Black is the new black. You heard it here first! Several days ago we advised painting the exterior of a dated 80s contemporary black. Grey’s Anatomy actress Ellen Pompeo has taken that a step further, painting the exterior of her Sag Harbor home black as well as a number of rooms (a sitting room, the master bedroom). Pompeo says of her decorator, “Estee was the one who said we needed to treat the walls: ‘You need to do an architecture element in the master.’ It was her idea to do bead-board in a few places, and after that, I loved it, but then I said: ‘It’s not enough! We need to paint the walls black!’” She says, “The thing about painting the walls dark in a small house is that you think, ‘Oh wow. Can I get away with it? It’s going to make the house feel so small.’ But it actually adds depth.”
Ellen says, “I loved the history of the property. There was a cabin, which was built by a woman who was a civil rights activist lawyer. She actually built it with her own two hands.” She was advised to build on the footprint of the cabin, to use as a guest house, and then to build a main house. Well, the guest house after renovation is still the main house.
Want to see more? Pick up the July issue of Architectural Digest and click here.
