On the window wall,

the absence of wall-hung cabinets is period-sensitive, and opens up the room to light. The custom range hood is standing-seam metal. Hardware is blacksmith-made wrought iron.

Many interior details were restored or re-created, and many furnishings and artwork conserved. “I have to say, Chubb Group was amazing,” Sarah Blank says about the insurance carrier, who offers a historic-house policy. “The company understood the family’s love of this house and its history. They were present through the entire project.

“We were able to save the original chestnut framing, which was reincorporated in the reconstruction and design,” Blank says. The restoration, including the upstairs addition and kitchen and bath remodeling, was completed in record time in 2011. “Brian Ross, the homeowner, loves this old farmhouse,” his designer says. “He wanted to preserve its architectural heritage. All new walls are real, hand-troweled, three-coat plaster on wire lath. The finish is beautiful . . . there’s no drywall anywhere. In the kitchen, new plaster walls were left unpainted.

“I am a realistic designer,” Blank says. “We are all getting older, not younger! Brian’s office on the ground floor can become the master bedroom, if necessary, in the future.” Next to it she specified an accessible bathroom with a three-foot doorway and curbless shower—the shower floor is recessed into the basement.

decorating and furnishing was a collaborative effort between the designer and Ross. “This is a country house,” Sarah Blank explains. “In general, we returned the house to what it had been before the fire. Plain plaster walls, plain window treat-

ments. We added bathrooms, of course, but they are naïve in their design: wood floors, very simple vanity cabinets, a built-in bathtub. Everything simple.”

Furnishings include a mix of antiques and comfortable leather and upholstered pieces. A lot of the furniture already in the house was salvageable, after being professionally cleaned and reupholstered as necessary. Artwork, too, was restored.

“The house did not have a name, as far as we knew,” says Blank. “I asked the Rosses to pick one: It’s Colinwood, in honor of their son. In so many ways, this project was a labor of love.”

Renovation returned the country house to its roots, “what it had been before the fire,” says the designer. Plaster walls and simple treatments are the rule, even in new spaces.

ABOVE The hall window is above the front door. The large cupboard is very old and was purchased at auction. The fixture is an authentic reproduction.

LEFT Trim in the master bath matches that in the en-suite bedroom.

OPPOSITE Tall-post beds in the house are 20thcentury reproductions. This one was repainted. The appliqued pillow shams were made by a local woman, who also made the draperies.

ABOVE The guest bath has the only tub, a historical and functional built-in with a soapstone cap on the surround. The sink area and WC are separate.

LEFT The designer reverted to double-hung windows, replacing a 1960s picture window in the study.

TOP RIGHT A full basement went in under the rebuilt ell, becoming a wine cellar with board walls made from the original chestnut sub-flooring.

ABOVE The study fireplace was replaced in kind, as the original was charred in the fire. In several rooms, trim colors were matched to what had been in the house, but it’s unclear if they are the original colors.