EDITOR'S LETTER

Good design always highlights great ideas...and in this issue we share with you inside looks of three special idea houses.

A house we have been "living" with for many months is our 2006 HC&G Idea House. This is the third season we have given birth to a house that showcases new products and design trends. In our feature, we walk you through a wonderfully livable and human house designed by architect Steven W. Semes and built by Richard Gherardi and his team at Sand Dollar Development. With the guidance of the design directors on this project, Jennifer Mabley and Austin Handler of Mabley Handler Interior Design, this year's family of designers blend traditional Hamptons style with classic Arts and Crafts design while giving the spaces their own individual stamp. What we hear from visitors is how the house truly feels like a home. You decide. The house is open to the public 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday through Sunday. But hurry, we close after Monday, September 4.

Another house that was also totally conceived in a different time frame belongs to Andrew Taiani. He had an idea for his dream home for quite some time and was always drawing it in the sand at the beach when he took time off from his busy design practice. As he tells us, the initial concept for the house and the garden came to him very quickly, but he needed a rectangular piece of property that was flat to realize it. It took him every weekend for eight months to find the perfect property. And perfect it is.