Net Benefit

A design couple builds a sun-filled family Fretreat on Long Island-one that's as welcoming as it is friendly to the environment.

- Ted Loos

Some decor achieves greatness by being thought-provoking-people want to engage with the scheme and ask questions about where the elements are from and how they're put together. Thankfully that's not Eve Robinson's style. Her work soothes the mind and lets the body relax. It's less of a concept to be plumbed and more of an invitation: Why don't you sit down and have a drink?

Her lovely, livable style is on ample display in the Hamptons house, completed last year in the town of Wainscott, New York, that she decorated for her own family. The deceptively simple, barnlike structure-an homage to a 1938 potato barn that was on the site-was designed by James Merrell of Merrell Soule Architects.

Robinson, who founded her firm, Eve Robinson Associates, in 1990, had a big advantage: The contractor was her husband, Josh Wiener. His company, SilverLining, specializes in such high-end projects. "We've both been doing this for so long, but we've never built a house together until now," she says. The couple has two grown sons, and the 6,500-square-foot home was intended as a family getaway, with each son getting a wing with two bedrooms for their future families, and a total of seven bedrooms in all. "It's a 21st-century house," says Merrell of the structure he designed, which is built into a rise and has a small entry courtyard. "It doesn't mimic any historical style and responds to the landscape." And all the luxury comes undergirded by eco-friendliness: The residence has a low carbon footprint because of its solar panels, geothermal wells, and green roof.