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House Tour: Pete & Sandy's Minimal Farmhouse
Boston

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Name: Pete and Sandy
Location: East Washington, New Hampshire
Size: 1660 square feet (includes porch)
Years lived in: 36 Years; Fully Restored 2006-2008

2-23-housetourlogo.jpgWe first featured Peter and Sandy's amazing minimal farmhouse last July. Since this quaint New Hampshire town is one of our favorite weekend escapes, we thought it would be a treat to revisit our good friends' home. When we photographed the house they had just finished remodeling their kitchen — the finale of a complete restoration they had been working on since 2006...

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This house is amazing to us because when we photographed it, we had dropped by without notice. These pictures reflect how they live day to day — no mess, no fuss, just simple, soft surroundings. Styles and eras mix effortlessly here, creating the perfect backdrop for many of Peter’s bronze and iron sculptures. The well-proportioned spaces and careful attention to natural light make this modestly scaled home feel light and airy, while the pared down interior matches the colonial sensibility. The minimalism creates a lovely contrast with the historic elements that we find inspiring in their authenticity.

Don’t miss the rock garden between the house and the porch, the attic stair - turned - pantry in the kitchen, and the glossy white painted bedroom floors. And in case anyone notices, yes, there is only one appliance in the kitchen — the stove. The fridge is located downstairs in a root cellar, allowing the snug kitchen to remain minimal. Pete & Sandy’s home also includes lovely vegetable and flowering gardens, a chicken coop, and Peter's modern post-and-beam sculpture studio (which he built). But that's for another tour!

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Apartment Therapy Survey:
My/Our style: A mix of country, classic, modern, minimalist, cozy, and quietly chic
Inspiration: Nature, peace, love, and understanding
Favorite Element: The small scale; The directions: south facing house, north facing porch, east facing bedroom; Sculptures; Colors; Morso stove
Biggest Challenge: To allow the early 19th Century cape keep its character and, at the same time, live with ease and a modern, minimalist sensibility
What Friends Say: Charming and lovely, empty and minimalist
Biggest Embarrassment: Always so many things still to do
Proudest DIY: Restoring the entire house; Choosing colors and furnishings
Biggest Indulgence: The sink, stoves and three small tables made by a dear fine furniture maker friend
Best advice: Simplicity; Less is more; Quality whenever possible; Create the feeling of the space you want, not "the look"
Dream source: Many things Swiss and Asian
Inspiration: Le Corbusier, Giacometti, Scarpa and many more

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Resources:
Appliances: Wolfe, KWC, Miele
Hardware: Old/original
Furniture: Mostly non-expensive antiques - auctions and small shops
Lighting: Hubbardton Forge, Peter France, and standards like Lightolier
Rugs and Carpets: Little River Oriental Rugs, Concord, NH; A Candle in the Night, Brattleboro, VT; auctions
Tiles and Stone: Marble and Granite, Westwood, MA
Window Treatments: As few as possible
Beds: Made our own
Artwork: Mostly sculpture and prints by Peter France, Crow Studio; also, small old English and French prints and antique shops finds
Paint: California Paints and Farrow & Ball
Flooring: Old soft and hard wood; lots of oriental rugs, old and new

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(Images: Wes & Kayla Schwartz)

Re-edited from July, 2008.

Tags

House Tours, sculpture, rural, New Hampshire, farmhouse

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Comments (38)

Wow, I absolutely love this, and it's a nice change for AT to feature a home that is so well-edited, subtly toned, and minimally accessorized!

posted by fabframes on July 14th 2009 at 3:50pm
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Love it. I feel as though I had a refreshing little vacation just by going through the photo gallery.

posted by purlgreyhound on July 14th 2009 at 3:56pm
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Charming! I love how casual and fun this house is. And how great is it to see beautiful antiques that AREN'T painted glossy white!

posted by Lisa (Montreal) on July 14th 2009 at 4:10pm
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Lovely and serene. I swoon for that screened in porch.

posted by Pixie on July 14th 2009 at 4:15pm
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Just beautiful and what I would want in style if I lived on the East Coast. Its very charming. Great job.

posted by LoriSF on July 14th 2009 at 4:19pm
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Beautiful.

