Home Edit: Boice Mill Rd, Kerhonkson
Looking from the living room towards the deck, with the kitchen off to the left. The living room is gorgeous but fairly small and had an enormous couch which was taking up most of the space. To make the room feel larger we swapped out the couch for a gorgeous green chesterfield sofa from Rebekah Milne Antiques in Kingston.
The owners of this light filled home in Kerhonkson are moving and listing their house, so they hired me to come in and help them get it ready for a photoshoot. I spent two days with them doing a home edit - removing any clutter and personal items, making the house feel more minimal to really show off all it’s features, and packing boxes to be moved to their new home. I had two assistants come in and move heavy items of furniture into a pod the owners had rented, so items we didn’t want featured could be out of the house for photos, and be ready to be moved to the new home. I really enjoy this aspect of editing and organizing a home, and its always great to have extra time to work on a house ahead of a photoshoot. My approach is to first edit and take things away, and afterwards add a few thoughtfully chosen accessories back in to complete the look we are going for.
The kitchen has a beautiful star patterned tile and oxidized copper back splash from Rebekah Milne Antiques, and just required some editing and clearing off of the counter tops.
As this was a real estate shoot, we wanted to keep the styling and decor pretty minimal to not be distracting and really show off the features of the house. The oxidized copper back splash in the kitchen is so pretty and unique, and we didn’t want too many things cluttering up the beautiful work surfaces so everything was cleared off.
In the dining room, again I cleared off the dining table and removed the personal art and photographs from the walls and hung more neutral artwork.
The bathrooms required minimal editing - just removing personal items and products. Wildflower wallpaper by Rebekah Milne Antiques.
Looking down into the living room from the upstairs landing. I used a small trunk as a coffee table and styled the book shelves. On the right - looking towards the front door. I removed a bench that was in front of the stairs so there would be a better view of the architectural features and styled the shelves.
Left: This small nook is at the top of the upstairs landing. It had been used as a kids play area, but for the photoshoot I reimagined it as a reading/meditation area, adding a lamp, rug, bookshelf and meditation cushions.
Right: View from the hallway looking into the living room. This room mostly required taking a lot of things out to make it feel more roomy and spacious.
Shots of the three bedrooms and master bath. Again these simply required taking out personal items and product, making the beds and in the kids removing some of the toys so as to have a better view of the room.
The house has a large guest wing that the owners had been using as a play space and tv room. I flipped the layout of the room around by repositioning the furniture and creating a second living room/music room. It’s such a large room there a really so many things it could be used for.
Left: The property has two sheds that are used as workspaces. In the sheds we tidied up and removed personal items and packed up some things to be moved to the owners new home.
Right: A yurt in the backyard was being used a school house. To show off the space I removed all of the school supplies and completely cleared everything out so it’s many potential future uses could be left to the imagination.
The house has a large yard that wraps around on all sides. There is a beautiful view of the meadow across the street from the front porch and even a stream and a waterfall to the right. To create a scenic spot to take in the view we moved the fire pit and chairs from the side of the house around to the front.
Photos by Winona Barton Ballentine, Words & Styling by Venetia Boucher