Stuart Vevers tells me the house has six rooms and a balcony and dates to 1937. “Wow!” I said in surprise. “Isn’t that the year the movie Snow White came out?” The conversation isn’t as awkward as you might think: Vevers, a British expat who has been Coach’s creative director for more than a decade, is an avid Disney fan I humbly admit that I’m a Disney fan myself. A noted nerd, my house is filled with Mickeys and Donald Ducks.
Weaver and I had discussed this before, so I already knew she was a connoisseur of Disney experiences around the world, including her home in Orlando, which she had visited more than 10 times — and, as I would soon learn, she was married to her husband, assistant design director Ben Seidler, one of their earliest meetings, at Disneyland Paris. Now she and Seidler have moved into the cabin-like space with their twins, River and Vivian, who are just four years old and veterans of the Magic Kingdom’s Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, where Vivian gets a complete makeover and becomes a dazzling princess. Both eyed the visitor a little warily — did my displeasure at the old-fashioned wallpaper put them off? Any semblance of editorial objectivity vanished as I walked into their 1,100-square-foot home, where the walls are covered with 1930s scrap paper and the living room is the one Astaire Rogers last saw decorating in the movies.
If ever there was an ideal place to live and live, it was this hideaway the weavers and designers discovered online two years ago. A search of their property turned up three blurry photos, along with something that read “hidden gem, hidden.” Yes, it’s hidden, yes it’s hidden — but it’s not in the best condition.
“It was owned by the same family from 1937 until 10 years ago. Unfortunately it had been empty for about ten years, the power had gone out and there was a dead rat in the hallway. “I’m scared of rats,” wavers Stuart. “But, I said, aren’t there lots of animals here? We’re in the country. “Only chipmunks and rabbits – so far, just cute things!” he insists – although after gentle prodding, he admits that a bear and her baby – cute? – were seen in the street.
Well, when he crossed the little bridge and saw this place he stopped there. “Most people didn’t want it – it was too small and needed rebuilding – but I was thrilled that we retained the footprint of the room as much as possible – it was mainly a renovation – and we didn’t have any trouble with the architecture. The windows have been redesigned, but the wooden frames are just as they were 80 years ago; false ceilings have been removed and in two cases, the sloping ceilings are now adorned with slightly odd vintage antler chandeliers;
When you have a little over 1,000 acres in total (details: 40 acres), it won’t take you long to tour the house. It’s said that the magic is in the details — like the Jenny Lind spindle bed in the river and Vivienne’s shared room that comes with the house. “I want our house to be fun, entertaining and happy for them,” Weaver said. I asked her if the twins live together, and she said that although they can be friends and enemies, she sometimes finds them telling each other stories in bed.
The rest of the home’s furniture was found in antique stores or flea markets — the Elephant Trunk Flea Market, which the couple frequented, is just a short walk away. The floral painting in the master bedroom was found on Shelter Island; the hooked rug in the hall, bearing the date 1937, was found in Massachusetts. A pair of 19th-century pink Bristol glass lamps in the living room were feared to be broken by the hands of a four-year-old, but the Weavers didn’t mind — to them, the twins were growing up in beautiful surroundings that were a delight to them. “Children are attracted to places where they are well cared for,” Seidler said. She added that any inevitable little tragedy becomes a story in the family’s life.
In the winter, when the river freezes—and the bridge can be a little slippery, Weaver admits—the kitchen has a wood-burning stove for comfort (though this isn’t 1937; the house also has central heating). The cabinets have scalloped valances. “I love old things,” Weaver explains, “but there was also an environmental question—why not use something that already exists? All the kitchen floors are reclaimed wood—they look basically the same, but they were like that before.
The Weavers nodded when I pointed out that the 1930s-style bathroom, though cute, might be fine for two adults and a few preschoolers, but could be challenging when those cute kids turn into older teens. It would provide a place to stay for friends and relatives and, inevitably, a haven for depressed teens to play music as loud as possible.
“River, don’t take the toy out — you only played with it for 30 seconds!” Seidler playfully scolded her son, who must have returned one too many times to the hand-painted wedding box in the dining room. The tables feature Ginori’s Italian fruit prints, which the couple has been collecting over the years, amassing hundreds of pieces, while glasses and cutlery came from nearby store Plain Goods. “We make the most of it — nothing is for show,” said Weaver.
Everything here is so thoughtful and lovely that I asked Vevers about the house where he grew up in northern England. Are those great places too? He beamed. “We lived in a semi-detached house with lovely suburban decor – at one point we lived near a pub! I had a typical 80s teenage bedroom: I had a poster of a band called the Five Stars that I loved – they’re gorgeous; I still listen to them. I also have a poster of River Phoenix from My Own Private Idaho.” Vevers, who studies at the University of Westminster, lives with three classmates in a student flat in Harrow, where the rent is £30 a week and it’s so cold he remembers wearing gloves to bed. “I can see my breath,” he said.
It’s a thing of the past. Now, aside from the shelter, the family’s primary residence is a townhouse on Manhattan’s Upper West Side — not far from the 77th Street weekend flea market. “We’ve got something nice there!” There’s also a circa 1908 Arts and Crafts home in the English Lake District, where the couple celebrated their wedding in 2014. This time, however, it was the Toontown-sized resort that won over the revelers. Right before I left she offered to light up the bridge and I wanted the lanterns to illuminate Mickey, Minnie, Donald and her nephew on the bridge. Instead, River and Vivian were barefoot, jumping up and down and begging their parents to let them play in the water.
In this story: Beauty, Kumi Craig; Rebecca O’Donnell.
