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South Carolina's Low Country, where terra firma never rises more than a few feet above sea level, cuts a long swath from just below Charleston to the state's southern border. Running the length of the Low Country, scores of barrier islands shield the coastline from the pounding Atlantic. The islands are flanked by marshlands on the mainland side and forested with 1,000-year-old live oaks, cypresses and long-leaf pines—an "unturned city of no lights," in the words of Simons Manigault, the protagonist of Padgett Powell's novel Edisto. Manigault was given to grousing about Edisto Island's overdevelopment ("[They] converted sand dunes to sand traps, and they cemented the rest"), but a number of neighboring islands retain their rougher charms.

The great room. Sofa fabric from Dedar. Drapery fabric, Cowtan Tout. Lamps, Sentimento.

One of these, a Nantucket-size enclave (with no strip malls or fast-food chains), holds a special place in the hearts of a New England investor and his wife. "The last time we were down there," he recalls, "we were driving home from dinner, and a 10-foot alligator meandered across the street. Bobcats come onto the boardwalk. If you love nature and the beach, it's pristine."

The couple, avid golfers with two school-age children, fell under the island's spell while vacationing there several years ago. "I grew up surfing in North Carolina, and my wife is from Florida," says the husband. "And we both thought, Wouldn't it be great if our kids could grow up with what we had—big wide beaches and the warm Atlantic surf in the summer." Toward that end, they hooked up with a real estate&8211;savvy architect who steered them to two available lots spanning a little over an acre of oceanfront property.



Early in the planning process Finlay introduced the couple to Elissa Cullman, of the New York–based interior design firm Cullman & Kravis, who has done beach houses from Martha's Vineyard to Malibu—including one residence on another barrier island. "This is not what you would call a typical beach house," she comments. "The architecture is very robust and sculptural. A lot of the furniture we selected is heavier and darker than what we would normally use, so we contrasted that with a light beach palette in the majority of the rooms." She and project manager Jenny Fischbach mixed signature pieces, flea market finds and furniture of their own design against tonal backgrounds of cream, sandy beige and terra-cotta to create "a version of modern traditional," according to Cullman. "It's cleaner and bolder and has fewer layers of information than a lot of our other work."


"The wife is a passionate cook," notes the designer, "so the overscale kitchen has two large islands—one to serve the sink and one the range." Porthole ceiling fixtures, Ralph Lauren Home.

The vitality of the rooms owes a good deal to the artwork they collected with the couple. "We had so many walls to fill, and because it wasn't their primary residence, we had to be realistic about budget," recalls Fischbach. They haunted art fairs and Chelsea galleries in search of large-scale photography and prints and a few oil paintings by mostly upcoming artists. They commissioned a series of six abstract oils by Sarah Hinckley to brighten the three-story entrance hall and tracked down images of unique significance to the family, from dog studies by Ed Ruscha and William Wegman to old black-and-white surfing pictures to four "aura portraits" of the couple and their children. "You go to Chinatown in New York," explains the husband, "you drink some green tea to get in the mood, and you get your photo taken. I don't know what it's called, but they illuminate colors from your picture, and a woman interprets the colors. My wife has amber coming from the center because she's the stable force in the family—" "I don't know if you need that kind of detail," his steadier half demurs. "The point is, it's a good example of something eclectic and unique. Ellie and Jenny did a great job of creating a balance between understated, elegant and fun. Those are the three best ways to describe our home."

When the family's in residence, the scales tip in favor of fun. They come down to the island eight to 10 times a year with their chocolate Lab and as many as 10 or 15 houseguests. According to the husband, "a typical trip with family and friends will be, we'll spend all day at the beach surfing and boogie boarding, walking and bike riding, then come back to the house and cook a big dinner. We'll all go to the media room, watch a movie and fall asleep on the floor."