CLOSER TO HOME
Real Housewives star Luann de Lesseps invites Closer to her sprawling N.Y. estate.
Many of Countess Luann de Lesseps’ wildest fantasies have come true, from marrying into a royal family to gaining fame on The Real Housewives of New York City. But few can compare to the moment she found her home in New York’s Hamptons two years ago. “It was love at first sight,” Luann, 51, tells Closer. “I’ve always wanted to live on the water, so this felt like my dream house.” The four-bedroom, three-bath, Greek revival–style colonial sits on the upper cove of Long Island, N.Y.’s gorgeous Sag Harbor. “There’s a pretty famous interior decorator who lives around the corner, Steven Gambrel, and I’ve always loved his house,” she reveals. “So when I
walked onto the property, I could visualize a life here. I thought, ‘I can move from my house in [nearby] Sagaponack and be happy.’ ”
Yet she quickly realized there was still some work to be done before it would fully live up to her dreams. “Before you renovate, it’s good to move into a house first to figure out how you want to live in it,” she advises. That meant adding an 800-square-foot master suite, updating the bathrooms and redoing the exteriors in white-painted cedar, which she completed in 2015.
Another important part of updating the outside of her early 19th century home was making the patio seem more like an indoor room. “I wanted it to feel like an extension of the kitchen, so I usually leave the French doors open,” she reveals. “I set up a nice sitting area and spend a lot of time there in the summer.”
The charming home also features a 500-square-foot waterside cottage on the one-third-acre lot. It’s where Luann’s son from her first marriage, Noel, 20, resides. “It’s great [that he’s here and]
“We’re a happy family. I’m getting married again and my kids are thrilled for me!” — Luann, with Noel, Victoria and Thomas
has his own separate space,” she says with a smile. “He’s got his own kitchenette and a nook-like bed. It’s his man cave!” (Her daughter, Victoria, 21, lives nearby and painted artwork that hangs in the den.)
Luann’s also made room for her fiancé, businessman Thomas D’Agostino Jr., 49, who helped inspire her Hopeless Romantic bedding collection due in 2017. “Because I’m getting married, I wanted to create a subdued, chic line that lasts beyond the honeymoon,” she explains. “Something not too girlie — that a man would be comfortable getting into.”
The couple enjoy spending time on the balcony off their master bedroom. “We have neighbors, so I wanted something totally private,” she reveals. “You can have coffee in your bathrobe and nobody sees you.”
And when Luann wants to explore Sag Harbor and the surrounding area, she’s got the perfect vehicle. “I have a little boat in the back,” she says. “I’ve never had one, so it’s a whole different lifestyle. Sailing around to restaurants is really fun — and the views make it that much more amazing!”