Go inside "Real Housewives" star Erin Lichy’s Sag Harbor home as she faces major flood damage and shares how her sanctuary keeps her sane.
As to be expected of someone starring on “The Real Housewives of New York,” the Empire State is definitively home for main cast member Erin Lichy, whether she’s at her New York City townhouse or the Hamptons estate she escapes to for a break from the Big Apple.
Both properties are heavily featured in the latest season of the hit reality TV show, which premiered on Sept. 8. It marks Lichy's third season with the rebooted franchise. The Bravo personality’s Manhattan townhome serves as the backdrop for behind-the-scenes confessional interviews, and her classic Sag Harbor, NY, cottage is a major element of her current storyline because she’s been dealing with extensive flood damage from a pipe that burst over the winter in the primary bedroom.
“It was right over our bed, and it was probably going off for a little while,” Lichy, 39, explains to Realtor.com® in the latest Celebrity Sanctuary.
“We have somebody who comes and checks on our house weekly, but obviously that's enough time for a lot of damage to occur,” she adds. “Unfortunately, the water permeated into the kitchen, into the living room. We had to change all of the floors. My daughter's bedroom was impacted upstairs. It somehow went there. We then had a lot of concerns about the crawl space because it went through the cement.
“We're still working on it,” Lichy says of fixes that were supposed to be complete this month. “We’re nowhere near done. It's taking a long time because of the remediation and the mitigation that had to occur before everything.”
As to be expected of someone starring on “The Real Housewives of New York,” the Empire State is definitively home for main cast member Erin Lichy, whether she’s at her New York City townhouse or the Hamptons estate she escapes to for a break from the Big Apple. (Bravo Media) 
Lichy's personal properties are heavily featured in Season 16 of the hit reality TV show. (Eugene Gologursky/Bravo) 
The Bravo personality’s Manhattan townhome serves as the backdrop for behind-the-scenes confessional interviews. (Bravo) 
Lichy's classic Sag Harbor, NY, cottage is a major element of her current storyline this season because she’s been dealing with extensive flood damage from a pipe that burst over the winter in the primary bedroom. (Bravo) Though the necessary repairs that followed the home emergency were unplanned, Lichy’s decades of experience managing properties and renovations make her more than qualified and prepared to handle the mess.
The New York University alum, who earned a master’s degree in sustainable real estate development, has been a licensed real estate agent since she was just 19. For about eight of those 20 years in the industry, Lichy has been a member of the Eklund|Gomes team at Douglas Elliman, which was co-founded by “Million Dollar Listing New York” star Fredrik Eklund.
The native New Yorker simultaneously runs Erin’s Studio, her eponymous interior design and build firm that’s been tapped to transform a number of notable residential projects on the East Coast. Plus, she promises more design ventures are in the works, from “product to actual livable spaces.”
Outside of the home space, the serial entrepreneur serves as the chief marketing officer of Mezcalum, the vegan alcohol brand she started with her husband, attorney Abe Lichy. The married couple also co-host a popular podcast, “Come Together.”
Because the parents of four often conduct business in the downstairs apartment at their New York City residence—the space is used “both as Abe's law office and sometimes [for] Mezcalum team meetings”—the Sag Harbor house is their true retreat for designated family time with their children: daughter Layla, 7, and sons Levi, 9, Elijah, 4, and Jack, 1.
In this edition of Celebrity Sanctuary, Erin Lichy describes the Sag Harbor abode they bought in 2019 and its peaceful pine forest setting that’s become the family’s preferred salve for the stresses of life in the concrete jungle.
While the entire early 2000s-built, six-bedroom, seven-bathroom, two-story property with a finished basement is positioned to reduce distractions and increase connections, Lichy points to the den as her most reliable personal haven.
The Hamptons house is Lichy's true retreat for designated family time with her husband, attorney Abe Lichy, and their four children: daughter Layla, 7, and sons Levi, 9, Elijah, 4, and Jack, 1. (Instagram/Erin Lichy) 
Erin Lichy says the "trees towering over" her secluded Sag Harbor sanctuary, as well as the "woodpeckers and all sorts of crazy animals and wildlife" that are present, make the location feel special. (Bravo) 
The previous homeowner painted the home's exterior wood shingles gray, and it's on Lichy's to-do list to restore them to their natural state. (Bravo) My property out east, 100%, is my sanctuary space.
When we started looking, my husband was very adamant about being in the woods and not seeing any other homes.
I was raised very differently than he was in the sense that ... I grew up with a mom who is a builder in Southampton. I lived in the village with her since I was 9 years old. I loved, loved being close to everything.
He liked the privacy. That was a nonstarter for him, so I was only allowed to show him product that was very remote. I love it now so much. It really feels like a little slice of heaven, and it's so quiet and peaceful.
