Pull from all periods. These houses have such a rich history that owners have a choice either to stick with a single moment in time or to mix different periods. The latter is the more realistic course, and here the sky’s the limit. Also, you can substitute an authentic Hudson Valley item with something else, if the item is rare or too expensive. Oseas, for example, obtained several Jacobean chairs, made in Europe circa 1690, for her hall, a less expensive option than authentic 17th-century Hudson Valley pieces. (In fact, the early settlers’ houses predated the architectural styles of their time, Levy said. His house is more similar to the medieval houses in southern France or Holland, “more like 1200 than 1720 in style,” he said.)
Decorating your house with items indigenous to the area is particularly fruitful and open-ended when it comes to works of art. Besides period samplers, Levy hangs Hudson River-style paintings by Kingston-based artists Joseph Tubby and Jervis McEntee on his walls, as well as the works of other regional artists he has discovered and admires, such as Michael Kelley, based in Cold Spring, and D.F. Hasbrouck, who worked in the late 19th century. Paintings from the Woodstock School are also a handsome addition, particularly those depicting local landscapes. Oseas’ collection includes works by John Bentley and Cecil Chichester.
Some decorators and dealers take an even more liberal approach. Ryland Jordan, for example, a dealer who lives in a federal house on Kingston’s Albany Avenue, tends toward the eclectic. “I mix modern abstracts with 19th- or 18th-century portraits,” he said. “My attitude is to stay true to who you are. You can never go wrong.”
Camouflage the modern. Kitchens and bathrooms are the obvious challenge. However, there are ways to blend in the new with the old. Placement also matters. Levy, Oseas, and Sweeney all hide their modern appliances behind customized cabinets, painted in a dark green, red, or other historic color. In his tiny kitchen, Levy hung an antique drawer from the bottom of a cabinet, a charming touch, and his sink was fabricated by hand out of copper. The rake back and pantry shelving along the walls reflects 18th-century style.
Both Levy and Sweeney use natural wood for their countertops. Sweeney’s refrigerator fits under the counter and is hidden by a pair of paneled doors. The floor in his kitchen is brick, which would have been typical for a kitchen lacking a basement, as his does. In the bathroom that Sweeney fitted into a 19th-century stairwell off the first-floor bedroom, the walls are constructed of different width boards, each joined by a bead molding with an 18th-century profile.
Televisions and computers can be hidden in old cabinets (though don’t even consider converting your kas for this use). Old lanterns and other period antiques can be converted into lighting fixtures. Plumping pipes can be hidden by fake beams, the solution sought when the Oseases they shifted the soil line from an upstairs toilet, camouflaging it with a fake beam along the ceiling of the downstairs study.
