This Hudson Valley Home Is the Antidote to City Living – L.B. Copeland Blended Timber, Rich Color, and Whimsy to Create This Refined Retreat

Move over, rustic farmhouse. Set across 14 acres in New York’s Hudson Valley, this country retreat by Louise Copeland of L.B. Copeland Interior Design makes a rather convincing case for a more refined take on rural living. Timber-clad rooms, rich tones and charming fabrics bring plenty of character, but there’s nothing overly formal about the 3,700-square-foot home. In fact, Louise’s aim was quite the opposite: 'We wanted it to feel relaxed and comfortable rather than precious, almost like a boutique hotel.'

Having already designed the couple’s West Village apartment, Louise knew this second project called for a different pace. Their Manhattan home had a more city sensibility; while here, the surrounding landscape, the changing seasons and the clients’ shared love of color helped set the direction. 'I’d describe the overall style and aesthetic as a refined, eclectic way of living in the country,' she says. Think deep greens, earthy rusts, and wood-grains alongside contemporary finds and patterned fabrics. The result is a country house with all the warmth you’d hope for, but none of those overly rustic clichés.

The couple’s differing tastes were part of the brief for Louise. Having already designed their West Village apartment, she knew that one client had grown up surrounded by antiques, while the other, an artist, gravitated towards simplicity. Rather than choosing sides, she found a happy middle ground, mixing time-worn finds and collected artwork with confident color. 'We brought in antiques and art for her, mixed in newer pieces for him, and added plenty of color, which they both love,' she explains. It’s a mix that gives the home its welcoming feel – there’s history and personality, but plenty of freshness, too.

The landscape helped determine much of the mood. Sitting between the Taconic and Berkshire Mountains, the house is used most in summer and fall, so Louise wanted the interiors to feel 'easy and relaxed with a small mountain twist' – without veering into permanent winter mode.

'The idea was to create a summery retreat that could still feel cozy when there was a fire going and blankets on the sofas,' she adds. Rust, earthy neutrals and deep greens echo the woodland setting, while flashes of teal lift the palette and stop all that richness from feeling too heavy. Tactile fabrics and layered finishes bring depth, but the overall effect blends the intimacy of a mountain cabin – only with a little more polish. 'The house has beautiful antiques, lighting, and custom upholstery, but we wanted it to feel relaxed and comfortable,' she says.

Rather than starting with a strict color scheme for the home, Louise let a few special pieces set the tone. The dining room rug came first, alongside two fabrics by Muriel Brandolini: a finely detailed block print for the backs of the dining chairs and another for the primary bedroom drapery. Both are simple cottons, but their intricate patterns bring just enough detail to make them feel special. As Louise explains, her vision was to find 'natural materials with refinement and detail, without becoming fussy'. From there, she built up the layers, choosing woven wool, paper-weave and printed grasscloth wallpapers for each space. 'We wanted the wallpapers to add texture and feeling to each room, not just an aesthetic pattern,’ she explains.

Louise was equally deliberate about when and where to turn up the color. The living and dining rooms stay relatively muted, allowing the architecture and surrounding views to take center stage, while the guest bedrooms, TV room and snug take a more playful approach. 'We pushed the palette further, with bolder, more saturated colors, since those rooms are more stand-alone spaces,' she says. Even so, there's a thread connecting the rooms: the kitchen's blue-gray reappears in the living room's welting and artwork, while the dining room's muddy sage green tones show up in pillows throughout. 'I think the house has a lovely balance: it feels open, but the rooms remain distinct,' Louise explains. 'No one vast area takes over the narrative, but you can still see from one room to the next.'

Of course, creating a home that feels easy and effortless takes a lot of work behind the scenes. Although the house was in excellent condition when the couple bought it, Louise saw opportunities to make the layout better suit their lives. The primary closet was rather small, for instance, while the adjoining guest bedroom had space to spare. By borrowing around 70 square feet from the guest room, she created a walk-in closet with closed hanging storage and plenty of built-in drawers for the primary. A more unexpected rethink happened in the snug, where a pair of little-used French doors were turned into windows, freeing up a wall for a generous sectional. 'We also closed the opening between the snug and office to make room for a TV,' Louise explains. The change gave the office more privacy, so they turned it into a small bedroom for visiting guests.

