A barn house retreat in the hills of New York

This upstate New York barn house is a weekend home for a Brooklyn, New York, couple who love to entertain designed by architect Nina Gotlieb, situated in Clinton Corners, Dutchess County, New York. The country house was designed to create a relationship between the house and its forest setting. Building from the ground up, the inspiration for the project was to tell a story, using simple barn structures in the area as a reference. Gotlieb wanted the home to be open, airy and simple with modern, crisp detailing, but she also didn’t want everything to look too new so she chose her materials carefully. Everything needed to have character and soul, objects with history, industrial antiques mixed with warm leathers and wood.

The home is comprised of 2,700 square feet of living space with 3 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms and a den. Although the home speaks the architectural vernacular of other barns nearby, there is a whisper of Japanese influence inside. Although Gotlieb built the house for weekenders, the house could easily convert into a full-time home. The bedrooms were designed for crashing so they were made small and the public gathering spaces were made larger for entertaining. Gotlieb used natural spray-foam insulation in conjunction with a fresh-air return system to keep the house tight yet breathable; mold is never a problem. The labor and materials that went into the house were local. Via

A fire pit visible from the interior and the pool area makes summertime night gatherings an outdoor affair.

The house sees its fair share of weekend and summer guests, so Gotlieb maximized the availability and functionality of public spaces. The most coveted lounging area in the house is the covered porch on the second floor, a lovely spot for watching the rain fall. The lights came from 1000bulbs.com and they are wrapped around the steel turnbuckle collar ties.

The entryway is both practical and minimalist: Ceramic hex tiles protect the hardwood floors while custom cabinetry houses coats, shoes and other loose items. The doors also serve to cut off the rest of the house from the den (behind the wall, not pictured) when that room is being used as an extra bedroom.

The lighting above the table is from Pottery Barn.

Floor-to-ceiling windows surrounding the dining area, the living room and the kitchen make the land part of the experience.

Gotlieb’s favorite part of the weekend home is the kitchen. She sized the island with wider dimensions to accommodate a number of cooks and handlers working at the same time.

Cranes wallpaper by Florence Broadhurst, minimalist furnishings, simple lines and unobstructed vistas.

Eye-level windows in the master bedroom frame the forest views. Bud vases from CB2 filled with copper BB pellets form the raindrop-like installation above the bed. His-and-her face pillows add a whimsical touch, from K Studio.

Gotlieb uses wooden crates as bookshelves in the guest room and added suitcase racks for easy access to weekend bags.

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