The Manhattan-born, Los Angeles-based fashion designer David Netto has never been scared to convince or push clients into a risk. A self-proclaimed adventurer Netto likes to push people to push their boundaries. Growing up in the Upper East Side in the 1980s He dropped out of Harvard’s master’s program in architecture and launched what could have been the world’s first premium midcentury children’s furniture and, following the purchase Richard Neutra’s famous Ohara House in Los Angeles and establishing a cross-country residential design studio. It is impossible to be accused of not being able to demonstrate the kind of courage that he is known for.
It’s the New York couple who asked Netto to redesign their weekend getaway in Millbrook, a quaint enclave of horses just two hours to the north in New York City, has long been a fan of Netto’s charming elegance. When Netto created their Manhattan apartment in 2015 Netto got them, after a bit of reluctance to hang a gigantic 1975 Alexander Calder tapestry, Floating Circles, above a mantel. Since that time, Calder tapestries have become an iconic symbol to the design.
GET A PEEK INTO THIS REIMAGINED COUNTRY HOUSE
The couple, who was a health care CEO and an analyst for policy who had purchased the house in upstate New York which was a beautifully executed 1980s style reminiscence of a Colonial-era house in the year the year of 2016. With the grounds of more than 200 acres it was once the residence of a prominent local celebrity and they kept the majority of his furniture, as well as many Chintz and period-appropriate accessories. In the past, they used it as a cosy area for their three little children to play in their ski boots.
However, the pandemic struck and the family had been confined for months They realized that it was the right time to change the house into the “real home,” the policy analyst recollects. They hoped Netto the Designer, who is the Designer on the ELLE Decor A-List, could maintain the rustic, casual appeal while changing the home into a sleek and refined one. They also requested Netto to come up with ways to let in more sunshine and an impression of openness.
A more shrewd architect might just have suggested that they build an unobtrusive Colonial style wing on either side or a flat-roofed rectangular “great room”–such changes are quite common. However, Netto is not one to do anything but the standard. Instead, he suggested an innovative solution for a large octagonal area linked to the house via an orangerie-like hallway.
It wasn’t a simple sell however, the CEO was intrigued by Netto’s design inspiration the octagonal library in Edgewater The estate, a Neo-Palladian mansion with a view of the Hudson River in upstate New York that was constructed in 1824 and was owned through the 1960s by the writer as well as gadfly Gore Vidal. The room that was eight-sided in the house was also an addition, conceived in 1854 by designer Alexander Jackson Davis. It is a stark contrast to the classic proportions of the structure as it was originally designed. “I was compelled by the courage it must have taken, and I was determined to get my clients to say yes,” Netto declares. “We had to do something radically different.”