“Form over function” is the notion interior designer Jennifer Vaughn Miller lives by when it comes to client projects, but “for a tiny house with a four-year-old,” like her own in Southold, NY, “it’s function,” she says. Built in 1706 by the miller of her town on Long Island’s North Fork, her two-bedroom saltbox beach house has both the character (shingles, exposed beams) and the quirks (low ceilings, floors that tilt just that much) of a historic home.
When she and her husband, Derrick, were looking to buy a weekend house on Long Island almost a decade ago, they were “very young at the time,” and everything they could afford “was a total tear-down.” The pair discovered this historical landmark online and were happy to learn that it not only sat on acre of land but, along with the neighboring lot, was zoned for commercial use as well. “One day I would love to buy [the property next door] and have an antiques shop, so we just thought, ‘All right, this is our zone,’” Jennifer says.
The house was in move-in condition when the Millers purchased it, save for some “exceptional” paint colors. “When I say that, I mean every trim, every molding, every baseboard was brick red, and every wall was celery green,” Jennifer says. And then there was the upstairs bedroom with its marigold walls and “a chocolate-brown vine stencil on the ceiling.” These days, the home is awash in neutrals, mainly pale grays and whites; getting it there was a labor of love. “Derrick and I stripped every single piece of wood in that house ourselves and painted every wall ourselves over time to save money,” she says.
Jennifer and her four-year-old daughter, Tallulah, are effortlessly beautiful in coordinating chambray and blue linen outfits.
Beyond that, renovations were minimal. The couple tiled the upstairs bathroom with subway tiles and dark gray grout, painted the floors throughout, swapped out new hardware in the kitchen, and resurfaced countertops with affordable butcher block. “Just super, supercosmetic changes,” Jennifer says.
The family’s beautifully curated collection of antiques came together slowly as things were needed and specific pieces caught Jennifer’s eye. “For my clients, I start with mood and design boards creating the entire look at once, but this house was really ‘find it as it comes,’” she says. “If I’m at Beall & Bell and I need a cabinet to house Tallulah’s books and toys, I buy the first one that I love, and it finds its way to a wall somewhere in our house… There are continually moving parts for different phases of our life, different phases of Tallulah’s life—it’s kind of revolving furniture.”
One would never suspect that the Millers’ beautiful living room isn’t the center of the home, but Jennifer says, “We never go in the living room, honestly, unless Tallulah’s in her bookcase or it’s winter and there’s a fire. We never sit in there: We’re always outside.”
The living room is outfitted with a well-loved white sofa, a cozy tufted ottoman, and leather sling chairs for a little masculinity.
Behind her sofa, Jennifer has created a gallery wall of small framed vintage nautical paintings—a subtle nod to the home’s proximity to the Long Island Sound.
An antique oil painting hangs above the living room’s very petite fireplace.
Jennifer’s wooden china cabinet is a score from her favorite local design shop, Beall & Bell. “I have so much china, hotel silver, and vases that I sort of style every weekend I’m there, depending on my mood,” she says. “I always have to see what I have, or I forget.”
I don’t have a particular aesthetic except I use 95% vintage and antique pieces in all of my work, and they’re very carefully curated for the specific architectural context of the home.
The china cabinet “was a great place to just pile all of my cherished pieces and still see what I have to play with,” Jennifer says. “I love all of my antique china so much, and I use it for all different occasions.”
In the dining room, Jennifer blends a mix of styles, from a midcentury glass Sputnik chandelier to an industrial dining table to a trendy neon light fixture emblazoned with her daughter’s nickname.
An animal skull and a horn sculpture are unexpected moments amongst etched glassware and antique plates.
![The Millers’ kitchen most recently had faux-granite countertops on maple cabinets. “We just resurfaced [the countertops] with cheap Ikea butcher block, painted the cabinets, and changed the hardware.”](https://okl.scene7.com/is/image/OKL/071416_JenniferVaughnMiller_3?wid=1066&op_sharpen=1)
The Millers’ kitchen most recently had faux-granite countertops on maple cabinets. “We just resurfaced [the countertops] with cheap Ikea butcher block, painted the cabinets, and changed the hardware.”
“We love nothing more than to get away from the city and use the yard, so we always have our music blaring outside, and we just are constantly between the kitchen and the outdoors,” the designer says.
Jennifer made room for a piano and chair in her entryway.
Stacks of books add personality to the stairway landing.
“I have an easier time keeping a neutral palette as a canvas,” Jennifer says. “The house really wants white walls… It’s so tiny and has all of that ancient woodwork everywhere and beams in the ceiling. It needs to breathe.”
Tallulah sleeps in a pale blue vintage-inspired spindle bed.
Tallulah’s collection of pastel dresses is picture-perfect for the soft palette of her bedroom.
The bathroom was painted in a baby-blue faux-woodgrain pattern when the couple purchased it. In addition to tiling it, they painted the walls “a sort of Ladurée green. It’s just really soft and gives it a little bit of character,” Jennifer says.
![The designer tells us her art collection represents many of her most sentimental pieces. “I found a lot of it at Brimfield [Antique Show], and I remember buying every single one, you know? But I love everything so much because we’ve worked hard for everything in that house.”](https://okl.scene7.com/is/image/OKL/071416_JenniferVaughnMiller_15?wid=1066&op_sharpen=1)
The designer tells us her art collection represents many of her most sentimental pieces. “I found a lot of it at Brimfield [Antique Show], and I remember buying every single one, you know? But I love everything so much because we’ve worked hard for everything in that house.”
An acrylic console table is a clever alternative to a traditional nightstand in this bedroom.
“That whole back porch used to be solid concrete with a pine tree that dripped juicy berries all over everything,” Jennifer says. “The minute that tree went down in Hurricane Sandy, we had that all regraded. I put the little pebbles down with a cedar retaining wall, and that allowed me to then plant the surrounding perimeter in hydrangeas.”
“I’m literally always either in the kitchen or out in the yard with Tallulah, pulling her in the wagon or pushing her on the swing,” Jennifer says.
The couple is working on renovating several outhouses on their property. “We started with the little cottage that is now going to be an extra bedroom and then the other part of it is like an art studio for Tallulah. It was basically a hovel of a storage shed before, and I bought a huge antique window and sort of revolved the design around that,” Jennifer says.
“We made a little studio for Tallulah so she can get messy and paint,” Jennifer says. “She can get paint on the floor and we still love the way it looks. We painted it with an epoxy so that we just let the splattered paint sort of accumulate on there and love the story it tells.”
To us it’s just what a beach house should be. It’s a place where you can be barefoot and really be outside more than inside.
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