This is not your average beach house!
If you’re looking for sophisticated Southern flair in the Hamptons, check out this East End home from developer and interior designer James Michael Howard.
The new-construction residence at 9 Hither Lane, in East Hampton, is on the market for $24.95 million.
Although the home is on the formal side, it also comes with Southern comfort because it — for the steep price — comes fully furnished, curated with pricey antiques, custom furnishings and finishes, and is turn-key ready.
But potential buyers will have to wait until the fall to move in, as the dwelling has already been rented for the summer season. While it was asking $1.25 million for the season, it rented for a hefty $1.4 million for an extended season to October.
Howard and his wife, Phoebe, are high-end interior designers with home furnishing brands and stores in Southern cities including Jacksonville, Charlotte and Atlanta.
But this project is James Michael Howard’s alone.
“They are both so talented. Although they are married, they get out of each other’s way and do their own thing,” said a source familiar with both decorators, adding that even their kids are high-end designers in their own right, with their own brands.
In this house, the source said: “All the finishes are Jim’s designs. The brass hardware was designed and made specifically for this house. The floors and walls are hand-painted by artisans who are mainly from down South. You can’t get that kind of work around here. He even draws rug patterns and sizes to fit the rooms and they are made in places like Nepal.”
Everything inside — from the furniture to the rugs, curtains, lighting and antiques — comes from around the world and has been curated for the home, which is less than a mile from the ocean.
At a roomy 11,644 square feet, the eight-bedroom, 8½-bath pad comes with a pool, a pool house and sits on 1.1 acres.
There’s a double-height foyer, a dramatic staircase, a great room and an eat-in chef’s kitchen.
There’s also a formal dining room, a family room with a woodburning fireplace, a radiant-heated mudroom and a main bedroom suite.
The second floor features an additional four bedrooms, including one with a balcony. Downstairs, there’s a screening room and three additional guest bedrooms.
Details include Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann chairs, an antique, hand-made mirror in the dining room and a custom-made sofa from Howard in the living room — along with an Italian 18th-century brown circular side table made of burlwood.
The outside area includes a patio with a woodburning fireplace.
The listing brokers are Martha Gundersen and Paul Brennan of Douglas Elliman.