GRAPHĒ: Budget Breakdown: A Family Looks to Sea Ranch for Their $273K Sag Harbor Renovation

Shingles, vertical planks, and a generous window arrangement bring a touch of the famous Northern California community to the Long Island home.

Kelli and Rob worked with architecture firm New Affiliates to renovate the exterior of their Sag Harbor weekend home, spending a total of $272,250 on the project.

When it’s summer in the Hamptons, an unpopulated beach is a rare luxury. For Kelly and Rob, even if a run-down house they were looking to buy wasn’t itself love at first sight, its proximity to a quiet stretch of sand and sweeping sunset views were convincing. But the 2,000-square-foot, two-bed, two-bath Sag Harbor home also had enough room for hosting, and offered a way for the family to escape a hectic schedule in Manhattan, where Kelly, an an art curator, and Rob, an artist, both work. "The house was not in great shape," says Kelly. "But it had great bones, as they say."

After purchasing the home in 2021, Kelly and Rob tackled an interior renovation first, keeping costs down thanks to Rob’s contracting skills. Rob tore out old carpet, squared off rounded wall edges, built bookshelves, and refinished popcorn-textured walls. He also patched and cleaned out holes in the walls, covered by curtains, where the previous owners stored a surprising cache of relics: dishes, roller skates, shoes. "It was really bonkers—a really strange situation," says Kelly. After that initial renovation, the couple spent time simply living in the house, seeing how they would use it, and brainstorming what other changes they might want to make.

In 2024, the couple were ready to refine the exterior, hoping to create something closer to the clean modernism and nature-oriented architecture of Sea Ranch. Through her career as a curator, Kelly had previously collaborated with architects Ivi Diamantopoulou and Jaffer Kolb, the cofounders of New York firm New Affiliates, on several exhibition designs. They had remained friendly over the years, making the studio an easy choice for a renovation.

$6,200 Site Protection & Preparation	$64,000 Structural	$7,000 Wall Finishes
$13,000 Electrical	$16,400 Plumbing	$20,600 Landscaping
$1,000 Kitchen & Bath Fixtures	$2,500 Lighting Fixtures	$14,000 Windows & Glazing Installation
$30,000 Windows & Glazing Procurement	$25,000 Exterior Decking & Railing	$5,500 Permitting
$10,000 Project Supervisor	$40,000 Architect/Design Fee	$15,500 Demolition
$1,550 Final Cleaning
Grand Total: $272,250