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HOUSE & GARDEN
Outdoor Style
August 2004

PRIMETIME
Interior Designer Scott Sanders Shows NBC President Jeff Zucker and His Wife, Caryn, How to Pull Together a Beach House the Easy Way

It was January when interior designer Scott Sanders got the call from Jeff Zucker, the president of NBC television, and his wife Caryn, whose city apartment he had decorated.  They had just bought a Shingle-style cottage on a leafy lane in the Hamptons. "I wanted a traditional house that was young and fresh-looking, not stuff," says Caryn.  And could Sanders have it ready by Memorial Day? They may as well have asked Sanders to build a model clipper ship in a bottle--in an afternoon.  Still, he wanted to oblige, and he took quick notes on the family's needs.  The Zuckers wanted the house to have a year-round feel, because they planned to use it in all seasons. They envisioned a central room where the whole family could be together, even if Dad's job required frequent monitoring of the television set.  And with three young children, Caryn asked for the fabrics that were sturdy enough to withstand ice cream spills on the sofa.

For Sanders, the easiest strategy was to make use of the furniture that the family already owned. He scouted what they had in storage and adapted an assortment of pieces for the new space, giving chairs new cotton-and-linen slipcovers and old tables a coat of paint.  But Sanders larger mission was to add character and warmth to the house, which had been built recently.  Antiques were one solution: he and Caryn bought furniture and objects at antiques shows and on trips to New Hope, Pennsylvania.  When the Zuckers moved in just four months later, the house felt as thought it had been theirs for years.