RURAL RETREAT
After falling in love with green and pleasant Dutchess County in New York state, Sloane Klevin found a 1940s timber-framed kit house with the potential to be reinvented into a welcoming and relaxing home
A blissfully peaceful 1940s kit house in green and pleasant New York state has been masterfully reinvented.
Abeguiling stay in a beautiful house in New York state’s Dutchess County was what sparked film editor Sloane Klevin’s dream of owning her own rural retreat. The house in question was a small, characterful cottage belonging to the architect, Douglas Larson, in the open, green landscape of the Hudson Valley. After renting it on and o≠ for 18 months, Sloane asked to buy it, but Douglas knew that selling it would break his wife’s heart. Instead, he suggested that Sloane find a plot of land of her own and he would design a house for her.
“At first, I looked for a historic house that had been beautifully renovated, just like Doug’s, because I felt so comfortable there,” says Sloane, who lives and works in New York City during the week. “However, I just couldn’t find a place that had the same sense of openness and light. Then Doug told me to stop looking for the perfect house and to focus on the land. For about a year, I took him to every inexpensive house for sale in the area and he would come along with his sketch pad.”
FULL OF POTENTIAL
Sloane found three possibilities in Dutchess County and in nearby Connecticut, but each time her o≠er was rejected. Then she was given the chance to buy a 1940s timberframed kit house sitting on the brow of a hill overlooking a meadow, with its own bathing pond and a backdrop of forest beyond. She seized the opportunity and Douglas began working on ideas to transform the house.
“The original building was bought from a catalogue and the frame would have arrived pre-cut, ready to be assembled on site,” Douglas explains. “So I took a look at it and thought, we can transform this into something interesting.” A lot of these kit houses were installed on site without any thought of how they might relate to their setting. We wanted to make this house feel more appropriate to its location. Now, it sits much more easily within the landscape.”
BEAUTIFULLY TRANSFORMED
The house was stripped back to its bones and in what really amounted to a rebuild, a series of extensions and additions were then built on. Douglas created an informal floor plan