the good life

The interiors of Robert and Stefanie’s idyllic clapboard house were inspired by the great outdoors

- Jenny Tucker

Once upon a time, this former workman’s cottage in New York’s Hudson Valley was a forlorn shell covered in asbestos shingle siding and bereft of attention. Today, it stands resplendent in five acres of extraordinary nature – a high-spec example of designer vision and a transformational renovation. When the owners, Robert Highsmith and his wife Stefanie Brechbuehler, bought the house eight years ago it served as a weekend bolthole from their busy lives as interior designers in the city. Then, in 2015, it was temporarily shifted to the back-burner when the pair moved to Charleston, South Carolina, to work on a series of exclusive design projects.

Just as life seemed to be rolling along, Robert and Stefanie discovered they were going to be parents to twins and decided to return to New York to renovate the house and live in it full-time. In summer 2018, with months to spare before the birth of their daughters, they set about rejigging the house to accommodate their family.

In the main, the couple kept their design to the compact footprint of the original property but the actual restoration reflects their reputation for expert detail and a high-quality finish. ‘It was important to us to keep to the square footage, but we did carry out an extensive renovation on the interior,’ says Robert. ‘We refurbished the original flooring throughout and extended the ceiling heights to expose the beams.’