A Texas Couple’s Three-Story Sanctuary in Williamsburg

The living room: It opens onto the garden. The sectional is by Montis. The speakers are by A for Ara. The chaise bench is by Asa Pingree. The floor lamp is by Ohla Studio. The metal tables with rocks are by Sisan Lee for TRNK.
Photo: Annie Schlechter

Their families had known one another for generations in Corpus Christi, Texas, and even attended the same church, but Sarah Martin-Nuss and David Nuss did not get to know each other until 2017, after they both moved back as adults. Part of this is because of a 20-year age difference.

But the connections went across generations. “Her dad was my dad’s doctor,” says David. “Your mom had my mom’s baby shower for me!” says Sarah.

David, a musician, had been living in New York and Sarah in Dallas. Then one night she happened to be in a jazz club where David was playing the drums. They had their first date the following evening at the beach, swim- ming naked under a full moon surrounded by bioluminescent algae. Their clothes washed away into the Gulf of Mexico with the rising tide. By 2021, they were married and had decided to move to New York.

When they saw the listing for this three-story, 2,400-square-foot Williamsburg house, built in 1925, they jumped on a plane to see it. It had been renovated for a family who never got to live there because they left the city during the pandemic and never came back. “It was perfect,” Sarah says, except for one detail: It was next door to a bar. Although they had been told the walls between the bar and the house had been soundproofed, they wanted to be sure, so before they signed the contract, David had a friend visit the house at 11 p.m. on a Saturday night. It passed the test.

They moved in during the summer of 2022 with their three cats and little else. For nearly a year, they took their time decorating, until at some point they realized they needed to call in a professional. “Like, how do we not just go to Pottery Barn?” David asked. Sarah had discovered Jean Lin, the founder of Colony, a showroom for furniture and lighting designers, on Instagram; the three had what Lin called “an aesthetic understanding” and started working together.

The parlor floor of the house had been renovated by the previous owner into having an open-floor-plan dining-living-and-kitchen area with a long stainless-steel island, honey-colored walls, and exposed wood-beam ceilings. The floor itself opens onto a garden. The couple like to entertain, but “when we placed furniture in a traditional way” in the open area, Lin says, “it was too far apart.” So she planted the Montis sectional in the middle of the room like a sofa island. The large painting there is by Texas abstract artist Dorothy Hood (1918– 2000); Sarah had worked on a museum retrospective of Hood’s work in 2016 in South Texas. (Hollis Taggart Gallery will be having an exhibition of Hood’s work in New York in early 2025.)

For months after moving, the couple lived with the mattress on the floor. But now there’s a big steel-frame bed Sarah designed with Trevor Cook. It had to be welded on-site.

“The bed is a sanctuary within a sanctuary,” Lin says.

The Sitting Area: The black chair is by Erickson Aesthetics from Colony. The painting is by Texas abstract artist Dorothy Hood. The white chair by Studio Paolo Ferrari from Colony has handwoven fabric by Hiroko Takeda.
Photo: Annie Schlechter

The kitchen: The dining area faces the street, the living room is in the back, and the kitchen sits in between.
Photo: Annie Schlechter

The dining area: The couple like to entertain. They found this oblong stone dining table at Egg Collective — big enough for a proper dinner party.
Photo: Annie Schlechter

The bedroom: The steel-frame bed was a collaboration with Trevor Cook. The sconce lighting is by Kassandra Thatcher from Spartan Shop. The side tables were designed by Umberto Bellardi Ricci.
Photo: Annie Schlechter

Sarah’s Office: It has a custom desk by Trevor Cook. The watercolor on paper (1989) above the couch is by Oliver Lee Jackson.Above the desk is an Anonymous Tantra Painting (2000).
Photo: Annie Schlechter

David’s Office: The desk is custom by Trevor Cook. The painting above it is by Ethan Tasa. The rattle on the desk is by David Nuss.
Photo: Annie Schlechter

The bathroom: The plants love the skylight. “When I got the philodendron,” Sarah says, “it was about two feet tall, and I found that perfect stick that has that little nook that fits the wall right here.”
Photo: Annie Schlechter

The Portrait: David is wearing a shirt from Ages NYC. Sarah is wearing the City Duster by NYC design studio Pilosoule.
Photo: Annie Schlechter