Ellen Pompeo’s Beautiful Black-Painted Sag Harbor Home

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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.”

All photos courtesy Architectural Digest and by Douglas Friedman

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.