Do you have the names of the paints? Particularly that green-gray in the guest room, or the molding color in the bedroom?

posted by chrisciever on July 14th 2009 at 4:29pm
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Beautiful home and a great addition to AT. I particularly loved the small elephant sculpture obscuring the floor outlet. The whole vignette of the table and charis with the rooster sculpture is magnifacent.

What is your wallpaper source? I took a quick look at Farrow and Ball's website, but I didn't recognize them.

posted by Doug on July 14th 2009 at 4:56pm
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Wow. Some of it is more country than my style, but other parts exactly match my daydream of Shaker-inspired minimalism. The master bedroom is perfect.

posted by Liana on July 14th 2009 at 5:01pm
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Do tell the name of the wallpaper behind the moose!

Very nice home - I'm envious of their neatness as much as their style. :)

posted by Mary B C on July 14th 2009 at 5:32pm
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Nice, but hardly minimalist.

posted by MrCranky on July 14th 2009 at 6:14pm
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Beautiful house.

posted by Alaricus on July 14th 2009 at 6:57pm
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I'm in love. The getaway house of my dreams. Only with better art.

posted by katlia on July 14th 2009 at 8:25pm
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It's so refreshing to see an historic home that manages to capture the spirit of it's original time period while still looking fresh and modern.

I love how the antiques have been incorporated--well-edited, suited to the house's vernacular architecture, not looking like an overcrowded antique shop or like Queen Victoria exploded all over it.

Also, I had to smile at the staircase-turned-kitchen cabinet. I have a funny little staircase closet in my house, too--it's my shoe closet!

posted by iphigenia on July 14th 2009 at 9:31pm
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This house is what the folks call a "home run." It's wonderfully unpretentious and so magical. Is she haunted?

Congrats and enjoy it in good health.

posted by medusa12120 on July 14th 2009 at 10:10pm
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Another one to put in my file. Simply wonderful....simplicity at its best. I love the traditional New England antiques mixed with unexpected, unique modern touches. The art and animals throughout are fun and charming. Excellent post!

posted by junklover on July 14th 2009 at 10:38pm
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this place is beautiful and is so without being stuffy or pretentious. Nice job.

posted by Volvoguy on July 14th 2009 at 10:53pm
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So amazing! Lots of details, everything quirky but consistent. Please, please show us more!

posted by videonerdann on July 14th 2009 at 10:58pm
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I like to think that the owners armwrestle every morning to see who has to eat their breakfast staring at the chicken's butt.

Seriously though, I love the whole New England Cottage Meets Noah's Ark thing. It has charm to spare.

posted by Blandwagon on July 14th 2009 at 10:58pm
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The sculpture made me want to learn how to make my own. I loved it all, especially the tall wire bird and the small wire something (can't tell from the picture) on the wooden base. I'm so inspired, I'm going to get some wire right now!

This is the only way I could do country. Beautiful and spare.

posted by kelleyk on July 14th 2009 at 11:05pm
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Absolutely love this place. But while I love the way the windows look without window treatments, but I don't think I'd like sleeping in a room with no window coverings.

posted by greenish on July 14th 2009 at 11:25pm
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This is lovely. I would ditch that Eames chair, as I'm sick of them, and they're not as comfortable as people pretend. But I adore the Hitchcock chairs, the simplicity and the colors. What's it like in the winter?

posted by Palmetto on July 15th 2009 at 12:02am
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anyone know the maker of the bed frame in the master bedroom? or even a similar frame for that matter?

posted by simple on July 15th 2009 at 2:14am
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Can anyone identify who makes the armchairs in the livingroom?

posted by PaminBoston on July 15th 2009 at 6:56am
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Looks very peaceful.
I'm loving all the animals, especially the wire cow and the moose. Where, oh where did you get the animals from?

posted by Marial on July 15th 2009 at 8:18am
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Wow!

