2007 HC&G IDEA HOUSE TOUR

"I wanted to show people that there's no reason why you can't use your fine china and wedding gifts every day in a casual setting," says Kyle Timothy Blood of his family room, which he describes as a space of "understated elegance." Designed for an active family who enjoys entertaining, the room, which includes a dining area adjacent to the kitchen, features a mix of delicate, sophisticated materials—a Philippe Stark floor lamp, silk and linen draperies—with durable furnishings and textiles, some making their public debut in the Idea House. "I tried to make the family room a place where mothers wouldn't scream, 'Get off the couch!'"

Connected to the living room via a long axis that runs through the foyer, the family room can also be entered through the kitchen by way of the mudroom, or by French doors opening to the rear patio. "The way the architect designed the room, it's one of the central rooms of the house," Blood says. "There had to be enough seating for the family to feel comfortable, but it also had to be fluid to accommodate foot traffic."

The dining table, which Blood designed with Carl Dellatore, seats six, but is small enough to allow people to walk around it easily. Mixing the elegant with the everyday, Blood set the table with Baccarat crystal glasses, hand-thrown ceramic plates and Gio Ponti flatware, and surrounded it with classic Windsor chairs. Above it, one of three pewter chandeliers that together create a perpendicular axis to the main hallway "looks Colonial, but there's also something very modern about it," says the designer.

In the adjacent seating area, two Holly Hunt sofas upholstered in natural fabric (both debuting here) and a pair of custom-designed club chairs are anchored by a 13-by-20-foot Turkish hand-knotted rug. "I didn't want to use a sisal rug because I wanted to show that you can use a beautiful Oriental rug in an everyday room," Blood explains. Its palette—light blues, greens and browns—is favored by the designer "because it represents the balance of water and earth, which really characterizes the Hamptons." The colors are echoed in an abstract acrylic on canvas painting by Maine-based artist Avy Claire.

Blood also achieved the earth/water balance in the thermal bluestone fireplace surround and mantel, which he asked builder Richard Gherardi to build out from a smaller brick chimney underneath. Though a round constellation mirror above the fireplace hangs where a TV might have been mounted, a metal Hoosier cabinet converted into a computer desk provides a space for those who can't unplug. Even so, Blood has his priorities: "We're so distracted these days by our TVs and computers that it's rare to just sit and have a conversation," he says. "That's what this room was designed to do."