When he wasn't aboard a sailboat, Joe Lucas would spend his childhood summers learning the nooks and crannies of the historic New Jersey yacht club where his family had a membership. "I knew the back halls and secret rooms from running around and exploring and performing in the end-of-summer variety show as a kid," he recalls. "Think Dirty Dancing , but more wholesome and with a whole lot more madras and Lilly Pulitzer." But years later, after Hurricanes Irene and Sandy tore through town, the structural integrity of the idyllic waterfront club was in peril. Serendipitously, Lucas had his own interior design firm, Lucas Studio , by that point; he immediately volunteered his talents for the major overhaul of the building that had housed all his youthful adventures.

The club, founded in 1888, had grown steadily over the last century, sprouting east and west extensions. When Lucas's firm was brought on to the restoration project, plans had already been made to replace those poorly designed additions with wings that would include a kitchen, offices, a bar, and a dining room—all with top-notch views of the bay. Of course, the foundation also received a makeover; the building now sits about ten feet above the bay on a layer of concrete poured over 60-foot steel pilings.

With the architectural changes underway, Lucas took on the challenge of updating the club's interiors without disrespecting the site's rich history. "The majority of the members didn't want it to be a big, fancy, shiny new place," he explains. "They wanted the charm and traditions to be the same. The smells. The views. The quirks. It was no small task to get that and to make it function and feel like a new building." Working with a member and trustee as his sounding board, he approached the design as he would that of a private residence—comfort, color, and texture were top of mind.

The palette—a mix of blues, greens, crisp white, and soft grays—is purposefully subdued so as not to read too kitschy or themed. Hints of navy leather, brass, mahogany, and even wavy wallpaper are Lucas's quiet nods to the building's connection to the water. However, there is one unapologetically nautical touch: flags, everywhere. There are club burgees from around the world strung across the main dining room; personal signal flags, representing member families, hanging in the upstairs Ward Room; and sailing trophy flags festooning the walls of the Ballroom. "I've even got one up there that I won for the club when I was 16 years old," notes Lucas.

He's not the only member who is proud of the building's new decor. "The best thing I can hear is that the club feels just like it used to, but better. Or when someone discovers or comments on a detail they just noticed or appreciated for the first time. Those are the little things that make me happy," he says. "But the greatest compliment I can get is when they tell me, 'We feel like we are home again.'"