Article: Remodelista Interviews Caroline Diani About Her 1700s Stone Farmhouse in the Hudson Valley

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Jul 1, 2019

Remodelista Interviews Caroline Diani About Her 1700s Stone Farmhouse in the Hudson Valley

July 1, 2019

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Caroline Diani and Jeffrey Doornbos, Southern California transplants (she was born in Nairobi and grew up in the north of England, he’s from the Midwest), have an idyllic life in Santa Barbara. Yet something was geographically lacking: “A couple of years ago, we decided we wanted to be bicoastal; to have a base on the East Coast,” according to Caroline, the owner of Santa Barbara interiors shop DIANI Living. “I grew up in the north of England, in an old stone farmhouse, with an Aga in the kitchen and winters spent indoors reading. And Jeffrey, who’s an actor and founding Blue Man Group member, wanted to be closer to the theater world in NYC.

“I started Googling ‘old stone farm house’ and a listing popped up in Germantown, NY, just a couple of hours north of NYC. We flew out for a weekend to see the place, and within seconds we were convinced. We went after it hard; there were swarms of potential buyers at the open house. We wrote a letter to the owners telling them how committed we were to retaining the original character of the place, which was built in 1752 and hadn’t been altered much, aside from a 1950s kitchen addition.”

Caroline and Jeffrey have been slowly restoring the interiors (“Jeffrey’s become a big DIYer,” Caroline says), taking care to preserve the original character and filling the space with vintage and antique finds sourced locally. Join us for a tour:

Photography by Marili Forastieri; produced and styled by Zio & Sons.

The timber front door and iron hardware are original. The vintage copper light fixture is from Luddite Antiques in Germantown and the Vintage Bench is from Diani Living. The Nairobi cotton robe is from Kikoy, a nod to Caroline&#8 — Above: The timber front door and iron hardware are original. The vintage copper light fixture is from Luddite Antiques in Germantown and the Vintage Bench is from DIANI. The Nairobi cotton robe is from Kikoy, a nod to Caroline’s birthplace.

“The house was built in 1752, and everything is original; the chestnut beams, the flooring, the fireplaces,” Caroline says. “It was one of three stone houses built by a trio of German brothers who came to the area to farm the land. After we bought the property, we met with a local historian and learned the history of the house.”

&#8 — Above: “The dining table is an old French drapery table from Red Chair on Warren Street; owner Jocelyn Sinauer sources the best tables anywhere, from all over the world,” Caroline says. The Scottish Tudor chairs are from eBay and the rug is from Frances Loom.

In the dining area, Caroline and Jeffrey removed a partition wall to create an open space and had a specialist repoint the fireplace using antique bricks. “Jeffrey is on the quest for the perfect dining room light fixture,” Caroline says. “He created a placeholder by draping a couple of simple bulb fixtures on a vintage herb dryer.”