Sometimes, if the real estate gods smile upon you, all you need to secure your dream home is to be a dream dinner guest. At least thats how it worked out for AD PRO Directory designer Wesley Moon after he fell in love with this waterfront house in the Pines district of Fire Island, just off the coast of New Yorks Long Island.
It didnt hurt, of course, that hes also a top-tier decorator, whose work had already earned the sellers admiration. Those owners had commissioned their postmodern-style house from architect Gary Stluka in the late 1980s, and then kept it in impeccable shape for nearly 40 years. But when it came time to sell, they couldnt find a buyer who they trusted with their design-forward homes future. Their neighbors, however, had someone in mind—their longtime friend Moon. And when the sellers met him over dinner, they immediately saw in the designer a steward, whose style and substance would serve the place well.
Moon, for his part, had recently sold a nearby oceanfront co-op with the intention to upsize. But after looking at "a million houses," he hadnt found anything—and he hadnt initially considered this one because it was out of his price range. Over that fateful dinner, however, "we really hit it off," Moon says. "The next day, they called and told me I could buy the house. I said, Heres all I can afford. And they said, Well take it."
Moon was gobsmacked—not just by the sellers generosity, and their engaging mealtime repartee, but by their house too. "I felt like I could have built it myself," he enthuses, pointing to especially appealing elements like the two-story-tall pickled-wood-paneled wall over the fireplace, the serene neutral color palette, the huge windows, and the soaring ceiling topped by a seamless pyramidal skylight. "It was beautifully detailed, architect built."
