This Connecticut Farmhouse Is the Definition of Open and Airy
Even with a passion for heirlooms, antiques, and garage-sale finds, a Connecticut family has created a surprisingly understated retreat as airy and open as the 40 acres it calls home.
Dana Simpson is a collector. But unlike some of us, the interior designer, who also handles the marketing for her mom’s Hammertown retail stores in New York and Massachusetts, knows when to say when. Instead of country chaos, she has amassed a nicely edited array of hand-me-down furniture and vintage accessories. So when she and her husband, Jamey, decided to update their 1930s Connecticut farmhouse, she set about creating a streamlined space to showcase her beloved heirlooms as well as a few more modern finds. “I edit as much as possible, taking time each season to weed out items that don't speak to me anymore,” Dana says of her house. The end result: a home that is cool, calm, and (just a little!) collected.
A Happy Bit of Color
A sunny yellow front door greets guests with a cheery hello.
Collections on Display
An unusual nook, original to the home, features a sliding door and display area that’s perfect for Dana's collection of ironstone and milk glass, which she finds at estate sales and antiques stores. “In general, I like to collect white things,” Dana says. “This china is a particular kind that ages well.” A Windsor-style chair and a painting by Janet Block, the artist who previously owned the house, reinforce the home's country charm, as does a well-worn Persian rug. “You'll find vintage rugs all around my house,” says Dana. “I am always looking down when I go antiquing and unrolling rugs I find in the corners of shops.”
RELATED: The Collector's Guide to Ironstone Pottery
A Welcoming Entry
An antique Shaker bench, passed down from Dana's mother, proves the perfect spot for all four family members (and then some!) to pull on their boots before leaving the house. The clean-lined heirloom is stylishly situated below an impressionistic painting.
An Open & Airy Living Room
To lighten up the previously gray space, the Simpsons added a fresh coat of paint and smartly hid track lighting on top of the beams. A Stephen Kenn sofa made of repurposed WWII military fabric, vintage steel-welded frames, and leather straps pairs well with the new: a brickmaker table from Hammertown, deep roll-arm upholstered chairs, and a landscape by artist Karen LeSage. The Simpsons replaced the home’s brick fireplace surround with Pietra Cardosa, a blue-gray sandstone that they also used on their kitchen countertops.
Get the Look:
Wall Paint Color: Moonlight White by Benjamin Moore
A Soft & Serene Kitchen
Like the rest of the home, the kitchen is a mix of traditional antiques and metal factory finds, including these lights from Olde Good Things. Dana replaced crank windows with farmhouse-style ones throughout the house. Now the sill is ideal for potted herbs. “I love having natural, living things inside,” says Dana. She chose a soft green blue paint color for the Shaker-style cabinets. “I love the way it contrasts with the white walls and the colors of nature that come through the windows,” she says. The gray countertops and backsplash are the same Pietra Cardosa sandstone that the Simpsons used to resurface the fireplace in the living room. The material pairs nicely with the butcher block on the island.
Get the Look:
Wall Paint Color: Blue Green by Farrow & Ball
Lots of Natural Light
You’ll be hard-pressed to find window treatments anywhere in the house. “I have abstained from using them except for bedrooms,” Dana says. “The modern farmhouse aesthetic is minimal, and because our home is privately situated, we don't need them.”
RELATED: Our Favorite Green Kitchen Cabinet Ideas to Update the Heart of Your Home
Breakfast Nook
The Simpson family enjoys meals—as well as great views—at an antique table with Windsor-style chairs.
Creative Storage
In addition to the large display of her ironstone in the hallway, Dana also creates a moment for her everyday china in a cabinet built to look like a freestanding armoire.
A Hardworking, Yet Pretty Mudroom
The trick to making this utilitarian space a little more hardworking in the decorative sense? Flowers (both real and fake) and a colorful coat of paint. Dana collects oil paintings of blooms—particularly ones with unique frames—to add softness to the room. (Current mudroom painting count: six.) Pretty paint on the walls provides a feminine backdrop for the more rugged metal-and-wood bench that belonged to Jamey's great-grandmother. The vintage soapstone sink, a score on a particularly fruitful antiquing excursion, inspired finishes in the renovated kitchen.
Get the Look:
Wall Paint Color: Blue Green by Farrow & Ball
A Cozy, Layered Bedroom
The Simpsons chose a soft gray for the walls of the guest room and covered a vintage iron bed in a diamond-pattern duvet from Pine Cone Hill. Dana's mother, Joan Osofsky, gave her the painted Swedish trunk, and the etched botanicals are prized garage sale scores from 20 years ago. “When we were decorating our first house, we had no money, so I framed them myself with black bookbinding tape,” says Dana.
Get the Look:
Wall Paint Color: Elephant’s Breath by Farrow & Ball
RELATED: 101 Bedroom Design Ideas for Every Decorating Style
Meet the Simpsons!
Dana and Jamey pose on the front porch.
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