Going Year-Round

Design by Mary Catherine McCarthy LLC
Photography by SRS Photography
Text by Donna Roland

Even before COVID enticed droves of New Yorkers to seek a greener life, one city dweller of 33 years decided it was time to reimagine her Spring Lake summer house for year-round living.

“I moved here permanently in 2019, really because I wanted to raise my son in the suburbs,” says the homeowner. Her custom beach house had served well for decades, but now it was time for it to step up to a new role.

To make this three-to-four-bedroom waterfront home fit an everyday life of snow as well as sand would take a designer with vision and intuitiveness. Mary Catherine McCarthy of the eponymous Sea Girt firm has been renovating the waterfront house room by room, starting with the kitchen in February 2022—and she continues today with a swim spa.

Because she loves to entertain, the homeowner appreciates that the kitchen “is a much more open space now” with an island in place of a flow-inhibiting peninsula. Style also changed radically—the countertops went from room-darkening black granite to a gray-marbled alabaster white in the Minuet Quartz by LG Viatera counters. Instead of dated thermofoil cabinets, McCarthy gave the homeowner white, Shaker-style cabinets with glass and a bar area against the high gloss of existing oak floors.

An elevated coastal design includes starfish on the custom bar stools in this light, bright kitchen.

This mahogany dining room table was too beautiful to replace, so designer McCarthy expertly blended old and new.

The theme of this house is elevated coastal, which the backsplash of mermaid-like iridescent glass by Monmouth Street Tile richly typifies with a boost from undercabinet lights. “If the sun hits in a certain way, it looks like a rainbow with purple in it,” the homeowner says, beaming. The island’s seagrass and starfish bar stools evoke the ocean without “a big sign that says ‘To the beach,’” McCarthy says. Ditto for the draperies with hints of coral by Stout. Completing the look are cage-like pendants by Currey & Co. at the island and a modern chandelier by Visual Comfort at the table, both in satin nickel.

With a blend of traditional treasures from the owner’s NYC home, elevated coastal design might have been challenging to achieve, but McCarthy says she embraces all beauty. This is evident in the dining room, where a mahogany table and its upholstered chairs tie in with a 5-foot-wide seascape by Wendy McCarthy, the designer’s sister-in-law. The client wanted texture, which the hand-woven Indian rug by Woven Floors provides while lightening the room with subtle blues and greens, she says. Custom geometric drapes by Stout join the scene.

In the sunroom, McCarthy again breathes new life into existing pieces with a custom rug that finds its complement in the light and coral hues of the custom drapes. For days when the homeowner sleeps late, there’s a gold-trimmed painting of a sunrise by the same artist. Creating a “soft mix of colors,” McCarthy mirrored the sandy tones of a transitional couch in the new swivel chairs, all in a woven fabric, while introducing blue velvet. The designer also trimmed pillows in metallic for harmony with existing lamps and chose a see-through cocktail table for its reflective qualities. A highlight is the Currey flush mount fixture with Capiz shells.

The renovated sunroom is one of many spots that boasts a soothing tidal-pond view.

Thibaut’s Palm Grove Collection reflects a lighthearted reinvention of the home’s laundry room.

At the client’s request, McCarthy enlivened the laundry room with Delray from Thibaut’s Palm Grove Collection. Since the room is visible to guests, she says, “the client wanted it so that it was fun and interesting.” The forest effect is a “showstopper,” joining an upscale utility sink by Ferguson Plumbing.

“I really am thrilled,” this ex-New Yorker says, embracing Shore living in her transformed home. “I found Mary Catherine to be unique—not only a decorator but truly a designer.”