There is nothing hesitant or haphazard about John Barman's style. This is a man who knows what he likes, nay loves, and goes for it with gusto. His weekend house in Bridgehampton, New York, radiates confidence, character, and consistency throughout—three qualities that earn him a Traditional Home 1999 Design Award.

Born and raised in Manhattan, Barman studied business at the University of Pennsylvania at his father's urging. But he knew early on that he'd much prefer carrying a swatch book to a briefcase. His many satisfied clients are glad of his career choice.

Barman purchased his weekend retreat in 1987. At that time, it was a seven-room cottage with little to say for it except its ideal Hamptons location—close to the ocean, sand dunes, and a beautiful beach. For the first 10 years of ownership, the designer contented himself with mostly cosmetic improvements and the conversion of a garage into a two-bedroom guest cottage. Then, in 1997, fulfilling a long-held dream, he more than doubled the size of the original house by adding a two-story wing that consists of an entrance hall and living room on the ground level and a master suite upstairs.

Measuring 32 x 2l feet and embraced on two sides by a total of five sets of extra-tall French doors, the new living room is a triumphant expression of Barman's sophisticated, succinctly defined style. To love is his gutsy use of vivid colors—combinations of sunflower yellow, red, orange, and shocking pink—played against stark white walls, rich mahogany woodwork, and a gleaming, highly polished oak floor stained dark—almost black—to look like mahogany. "I've never lived with this much color before, but I love it-it's very uplifting," he says, adding, "I'm not sure if the same colors would work as well in a city apartment; they seem to work much better out in the country, where the light is filtered through trees and large windows.

Because of its generous size, the living room easily accommodates three separate seating areas. The center grouping features a shapely tufted black leather sofa that faces a carved limestone fireplace imported from France. The other two seating areas—each with a white sofa piped in red—provide beautiful balance at each end of the room. Day or night, summer or winter, Barman, who loves hosting house parties, takes great pleasure in this room. "In summer, I throw the doors wide open to create an indoor-outdoor connection," he says. "It's wonderful to see the changing colors of the wheat field at the back of the house and hear the sound of the crashing waves. My guests and I feel transported to the South of France." In winter, with a roaring fire and all the candles lit, the room is no less inviting. "This is when the center of the room becomes more important; in the summer it's the other way around," he notes.

Furnishings and accessories in the living room and throughout the house are a tantalizing amalgam of American, European, Anglo-Indian, and African designs. "I like a combination of old and new, traditional and contemporary, simple and exotic," Barman says. "I rarely go on a shopping expedition to find something specific. Most of my purchases, for myself at least, are spontaneous. If I see something that pleases my eye, I buy it." Or-as in the case of two floor lamps in the living room-he snatches discarded objects off the street. I saw these lamps on the curb," he says. "I had refinished and fitted with new shades, and they look terrific."

While only a few of his acquisitions were free for the taking, many were reasonably priced. Examples include a pair of large ceramic urns in the foyer. Placed with distinction on a handsome 19th-century Regency console, the Pottery Barn urns are proof that good design is good design, irrespective of the price tag. The chairs in the dining room show the same design sensibility. Barman bought them at the Door Store in New York City for $79 each. "Originally, they were painted gold and rather gaudy," he says. "I changed their character by painting them black, leaving just touches of gold for contrast."

The dining table in this marvelous atrium-like space is a stunning and substantial anchor for the inexpensive Chippendale-style chairs. Measuring 75 inches in diameter, the table was designed by Barman to resemble a similar piece that the legendary decorator Dorothy Draper designed in the 1940s. Placed atop a twisted piece of whitewashed wood that in turn rests on a black-painted base, the wooden top is painted white with a 3-inch-wide black-painted border.

The crowning glory of the dining room is a magnificent metal chandelier that Barman, in a stroke of genius, painted his favorite color—red. How be came by the chandelier is an interesting and instructive story. It seems his "picker" (a person who scours flea markets, garage sales, estate sales, even junkyards, for old and/or interesting things) arrived at Barman's Manhattan apartment one day and, through the intercom, asked the designer to quickly come down to the street. Obligingly, Barman threw on his coat and dashed outside. There, idling at curbside, was a taxi with a "big mass of rusted metal" strapped to the roof. While others might have viewed the cargo with distaste, Barman, with his discerning eye, immediately saw the chandelier's potential. "It's perfect," he proclaimed. And so, with his magic touch, it is.

Along with its obvious decorative merits, the house intrigues architecturally. Especially captivating is the interplay of rustic building elements, such as plank ceilings, beadboard walls, barn doors, and wrought-iron hardware, with more refined and polished materials like marble, mahogany, and granite. "It's the combination of things that makes a house interesting, and that's what I like," says Barman. We fully agree.

Text: Pamela J. Wilson

Photography: Jeff McNamara

Interior Design: John Barman