Nobody sizzles up a summer house like designer Tom Britt, whose Water Mill “barn” and pool house grace the July/August ’13 issue of Veranda, reported by moi. Tom’s designs are, like him, are often bigger than life, and I am happy to call him friend. Even though he yells at me for half the interview and we laugh the other half. It’s a miracle I get any information at all.

If you peek down the hall you see it is painted a beautiful, pale, robin’s egg blue, a glorious counterpoint to the claret and burgundy reds. (See all pool house and “barn” photos in the magazine itself.)

It’s brilliant the way he takes inspiration from something extravagant like a European castle or maharaja’s bedroom and translates it to his own work. (I wrote about that in another Veranda article on Tom in May ’12,  posted about here. Btw the May ’12 article was on his other Water Mill house, since sold.)

It is not everyday, in fact I can’t think of any day, I’ve seen a gi-normous bed upholstered in red leather with nailhead trim. We did not have those in Tarboro.

Small wonder Elle Decor has just included Tom on its very short list of Grand Masters of Design.

For choice bits of Grand Master’s advice, see Tom’s Britt’s Design Tips by Dayle Wood on Veranda.com. He has great things to say about color and scale.

Speaking of scale, this epergne on steroids about blows my mind. I cannot write stuff like “it blows my mind” in Veranda, but I can write it here and feel subversive.

Also posting recently about this Tom Britt house is Patricia Gaye Tapp in her fab blog Little Augury. She’s great, and her blog is great.

All these beautiful photos are by Max Kim-Bee for Veranda.