.
“My wife is a bather,” explains Andrew, “so we had to make that a very nice room.” Under a vaulted ceiling of lacquered beadboard, a deep tub sits atop a marble island beside a brick fireplace, with Brian Duffy’s famous portrait of Ziggy Stardust aka David Bowie (whom Andrew knew personally) presiding over the space that houses a sofa too. The room sums up the experience of chez Sheinman: subtle luxury, coziness, unconventionality, and human connection all wrapped up in one.
Their retreat sits on two acres and “you don’t see any other homes or signs of human life from the pool,” says Andrew. It’s their antidote to Manhattan, the ferry over acting as the “cutting of the umbilical cord,” he adds. “My parents always told my sister and me that one of their conditions for raising children in New York City is that they would want somewhere in the world for us to know what grass and trees and sea are,” Alexia says. Surrounded by all those things on Shelter Island, “it became a very important part of our lives.”
In redesigning and rebuilding their wrecked home, the collaboration of father and daughter is arguably one of the most marvelous moments the Sheinmans have shared. “It is very much a family house,” says Alexia, “and it feels like we’ve evolved as a family together [in it].”
