2007 HC&G IDEA HOUSE TOUR

John Vancheri loves clean, modern lines, and in the master bedroom he created a sleek and spare riff on a Hamptons seascape. "I wanted to utilize the tones of the ocean but not make it look like an obvious theme," Vancheri says. "I tried to take in every element of the beach, from breaking waves to crystals in the sand." To do this, he used muted colors and a variety of textures—everything from Lucite pedestals flanking the balcony doors to a glass chandelier, a pair of creamy leather wing chairs and a natural hemp rug. A large octagonal mirror over the fireplace throws beams of light on a sunny day.

Dominating the room—but not overwhelming it—is the custom bed draped with wide panels of linen and horsehair fabric bearing a stenciled design Vancheri created. Done in white with a tinge of brown, the pattern looks vaguely like the tendrils of a leafy plant floating underwater. "It was inspired by some fabrics I saw," Vancheri says. "I originally wanted to go a little more Moroccan but then I thought it should have more of a freeform feeling." Stencilist Judy Mulligan applied the pattern to the bed fabric and throw pillows and then repeated it on the angled panels in the ceiling, which were painted to look as if the stenciled fabric had been applied. The slightly Moroccan mood is carried through in small white marble tables carved with Oriental-inflected spaces between the legs.

Standing just inside the entrance from the hallway is one of Vancheri's favorite pieces, a silver-plated semainier (a narrow chest of drawers) that glistens like shards of glass on the beach. "Some people think it's very gaudy, but it's very earthy to me, and I guess I just wanted to prove that you can use this piece in almost any space," Vancheri says. "I think it just gels with the simple, contemporary look of the room."

Many of the objects in the master bedroom are from vendors at the New York Design Center (NYDC). Open to the trade only, the 16-story building showcases more than 300 lines of furniture, fabrics, floor and wall coverings and accessories, including Baker, Hamilton, Metropolitan Lighting and Odegard. New to the NYDC is The Green Room, a showroom of eco-friendly products sponsored by HC&G and its sister publication, Verdant magazine.