“I love a home that evolves, that has a soul,” says Robert Marc, who has lived with his partner Gunnar Spaulding in the same East Hampton house for 15 years. Marc is a former eyewear designer who sold his chain of optician stories in 2014. Spaulding is the former owner of a luxury women’s shoe company. The couple, who also keep an apartment in Manhattan, enjoy a longstanding relationship with Brian Sawyer, partner at the design firm Sawyer Berson . So when it came to turning a new leaf on this retreat, Sawyer was top of mind.

“I admired his sensibility and taste level,” Marc says. “We’re all about detail and craftsmanship. He’s incredibly collaborative. The relationship was very important.”

The men settled on a plan to give the house, which was built in the 1950s, a lighter look. Matt McKay, Sawyer’s former director of interior design, led the project under Sawyer’s guidance. “We had dark floors and dark walls, and the goal was to lighten it up completely so that the house had a much better relationship to the garden,” says Sawyer.

The floors were among the first elements of the house that were renovated. “They’re made of bleached fir,” says Sawyer. “And the walls are a creamy white in hand-done plaster.”

With new carpets mostly by Sacco Carpet , the composition of the rooms changed quickly. The clients kept their own furniture, mostly vintage pieces handsomely offset against neutral backdrops. Particular to the house is the range of artworks: “We kept a number of our own pieces,” says Marc. The living room fireplace features “a bronze, mid-century [sculpture] bought at the Wyeth gallery.”

For the office, Marc chose to hang seven whimsical self-portraits of a man wearing eyeglasses. Painted in 1937 by Wougnan, they were purchased at the Eric Appel gallery in New York. In the dining room, a midcentury marble sculpture creates a “delineation between the living room and the dining room,” says Marc.

Not all of the charms of this East Hampton house are found inside. The Spaulding-Marc home is framed by a lush garden teeming with trees and flowers. In almost every room, tree branches nearly touch the windows, imbuing the interiors with a sense of the natural world. “We have sycamore trees, seventy-five years old,” says Marc. “We have sunken styrax trees, white pines, lots of grasses, hydrangea bushes. Rhododendrons are very East Hampton.” A verdant setting for a fresh take on a beloved home, it would seem.

A striking 1950s Italian light from Kimcherova with black, red, and white pendants welcomes visitors to the East Hampton home of Gunnar Spaulding and Robert Marc. The circular dining table is vintage Martin Visser and has been matched with a pair of Danish oak side chairs. “We replaced the existing flooring with French limestone,” says interior designer Brian Sawyer.

The living room is a cozy and welcoming space packed with furniture grouped around a coffee table by Kelly Wearstler . On the left wall we have a gentry sofa by Moroso upholstered in de Le Cuona wool. That piece is flanked by a pair of open-backed 1950s chairs, which feature blue and white cushions by René Gabriel. The generous seating allows visitors to take in the lush garden that beckons beyond two windows. The soft white rug is from Sacco Carpet.

The sleek dining room is distinguished by several works of art, including a large canvas by Robert Kelly on the far left wall, as well as a wooden screen dividing the room from the kitchen and an elegant table made from antique wood by Demiurge. Guests can relax in the vintage burgundy Mario Bellini cab chairs. Topher Grant designed the white pendant lights.

A look inside the spacious kitchen. “We added the window over the stove because we needed more light,” says Sawyer. “They wanted a better view of the garden.”

Here the designers enhanced a well lived-in room with a few touches: drapes in a gray-and-white pattern by Holland & Sherry , a white area rug by Sacco Carpet, and pillow covers from Fortuny and Holland & Sherry. The designer chose a pale wall covering by Maya Romanoff .

Marc added a whimsical, personal touch to the office: portraits of men wearing glasses. The room is dominated by vintage pieces, including a desk chair from R.E. Steele , a Borge Mogensen Settee with Pierre Frey fabric, and leather chair. The carpet is by Lora Piana . Milo Baughman designed the desk and the lamp on the table is by Knud Basse courtesy of Gallery Bac .

Wrapped in a canopy of garden green, the primary bedroom offers the perfect space to retreat from the hectic world. Everything is done simply and tastefully, from the white Sacco rug to the light gray curtains by Dedar . The clients’ lamps were not changed but the chair was reupholstered in Claremont Fabric .

The bathroom features a rectangular tub and a leaf-filled view.

The clients didn’t want to change much in the guest bedroom. The existing furniture is theirs. Sawyer added new drapes in a granite gray by C&C Milano and a white area rug by Alt for Living .