Most people know Katonah NY. as a idyllic sleepy little farm town that borders CT. more because it’s home to Martha Stewarts country home. A home that’s been written about, talked about, primped, propped and published and has had its share of property and celebrity voyeurs.
In fact, her house is a couple doors away from my client’s home.
I waved to Martha one day when she was horseback riding on the dirt road in front of her house. Clearly, she couldn’t quite place me… she and her horse carried on.
True story… the day I was field measuring the house was the day that Martha Stewart was released from prison. Lord you’ve never seen so many helicopters and news station vans.
IMO, she got a bad rap on that deal if you ask me. But she took it like a girl. She put her big girl pants on and went and took her punishment. I can think of many businessMEN who might benefit from a little incarceration. Anywhoooo, my client’s brand-new Adirondack style shingle and stone home fit right in among the historic farmhouses, country estates and even Martha’s rambling country house, barns, caretakers house, gardens, and horse barn and the fabulous manicured gardens all around the property. My client is in the stone business so let me just say that the stone on this house from the inside out was really special. It was handpicked and cut to perfection right down to the stone windowsills. The wall opposite the island across the kitchen (which I don’t think you can see in our photographs) had stone halfway up the walls to the window sill.
Perfectly stunning and authentic.
The custom-made cabinetry was done in a buttercream paint with a sepia glaze, stone perimeter countertops and a 2-inch-thick Cherry island top. It was kind of refreshing to design a kitchen that had an island and no seating area. A large vintage dining table was across the kitchen and had not arrived at the time of our photographs. This kitchen was done many years ago, 2005 if my memory serves me correctly, I think it was the first time I designed a hood incorporating a rough-hewn beam. The project took place at time in kitchen design when we were using a lot of fussy turnings, corbels and layered moldings. It wasn’t right for this kitchen or for the house.
Fast forward to this year when I renovated my own kitchen, I also used a painted wood hood with a rough-hewn beam on the bottom. There are details and materials I liked then, I like now and I’m sure will be used in my designs in the future. If you look through some other kitchen projects here, and here you’ll see more hoods with beams.
