I renovated a rambling farmhouse, still partially the original 1810 post and beam homestead on 3 + acres one mile up a dirt road. As the journey unfolded..... I was in Ohio in 2003 with friends planning to look at an old manor home for sale when the owner of a farmhouse built by the Turner's in the early 1800's called me about something unrelated and when I told him where I was he said... "Well, you should buy my house... The house is just a few hours from Boston and New York City and under an hour from Tanglewood, Lenox, West Stockbridge, Pittsfield, Williamstown and Albany, minutes away from three ski slopes and partially in Stephentown, NY......" So there you have it, I bought a rambling farmhouse on 3.55 acres one mile up a dirt road.
I knew I wanted comfort, seclusion, and light, a country place as warm and welcoming as a B&B whether it was for a weekend visitor, an artist staying for a while or for my own family to feel at home in the country. Even in the most formal house, comfort and light should come before anything. Without comfort a house is not a home. Without light, there is no beauty. My plan was never to "restore," like you might a period home in a downtown location. It was more the undertaking of a gentle renovation, respecting the history of the house and land, more of a re-freshening, not an overhaul; brought back, not done over. These old farmhouses quite often started with a homestead, as this did and then in my case an almost center stairwell Colonial farmhouse was built onto it and the layers of this history are all uncovered as you renovate. Like the Shaker homes you can tour in the area such as at the Hancock Shaker Village 30 minutes from here, it is a home you fall in love with because of the living history. Adroit of both heart and mind I love to play up all the eccentricities, invigorate a home. The lands themselves of old farmhouses go through use as farmlands, orchards or livestock farms, then many fall into neglect. It was said this property was a sheep farm, and a blueberry farm, and that during the depression the family that came to occupy it lived through the winter on the potatoes they dug upon their arrival in the fall. Although it is said there is a buried treasure of silver doubloons on the property (the last owner found eight) one of the most wonderful treasures I found was under a partition wall tortured by seventies paneling. We were removing the wall and found it had at one time been papered with the color pages from a children's book. I stopped the demolition to scoop up a portion of the wall to save. The soul of a house can be found in these little pieces of its history. I knew the windows had to go, the lighting and electrical needed updating and I had planned to hit the restart button in the kitchen. I endeavored to take the four dark rooms of the original homestead and bring in light and flow to turn it into a large day lit eat-in kitchen. I wanted it to handle the steady traffic and communal cooking of weekend guests. One sleeping loft came down, and windows and a sliding patio door went in along with custom cabinets reflecting the Shaker influence of the area. The result is a kitchen that is naturally lit from sun up until the sun sets off the back deck. Natural beauty surrounds you. The kitchen is where the old part of the house touches the new. Literally as well in spirit. I reclaimed wood from the original barn board walls to use as trim and for making other decorative items. I had a rough cut 2 by 16 foot shelf made at a neighboring mill to hang across the upper wall where we found the original hand planed wall boards ripe with history yet looking like they were just nailed up. This was the perfect memory wall. The tiny breakfast nook was reconfigured into a mud room (nook), the old cabinets re-purposed in the pantry and laundry room and a previously unused storage space was turned into an eat-in table area with a bright happy green painted accent wall that gives the whole room a glow. My friends and house guests all have interesting stories from last we were together and I love to cook, make giant pots of chili, sauce or Khmer broth, make pizzas or grill, but I can't stand to miss one minute of the conversation. With the large open kitchen right off the back deck I can be a part of the entire event without giving up my role as chef. A visitor to the house finds the first hints that something different is afoot within whether stepping into the kitchen glimpsing the original loft door still hanging above the room as if someone may open it and step out into mid air or entering through the enclosed porch which opens onto the center stairwell with a 14 foot natural branch railing and warm cream of tomato soup walls. My personal stamp as an assemblage and installation artist is around every corner, in every nook. Suddenly that big house with a plethora of decks and porches houses something interesting at every turn in both construct and design. Although many modernist would have you think otherwise, I agree with Sister Parish who once said, "You can never achieve anything in a house unless you have things that have passed down and you find a place for them for yourself." Every room in an older house has a personality, a place in the family, and it was this that I desired to bring to light. Each room has some sort of story behind it. The home is simple, comfortable, lovingly brought back and decorated with a singularly eccentric charm, where each bibelot, bauble, bureau and bench presents a memory, a story, or sparks the imagination of a visitors own new round of memories. The house has its own history and scuff marks and offers familiar ground for heirlooms and found objects alike as well as welcoming in modern touches and amenities. The most important thing about a house is how people relate to it, and all of my friends and family love being here. There were lots of little things I did before we began the main renovation, like all new roof's and replacing most of the windows and some sliders, tearing up layers of carpeting and rescuing a fabulous embossed glass door from under 6 layers of paint.... Then, my sister gave me a copy of a magazine about decks and there it was on the cover.... the back deck for this secluded house... a 40 x 20 two tiered deck with built in seating and planting boxes. And so it began..... we built the deck. |
we reclaimed the homestead kitchen
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The Spice, knife and towel rack is made with reclaimed barn board from the original homestead, and a vintage magnetic knife strip. The beauty of custom cabinets is to order what you know you will use. I installed an upper and lower lazy susan for the corner (upper shown here) and an appliance garage. The appliance garage has a four gang outlet inside. With all the tall bottles of oils and spices we use today the upper lazy susan is a real counter space saver.
Cream of Tomato Soup.....
One of my prized heirlooms is this dining room table (with leaves!) hand painted by my Great Aunt Doris. I wanted to bring out the color onto the dining room walls to give the room real pop and warmth. Nothing says comfort to my family like a bowl of tomato soup so I mixed a "Cream of Tomato Soup" for the walls as well as a chalk blue for the china cabinet.
Taking inspiration from Scottish pubs and the American Southwest, we pickled the ceiling and doors, used minimal window trim and added a plate rail to the dining space. We used reclaimed wood from the old trim for the window sills and the plate rail and reclaimed wood purchased at a lumber yard for the weathered look trim and baseboards.
The doors.....
The Three Bathrooms....
Living Space
The porch rocker on the left was my grandmother's and the rocker on the right was my great aunts. Whimsical Southwestern themed cushions from Pier One tie them together as if the two sisters were sitting beside one another chatting about their hoarding grandchildren.... The table in the center was a gift to me, commissioned by Industrial Furniture artist Cindy Wynn. I found the footing, and perhaps a dozen more on the grounds and my sister TheResa brought them to Cindy as a gift. How delightful that she made something for me from one of them.
Bedrooms
Master Suite and Balcony
The warm and cozy room. This was the first room I did over, just with paint and new windows. I had read that if you paint a room entirely noble cranberry and then paint the trim white it will wrap you in warmth. People are surprised at first, and then they just love it. They tell me they never have slept so well and they ask for dibs on the room when coming for a weekend. A Shaker inspired clothes rack and whimsical nick knacks contribute to the restful and happy mood of the room.
A large enclosed porch spans the front of the farmhouse. Two large sliding windows in either side of the front door and three casement windows on each side, these, and the one window in the smaller enclosed porch being the only windows I did not replace.. The small "Pyghtle" porch, seen here towards the back on the North side of the house was enclosed at some time before my ownership. The large window on the top floor is the North side of the "Bonus" room, which also spans the length of the house.