As film-ready as this Hamptons house is, with its vintage designer sectional and coffee tables, moody LED strips and a stainless steel bed frame in the guest suite, no cinematic works have been shot at Timothy Godbold’s house. At least not yet.
“I’d love it if they did. That was really the focus of it: creating a really cool, sexy house. At night, when I’ve got all the lights—all super moody, a lot of LED strips—it’s really sexy stuff,” the Australian interior designer said. “A lot of my childhood daydreams are in that house. It’s a very therapeutic house to me. It has a lot of meaning.”
As the head of the nonprofit Hamptons 20th Century Modern and his namesake design company, Godbold seeks to preserve architectural diversity in the region. And he made preservation a key aspect while renovating his own 1973 house, designed by architect Eugene L. Futterman, in Southampton.
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The grounds include a contemporary fire pit.
David Mitchell“A lot of these buildings are being demolished out here in the Hamptons because they’re modern and they’re quirky and they’re getting replaced by traditional houses that all look the same,” Godbold said.
“I preserved all of it. I didn’t change too much. It’s like a split prism. It’s a treehouse. Everything is on an angle. All the angles intersect,” Godbold said of his home, which shares a property line with the estate of billionaire and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Ribbed fibrous concrete panels, stainless steel, travertine and custom black terrazzo blend together like instruments in a symphony.
The former living room.
Courtesy of Timothy Godbold
A ziggurat-like fireplace created a focal point in this living room.
David Mitchell“There’s not a ton of black terrazzo out there. It was part of the fun to create my own unique terrazzo color that was really mine,” Godbold said. “It’s easy, but people don’t think to do it. You can always come up with fun ideas.”
The terrazzo and the concrete are based on James Bond films.
A hanging garden provides warm contrast to an otherwise cool color palette.
David Mitchell“A lot of those James Bond lairs had concrete, so I found interesting, textured concrete paneling that are 10 feet high and that are used as exteriors of office buildings,” Godbold said. “We used that on the interior. It has to be able to withstand weather and climate, and that’s perfect for a bathroom. It was a matter of connecting those interesting materials and repurposing them in an interesting way.”
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After taking necessary first steps, including replacing the roof and taking water-mitigation measures, the fun began. Godbold painted the exterior black, then transformed the house floor by floor while living there full time. He blended inspiration from cinema, his childhood and the architects Norman Jaffe and Paul Rudolph. Floor-to-ceiling picture windows replaced the house’s original windows to bring in ample natural light.
“Ultimately, I don’t want what everyone else has. It’s important when I walk into a house that I don’t recognize everything,” Godbold said. As he owned the house, he could push the envelope more than he normally would on a client’s project. For example, he replaced broken motorized blinds with stationary 1-inch by 3-inch white oak planks.
Floor-to-ceiling picture windows replaced the house’s original windows.
David Mitchell“These battery-operated trick blinds were falling apart and falling out of their tracks,” Godbold said. “It was a nightmare. Finally, I got so fed up, and my builder and I went to Home Depot, and we found planks. I drew the design on a computer and handed it to him and said: ‘Do this.’”
The result is that 50% of the light is blocked in certain areas, creating shadows and striped silhouettes on the walls, à la “American Gigolo,” “Blade Runner” and other 1980s flicks. Directors Paul Schrader, Ridley Scott and others would fill sets with smoke, then filter light through horizontal blinds to create a dramatic atmosphere, Godbold recalled.
Godbold replaced broken motorized blinds with stationary 1-inch by 3-inch white oak planks.
David Mitchell
Godbold incorporated textured concrete paneling used on the exteriors of office buildings into the interior of the home.
David Mitchell“It’s one of the things I’m most proud of,” Godbold said. “It cost me a quarter of what it would have cost to fix the blinds. I’m not as rich as my clients, and I’m always looking for cheaper ways of doing things. The plants love it, too. They get this beautiful, filtered light.”
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Godbold never expected to live in the Hamptons. Instead, he wanted to live in Palm Springs, California, but still kept an eye on other locations via Zillow. His architectural bar was high, as a lover of Mid-Century Modern design who works on historical renovations and new builds. He also set strict search parameters, only looking at houses built between 1965 and 1995.
A before image of a living area.
Courtesy of Timothy Godbold
The project replaced the windows to bring in more light.
David Mitchell“Then this quirky house showed up,” he said. “Was I desperately out to buy a house? No, but I just went for it. It was almost surreal. I don’t know if I was taking what I was about to do seriously.”
Goldbold offered some more insight into his renovation project.
My aesthetic is… clean, modern, sexy and cinematic.
The one tip I’d offer to someone undertaking a renovation is… live in your home for a minimum of a year before you renovate.
My biggest surprise was… how much I love how it turned out: far beyond expectations.
My favorite part of the renovation is… the ziggurat fireplace and hanging garden.
My favorite material I used during the process is… the custom Terrazzo I designed with a Terrazzo manufacturer in Long Island City [a neighborhood in Queens, New York], which I revised for all the kitchen countertops and dining tabletop.
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The one expense I didn’t expect was… labor costs in the Hamptons are notoriously higher than anywhere else along the East Coast, but because I was my own contractor and hired all my subs I was able to save a few dollars.
The renovation ended up costing… $370,000.