A Litchfield County Home is a Welcome Retreat
March 15, 2022
A couple finds their second home turns out to be a lifeline in challenging times.
Text by Jorge S. Arango   Photography by John Gruen   Produced by Karin Lidbeck Brent
Itâs becoming a common pandemic story: urban family renovates country home as a getaway. Then cities impose lockdowns and deep soul-searching leads to a lifestyle about-face. Country house becomes full-time residence and city apartment becomes pied-Ă -terre.
âIt was always going to be a home where we spent weekends and the bulk of our summers,â says the wife of the New York City couple who purchased this late 1990s builderâs home near Lakeville. As it neared completion in February of 2020, COVID-19 turned the world upside down. âThe boys were nine and eleven, and they had been playing hockey up here on weekends since they were five and seven. Itâs where their social lives were.â The choice was clear.
Architect John Allee recalls a 4,800-square-foot main house (thereâs also a guest house on the property) in fine condition. âBut the owners needed better finishes and bigger entertainment spaces,â he explains.
Much could be achieved by opening rooms upâeliminating the wall separating kitchen and dining room, removing columns that visually segmented the living room, and replacing and amplifying fenestration. An 800-square-foot addition also accommodated a new walk-out basement, pool house, and game room.
Aesthetically, Allee bridged the coupleâs tastes. The husband is a modernist who prefers neutral palettes, while the wife loves color and a softer vernacular modernism. âBalancing clean lines and industrial touches with honest materials like plaster, a reclaimed stone floor, and hemlock wood ceilings,â explains Allee, âmade the house feel purer.â
This approach also dovetailed Alleeâs own modernist leanings with the more rural farm aesthetic of builder Andy Belter. âBut Heide was the glue,â says the wife, speaking of designer Heide Hendricks.
âEarly on I realized it was going to be fun because there wasnât a color she didnât like,â recalls Hendricks, âeven orange and red, which are usually at the top of peopleâs lists of colors not to use.â The key was judiciously deploying that color against a mostly neutral palette, as well as mixing furnishings that straddled traditional and modern eras.
âWe favor authentic finishes and materials,â observes Hendricks of choices like the mottled, chalky plaster walls, unlacquered brass, honed stone, and natural woods. âWhatever makes the interiors look warm and tactile and responsive to the view. Iâd rather not see something faux distressed. I prefer to let it get there over time.â
Color appears mainly through rugs and upholstery, in shades that echo the trees, hayfields, stone outcroppings, and sky outside the windows. Furnishings typify the modern-traditional mix for which the firm is known. The dining room, says Hendricks, âblends the humble simplicity of a farm table with modern lighting by Paavo Tynell.âThe primary bedroom, she says, âis a nod to early American Windsor furniture, but made modern with an extra-high headboard.â These she paired with Hans Wegner sewing tables that double as nightstands.
The comfort and approachability of the aesthetic provided crucial grounding during a difficult time. âIt was this home they christened during COVID and couldnât imagine leaving,â says Hendricks. Who could blame them?
Project  Team
Architecture: John Allee, Allee Architecture + Design
Interior design: Heide Hendricks, Hendricks Churchill
Builder: Andy Belter, Belter Builders
Landscape Design: Judy Murphy, Old Farm Nursery
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