We've changed it a lot since we got it. It was like, “Let's get rid of the wallpaper that matches the curtains that matches the rug that matches the bedding.” Everything was draped in one pattern in every single room. It was kind of crazy how it used to look. That's why the home didn't sell [before I bought it], which is really interesting because the bones were good and I could see that, but I can understand why the Realtor® at the time told me that people would walk in and walk right out. It was just not for them because of how saturated it was in these intricate patterns in every room.
It's very open now and much more modern.
I pay homage to the fact that we are amongst these very old, ancient, majestic pine trees. We have woodpeckers and all sorts of crazy animals and wildlife, and the trees are towering over. They’re so, so tall. It's very cool. People used to go there, and that's where they would cut their Christmas trees from.
We have touches of green, and [it] feels woodsy, but still very beachy because that's the beauty of the Hamptons. There's so many different areas. You have farmland, you have vineyards, you have beachland, you have bay areas.
It still has that Hampton shingles, beachy vibe. Unfortunately, the people before us who purchased the home painted the shingles gray, so it's been on my to-do list for the last eight years to power-wash it and get all that paint off, because I love the color of the natural shingles and the aging.
The flood damage was physically devastating to the structure of the early 2000s-built, two-story dwelling with a finished basement. (Bravo) 
Since purchasing the property in 2019, the Lichys regularly spend holidays, entertain guests, and generally "veg out" at their Hamptons haven. (Bravo) 
Lichy says "being immersed in nature and connecting with family" at her Sag Harbor sanctuary keeps her "sane" amid the chaos of work and family life. (Bravo) Sanctuary means to me—especially at this stage of my life with four young children—just peace and quiet. A time that I have to be with myself, to reflect, to feel stable, and take a minute to decompress.
I love being in the room that we could call my den. It's right off the pool [and] has sliding glass doors. I love being there by myself, reading a book, or sometimes I just curl up on the couch, and if I'm writing emails, I can see my kids [in] the pool playing and having fun. You can see the trees all towering around the pool, and it's just a very special place.
It's got two separate rooms that are really kind of one with two separate sitting areas. They both have sliding doors off to the pool. I have a really special light fixture from Angler Studio that I love. I have really beautiful artwork in the room as well. We have a Frame TV in one of the spaces, so if the kids want to come in from the pool, they [can] watch a show.
[The] sofas are [Restoration Hardware], very comfortable living sofas. I have one white couch in one of the smaller sitting rooms that's kind of a reading room, and then in the other bigger room where the TV is, they're an oatmeal linen [color] because my kids plop down on them wet and I couldn't have them get ruined.
The flooring is [an] 8-inch white oak plank from PID [Floors]. I used ABC Carpet [& Home] for my rugs in these rooms.
I have a really beautiful marble green fireplace that lends itself to the trees outside. I have a gorgeous surfboard coffee table in one of the rooms, and then in the other room, I have [a] curved wave table.
The paint in my house is Greek Villa. That's a Sherwin-Williams color. I love that color.
I've got gorgeous paint that I did on the trim that is a very subtle light pink from Farrow & Ball. It's a happy color. A lot of people don't notice that it's pink, and then after being at my house for a couple weeks they’re like, “Hold on a minute. Is your trim pink?” That's always fun.
We entertain there a lot. We have movie nights. We like to have cocktails there sometimes. It's a very fluid space in this section of the house.
It is right off of our outdoor kitchen, which makes it very easy. French doors lead out onto this big porch that we built with a big outdoor kitchen, and so everybody hangs out there. It's nice because you can sit inside, have a cocktail, and then you can go outside and have dinner.
Unfortunately, I can't go there every weekend. We do also rent the property out because I think that's a smart investment, but we try to go whenever we can and we like to spend our holidays there.
I have some of my best friends very close to me when I'm out there, and that's a really special time to share with them.
I am trying to convince some of my Bravo friends to buy homes near me. Daisy [Toye] spent a lot of time with me out there this summer. She really fell in love with the house. Carole [Radziwill] also came by this summer. We had a really fun day.
When my kids are off of school for an extended period of time, we love to drive up there and veg out and stay home.
I'm such an outward-facing person. Sometimes it's just nice to stay home for two or three days, bunker up with the family, wear sweatpants. That's the goal when we're out there.
This space, I don't know where I would be without it with the amount of things that I have on my plate and that I manage. I really rely on being there and zoning out. Oftentimes, I won't know where my phone is. I am really locked in with my kids. I just enjoy my time there. There's no other way to put it.
I like being immersed in that nature and connecting with my family. When I'm in the city, it's really hard to do that because there's so many things on my to-do list in my mind that are constantly buzzing, but when I'm there it's easy to turn it off ... and it's kept me sane. It really has.