Neutral Nuance Underscores This Hudson Valley Kitchen + Bath

The Breakers, the Vanderbilt family’s iconic Newport, Rhode Island, “cottage,” might seem like surprising inspiration for a Hudson Valley farmhouse. But as chance would have it, designer Isabel Brewster was fresh off the Newport Cliff Walk home tour circuit when she signed on to renovate a young family’s stately Greek Revival in Rhinebeck, New York—and the threads between the two historic dwellings proved serendipitous.

For the kitchen—a sun-drenched space with a modest footprint that was stripped down to the studs and reimagined alongside general contractor Piotr Ottenbreit of PO Design Creation—Brewster envisioned a warm white scheme rooted in classicism, layered with patina and accented with modern elements. Inspired by The Breakers’ kitchen’s ceiling-height subway tiles, Brewster clad the upper walls and integrated range hood in perfectly imperfect Moroccan zellige tiles that shimmer in the light. Below, a sleek floating ledge and continuous white marble backsplash and countertops lend a decidedly contemporary perspective.

The room’s robust cabinetry program offers another discrete historical homage with its inset-style paneling, which Brewster describes as “transitional” and “Shaker but not” thanks to the enhanced beveled detailing. Anchoring the space, the designer once again took her cues from the Breakers’ kitchen, channeling its large, freestanding center table for her design of an oak island stained chocolate brown.

Sanding the original wide plank pine floors to their natural state finished with a subtle whitewash creates a bright base layer for the room and unlacquered brass taps and hardware garnish the scene with a timeless living finish. A cherry red pendant suspended above the island is the lone saturated dissenter in the creamy milieu.

Upstairs, the primary bathroom is similarly reverential of history, taking cues for its walls from hand-carved paneling the designer spied in a circa-1700s home in Maine. “I thought this was such an interesting idea and a way to have ‘artwork’ without actually hanging artwork,” Brewster explains. Here too, the designer chose a warm white paint for the millwork, complemented by bright white ceilings, a monochrome clawfoot tub and crisp, limestone-tiled floors. “I love the mixing of whites in this space—a flat white ceiling, warmer white walls and white floors. There’s a gradation of shades moving up the walls based off the white tones found in the marble.”

Said marble—which wraps the walk-in shower and tops the vanity the designer had fabricated from a vintage midcentury dresser—is a bold cut of Calacatta Viola Breccia. “It makes such a statement with the burgundy undertones,” gushes Brewster, who opted to pair the striking stone with exposed piping, yet again in an aged brass finish, “because that’s how bathroom plumbing actually looked and worked in period homes.”

While quiet, the finished spaces thrill with their many tone-on-tone material choices and hand-crafted details. When it comes to creating wow factor within a neutral palette, pulling layers of patina from the past, it seems, is an inspired place to start.