Fire Island Retreat

In our Q&A with Brian and Jake, the men explained their design process. From trusting their instincts on color to listening to the cues of the home’s architecture, their intuition-led approach has lessons for us all.

Kohler: Yours is one of many modernist houses on Fire Island, New York, built in the 1960s and 70s. As is typical, it’s cedar and unfussy. With this in mind, how did you approach the renovation?

Brian: It’s still a beach house and we always wanted it to feel not too precious because, you know, dogs and wet sand, but we also wanted it to feel elevated.

Jake: And we knew we wanted the bathrooms to be special. When you visit a hotel, on vacation, it’s always a great bathroom that makes your stay even better.

“It’s all about having time with friends and getting them to relax — we want everybody to feel like they’re on vacation.”

Jake Deutsch

Kohler: You two oversaw this renovation yourselves — how did you land on certain brands and products?
Any advice?

Jake: We wanted quality, we wanted timelessness, and great function. To us, those things were synonymous with KOHLER_® and ANN SACKS^®. For us it was always going to come down to quality product with amazing design; that’s what sold us. What we didn’t expect was the perk of the design support we received from the brand professionals in the showroom — that was the icing on the cake.

Kohler: We hear you’re obsessed with the Numi^® 2.0 toilet.

Brian: We love the toilets! The toilets are life-changing! Really though, the Numi smart toilet—we’re spoiled by this. It has music, lights, automation—it's really out of this world.

Kohler: You chose the Anthem^™ push-button control system throughout — what drove that choice?

Brian: Aesthetically we loved those push buttons, which feel elevated and modern but a touch retro. It feels sort of appropriate with the era of the house.

Jake: This architecture here is modern and linear and dramatic, with these cube forms repeated throughout and we chose to do the same with this circle—it’s the shape of the Anthem controls and the shape of mirrors we chose both in the bathrooms and by the pool. The bathrooms feel cohesive and consistent in style because of the repetition of the hardware and repeating that circular visual language helped the renovations feel integrated.

Kohler: Matte Black is also a current through the home, and it feels really natural in the space, not severe like its reputation implies.

Brian: Black can sound harsh to some people —they’re thinking it’s some sort of Batman machismo vibe — but here it feels really elegant and soft. It’s really important to find a sophisticated black, which is what we have here with the Statement rainhead and handheld showers, the Anthem controller, and the Numi 2.0 toilet. We used these elements alongside a KOHLER Brazn^® sink and a shower clad in black slate, Alina from Ann Sacks, in a guest bathroom, and the mix is beautiful—it just works.

Kohler: Any surprises now that it’s all installed and done?

Jake: It’s not just our joy of having these experiences, but it’s our guests’ joy. And it’s not just guests, but every time people visit the house and ask, "Can we take a tour?", and we show the bathrooms as the focal point of the design. People are just blown away.

Brian: We knew it was going to be gorgeous. We didn’t know it was going to just be, like, WOW gorgeous. It’s just spectacular what we created together.