Inside Designer Michelle Smith’s Long Island Home Full of Spontaneity and Surprise

Sam Cochran
·4 min read

Covering up a window, forgoing proper kitchen cabinetry, painting shutters to match the clapboard façades.… Such notions are, to the pearl-clutching decorati, anathema. But designer Michelle R. Smith has never been one to abide by convention. Case in point: the 1857 house that she recently transformed in Bellport, New York, a charm-filled village on the south shore of Long Island. Over a matter of weeks, this rising star updated the Greek Revival residence into an eclectic nest for her young family, cleverly challenging the rules of good taste along the way.

The four-bedroom property, though historic, had languished on the market on account of its formal interiors and outdated systems. “There was no air-conditioning, no laundry room,” she recalls. “It seemed overwhelming to a lot of people, but I was like, ‘This is the perfect project.’ ” After buying the home in late 2018, she set about tweaking the layout—adapting the kitchen as a laundry room, carving out a second upstairs bathroom, and reimagining what had been a music room as an eat-in kitchen, with freestanding worktables in lieu of cabinet-ry. At its center, Børge Mogensen chairs pull up to a farm table, with unexpectedly industrial fixtures shining overhead, among them a vintage pendant for film lighting. But a Nancy Meyers movie set this is not.

Bruno Widmann paintings hang above the living room's soda, an auction find; sheer curtains of B&J fabric.
Bruno Widmann paintings hang above the living room's soda, an auction find; sheer curtains of B&J fabric.

“I don’t like a kitchen that screams kitchen,” muses Smith, noting that a pantry and open shelving in an adjacent hallway provide ample storage. “That doesn’t work with a lot of clients, but it works for me.” Throughout the house, she relished that freedom. To add closets to a bedroom, she covered over a window with wallpapered doors. Against others’ advice, she painted the shutters in the same white as the façade. And whereas purists might have torn down an awkward addition, she thought jackpot—a playroom for her two-year-old son, Bash. “It’s really nice to not have to be so precious about things.”

That carefree vibe radiates throughout the rooms, which eschew trends in favor of comfortable furnishings, all but a handful of them repurposed from her previous house in Sag Harbor. “I barely had a mood board,” she recalls. “I would just throw things on the trays in our office.” Those included client castoffs like the Charlecote Trellis wallpaper by Hamilton Weston that lines the stair hall. Fabrics run the gamut from fine (elegantly wrinkled Christian Fischbacher silk for curtains) to fuss-free (pleasantly affordable finds from B&J for sheers and a bedspread). And artwork tends toward the abstract and inexpensive, with a $10 anonymous painting from a frame shop joining several auction finds.

More Inside Designer Michelle Smith’s Long Island Home Full of Spontaneity and Surprise

Colefax and Fowler wallpaper lines a bedroom where smith boldly covered a window with closets.
Colefax and Fowler wallpaper lines a bedroom where smith boldly covered a window with closets.
Bruno Widmann paintings hang above the living room’s sofa, an auction find; sheer curtains of B&J fabric.
Bruno Widmann paintings hang above the living room’s sofa, an auction find; sheer curtains of B&J fabric.
Designer Michelle R. Smith with her dog, Ingy, at home in Bellport, New York; the leaves of her antique Charles Dudouyt table open to create a double desk whenever her team comes to visit.
Designer Michelle R. Smith with her dog, Ingy, at home in Bellport, New York; the leaves of her antique Charles Dudouyt table open to create a double desk whenever her team comes to visit.
In Bash’s room, vintage sconces accent built-in bunk beds; curtains of Holland & Sherry fabric.
In Bash’s room, vintage sconces accent built-in bunk beds; curtains of Holland & Sherry fabric.
The kitchen features standing work tables in place of cabinetry; vintage pendant.
The kitchen features standing work tables in place of cabinetry; vintage pendant.
Smith and Ingy with her son, Bash, by the original front door.
Smith and Ingy with her son, Bash, by the original front door.
Smith used extra scraps of fabric to create Television slipcovers inspired by those at The Standard hotel in Miami Beach. Says smith, “I’m not a decorative-pillow person.”
Smith used extra scraps of fabric to create Television slipcovers inspired by those at The Standard hotel in Miami Beach. Says smith, “I’m not a decorative-pillow person.”
The screened porch nods to her Louisiana roots.
The screened porch nods to her Louisiana roots.
Fixtures by Barber Wilsons & Co. In a bath.
Fixtures by Barber Wilsons & Co. In a bath.
Viking appliances in the kitchen.
Viking appliances in the kitchen.
A custom-made headboard incorporates vintage fixtures as reading lights.
A custom-made headboard incorporates vintage fixtures as reading lights.

In many ways, her style is a study in second chances and defied expectations. By her own admission, she is “not a pillow person.” She’s vehemently “anti–recessed lighting.” And she forgoes down comforters, which she finds look messy, in favor of crisply tailored coverlets. “I’m trying to bring people back to dressing the bed. It’s often the most square footage in the room, and yet everybody waits until the very last minute to design it.” Meanwhile, traces of her Louisiana roots remain, among them an affinity for screened porches and a fish that she caught on a trip to Costa Rica—proof that you can take the girl out of the bayou but not the bayou out of the girl. Home, thankfully, is where you can keep things spontaneous, surprising, and personal. Says Smith: “The great thing about doing your own house is you don’t have to wait for an answer from anyone else.” —Sam Cochran

Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest