This Used to Be the “Ugliest House on Mt. Merino”

Jeff Hayenga and Michael Belanger’s long-simmering upstate project.

- WENDY GOODMAN

Exterior

The house was recladded in cedar shingles, which have been left untreated.

The Reading Nook

The loft was a wasted space before the renovation, so a ladder was added for access. “The ceiling is tongue-and-groove pine, and the walls are birch plywood,” Michael Belanger says, as he was adamant that there be no painted surfaces to maintain inside or out.

The Back Porch

There are two screened porches in the house; this one, in the back, was added for shade.

The House Before

The ranch house as they found it. Inside was a warren of small rooms with low ceilings.

Michael Belanger remembers driving by this 1959 ranch-style house on Mt. Merino just south of Hudson “literally as the Realtor was hammering the for sale sign into the lawn. I screeched on the brakes, and that was that.” At the time, his find was the “ugliest house on Mt. Merino,” he says, laughing. That was almost 20 years ago. It took a while for Belanger and his husband, Jeff Hayenga, to get around to fixing it up, much less moving into it.