The arrival into the home also had a facelift. A new portico, Dutch door, sidelights and transom give the entrance a more welcoming feel, while outside, landscape architects Wagner Hodgson reworked the grounds to include gardens, a pool and a secluded, wood-clad sauna tucked into the forest. The idea was to connect the property to its setting without sacrificing the comforts that make it a pleasure to spend time in. For Louise, the living room captures that perfectly. 'The timber beams and planking on the ceiling, along with the large plaster fireplace, sit beautifully against the refined sheer drapery,' she says. 'That pairing of rustic with refined really sums up the feeling of the house.'

The kitchen takes a slightly more atmospheric approach to traditional country-house style, with dusty yet warm blue cabinetry, curved detailing, and veined marble countertops that bring plenty of personality to the scheme. Tall windows wrap the space, drawing the surrounding greenery into the room, while glazed cabinets keep everyday pieces on display without making the space feel busy.

'The kitchen has beautiful Calacatta Turquoise countertops, two sinks, and windows looking toward a large weeping willow and pond,' Louise explains. That connection to the outdoors was important, but so was making the kitchen work hard for everyday life. The palette feels relaxed yet elegant, with the stone doing much of the talking and the pendants sweetly framed by each window.

If there’s one room that proves 'rustic meets refined' style needn’t be all pale neutrals and reclaimed wood, it’s the snug. Louise went for a rich, enveloping purple here, layering texture with burgundy-toned built-ins, open library shelving and a generous sectional piled with patterned pillows.

'There’s color throughout the house, but we kept the palette from feeling overpowering or jarring,' says Louise. The mix of plaid, geometrics and floral fabrics gives the room vibrancy, while collected ceramics, books and artwork make the space feel lived-in. 'When you come in [to the home], a narrow hallway to the left leads to the powder room and then to what we call the “snug room”,' she says. 'We painted it deep purple, added a new built-in twin bed and a vintage desk, so it can also serve as an office,' she adds of the multi-functional space.

The primary bedroom really leans into the cabin-like side of the scheme, with wood-grain wallpaper wrapping the walls and sloping ceiling in a warm, honeyed finish. Against all that natural texture, Louise kept the bedding and rug relatively understated, letting the timber take the lead. A plaid upholstered bed and floral drapery bring just enough pattern to stop the room feeling too rustic, while antique furniture and layered lighting lend it a romantic feel. 'We wanted the wood grain to be the main attraction,' Louise explains, noting that the bedroom was deliberately designed to feel quite different from the couple’s Manhattan bedroom, where the walls are covered in velvet. 'The palette is largely rusts, neutrals, and deep greens to bring the outdoors in, with accents of teal in the textiles and lamps,' she adds.

In the tucked-away guest bedroom nook, deep mauve paneling clads the cozy sleepover spot, giving the compact space a sense of cocooning, while a patterned Roman blind, layered cushions and a vintage chair keep it feeling collected rather than overly rustic. The new closet in the primary takes a tailored approach, with deep rust-toned cabinetry, woven floral door panels and built-in drawers that make the most of the reworked layout. As Louise explains, the original closet was too small, so she borrowed square footage from the guest bedroom to create a walk-in space. It's a practical change, certainly, but one that adds plenty of character.

This guest bedroom proves Louise’s knack for making traditional spaces feel fresh. Olive-green trim frames the warm neutral walls, windows, and sloped ceiling, giving the room a playful architectural moment, while a floral upholstered headboard and patterned Roman blind bring in a dose of English country charm. 'The roofline creates some unusual angles, so we decided to work with them and celebrate their quirkiness with bold color,' she explains. It’s a little bolder than the primary bedroom, but still has that easy quality that runs through the house thanks to the layering of the sage-green armchair, blue-green linens, and dusky rose bed skirt.

Even the bathrooms offer their own distinct personalities. The powder room takes the moodier approach, with block print wallpaper, olive wainscoting and a marble-topped vanity that brings delight to the compact space. In the primary bathroom, the mood is quieter and more traditional, with classic white tiles, dark grout and warm taupe trim framing a freestanding bathtub beneath a cafe curtain-dressed window. There’s a lovely contrast between the two: one embraces pattern and color, while the other lets its materials and considered details do the talking.

Shop the Look

In this country home, there’s certainly no farmhouse overload. Instead, Louise Copeland has paired the character of a traditional country house with the polish of thoughtful, layered interiors, where antiques mingle with contemporary pieces and earthy colors meet elegant fabrics. The result is a home that embraces its rural setting without resorting to the usual cliches – and proves that escaping the city doesn't mean leaving sophistication behind.

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