When a Brooklyn, New York, couple first set eyes on a 1958 ranch house in Pawling, New York, it was, by most measures, a project. The pool was green and tarp-covered, barely visible behind a completely overgrown fence. The tennis court had seen better decades. But the house itself, built by the family behind Hunt Country Furniture and untouched since, had something far harder to manufacture than a fresh coat of paint: soul.
Set on 7.5 acres of Quaker Hill’s storied landscape, with a pond and the kind of light that makes you want to cancel your plans, the property felt like a discovery. The pastel-tiled bathrooms alone were enough to seal the deal.
A full gut renovation followed, shaped by one guiding principle: The house should feel as if it had always looked exactly this way. Working without an architect or interior designer, the couple threw themselves into the work via a mix of DIY projects alongside larger undertakings that called for professional hands. Finding the right help, it turned out, was a project of its own. They waded through more than a few less-than-ideal contractors before landing on a Connecticut-based team who didn’t blink when asked to carefully demo the original wood paneling in the basement, salvage every piece, and reinstall and rebuild it as custom cabinetry to create a kitchenette that looked as though it had been there since 1958. That willingness to understand and honor the assignment made all the difference.
The interiors were assembled over years of hunting estate sales, vintage markets, Instagram shops, and the occasional Facebook Marketplace miracle, including the mint-condition green sectional that now anchors the living room. Each piece was chosen not just for how it looked but for what it brought with it: history, character, a sense of having lived somewhere before arriving here.
The kitchen moved from its original location in the house, tells its own story. A vintage marble table was the very first purchase, and rather than work around it, the couple worked toward it, visiting stone yard after stone yard until they found a marble for the counters and backsplash that was a match. The room now feels cohesive in an unforced way, as if the table had always been there, waiting for the rest of the kitchen to catch up.
Outside, the pool and tennis court, once barely functional, have been brought back without being polished into submission.
The result is a house that wears its history lightly and its personality with confidence.
