With a limited budget, we sought to create an evocative setting within an historic house. The light entered all around and you could see straight through to the trees wherever you faced. It was a beautifully small house, with a thoughtful floor plan. Our design decisions were a balance between budget and impact. We opened up the kitchen to allow more light and views in, and created a clean palette where the wild foliage outside would be accentuated. Exchanging windows for two steel arched french doors that open up to the exterior, allowed us to extend this small house onto a new gravel courtyard. The low stone wall created a place for gatherings and dining on hot summer nights. We colored the space with historic paint tones and carefully chosen antiques from around the Hudson Valley.

What is special about this project is that the house always felt lived in, and even more so after we had finished. Our aim was to change as little as possible about that feeling of time —of ever changing seasons and the untamed life. To bring more focus to the landscape and the thoughtful hand that had built this house a hundred years before.