I don't usually comment on house tours, but I love this one. Every room looks so calm and relaxing. It must be so nice to come home to after a busy day. Well done!

posted by Tashy on July 15th 2009 at 8:56am
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Lovely. Makes me long for New Hampshire.

posted by heathshah on July 15th 2009 at 12:30pm
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Wow. This is just to my taste. I want to come relax here.

posted by LadyRoy on July 16th 2009 at 10:36am
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Does anyone have any information on the small, black chair in the living room, with books on the seat (featured in the photo montage)? We have six chairs, that seem identical to that one -- purchased at an antique show in Connecticut about 8 years ago. We would love to know more about them, and had thought about selling them as well.
Thanks.

posted by jomck on July 19th 2009 at 2:32am
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I'm not sure that this couple are quite ready to follow Palmetto's suggestion of ditching the Eames chair but I do suspect that they may be graduating in that direction, even though they haven't quite managed to work out how to disguise it with those throws yet...

posted by AcrossThePond on July 19th 2009 at 6:34pm
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Kayla here with a few answers to your questions from Sandy, the owner:

The wallpapers are Schumacher, Williamsburg Collection, circa 1972. I don't know if you can order vintage papers. I haven't seen much from the company recently that I liked but they had some great papers, to my eye, back then.

Peter made the bed frame. I have seen similar, can't remember where. Design Within Reach maybe?

The bronzes are all Peter's, as is the wire Sandhill Crane. People can email him at crowstudio (at) gsinet (dot) net. We are finally working on a web site but not there yet.

The living room armchairs are by Baker. I don't have the chairs' name. They are very comfortable.

The guest and master bedroom room paints are California. Two colors are used in reverse. They are from California's Historic Collection colors, Andover Cream and Pitch Pine. Color choices were done with the help of a wonderful colorist named Susan Harlow in Putney, Vermont.

posted by bostonkayla on July 20th 2009 at 9:05am
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Perfect: the traditional features of the house are left to themselves, the furnishings allude to that traditional character, understated color allows all furnishings and other features such as woodwork to come forward with elegance and the avoidance of clutter gives the thematically collected sculpture room to be what it is mean to be. The bedrooms may be among the best I've ever seen. Those comforters--soft and rounded against the bare right angles of the austere space: ahhhhhhhh....

posted by Jollyowner on July 21st 2009 at 12:11am
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What a beautiful house. Prompted me to finally register to make a comment. Any chance that we can find out where the wallpapers are from?

posted by charlotte01 on July 21st 2009 at 2:15pm
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What a beautiful house. Finally prompted me to register so that I can comment, although my first comment went awol. I particularly love the wallpapers - having seen the response above I can see that I'll end up spending this evening on ebay snooping around.

posted by charlotte01 on July 21st 2009 at 2:19pm
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This is a beautiful home. I love the white glossy floors. Can you say which paint you used? Thanks!

posted by Inza on August 2nd 2009 at 8:09am
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Very nice house. Peaceful atmosphere.

posted by Tit' (France, Paris area) on August 30th 2009 at 3:33am
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Comfy, casual and elegant! Would love a night in the guest bedroom!

posted by Laurie615 on October 16th 2009 at 2:09pm
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Coming home to this house must be the best feeling. I love how they did country without doing "country". This feels like a big fluffy comforter at the end of a long day; that's the feeling I get. Love it.

posted by cliokitty on October 30th 2009 at 2:46pm
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Lovely, aside from the late 80's/early 90's floor lamp in the porch. I had that same lamp in college. If you're going to ditch anything, ditch that lamp!

posted by SaraB on November 2nd 2009 at 1:23pm
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