That’s how Jaqui Lividini describes
her desire to buy and restore a beach house that could
be a weekend oasis from the hustle of New York City,
where she and her partner, John Speredakos, live with
their daughter, Calliope, 14. When the quest began in
earnest, the couple searched for two years, bidding
on—and losing—seven houses before they first laid
eyes on a 1901 Connecticut cottage that demanded an
immediate double take. “We were drawn to the home’s
relationship to its setting—the way it perched on the
rocks, the way the water essentially surrounded it,”
John says. “The smell of that brine was intoxicating.”
The stunning site on a slender peninsula—Haycock
Point on the Long Island Sound—seemed plucked from
the pages of a storybook. Despite the fact that the two
hadn’t set foot inside the home, Jaqui was already
writing the house’s next chapter. “We told our real
estate agent that if this house ever went on the market,
we’d buy it,” she says. “One month later, we got a call
that it was for sale, and we made an offer immediately.
The whole thing happened in less than 24 hours.”
That was in 2007 and was the only part of the
process that went quickly. After they closed on the
house, they saw what a wreck the inside of the home
was. “It needed everything—every single little thing,”
Jaqui says. “The house was choppy, with way too
many rooms, and the first floor had been renovated
and added onto in the early ’70s, which I think is the
worst decorating decade ever.” The couple needed to
reconfigure the spaces and remove the unfortunate
flaws to restore the house to its century-old charm—
but with their fresh stamp.
“I subscribe to the belief that charm is the result
of imperfections accrued over time,” John says. “So
the challenge becomes preserving the charm while
incorporating more contemporary design elements.
If you get the balance right, it not only looks good but
feels right, which is the most gratifying part.”
LEFT Jaqui describes her family’s beach
house in one word—“peaceful.” The
2,000-square-foot house is built at the edge
of a peninsula, making it feel a bit like a
houseboat. THIS PHOTO Jaqui and partner
John Speredakos opened this space for a
better flow, but that left them without a wall to
back a full-size sofa. So Jaqui had a sectional
made and upholstered in classic ticking,
and she tossed on pillows covered in vintage
fabrics she’d been collecting for years. The
antique clockface is a Paris flea market find.
IT WAS NEVER
A QUESTION OF IF,
BUT WHEN.
COUNTRY
HOME
102 SPRING/SUMMER 2019
