North Salem Farm

Welcome to this historical, wood-clad farmhouse in upstate New York. The North Salem Farm was transformed and expanded into a combined home and studio with 610 square metres of floor space in a project by the Brooklyn-based interior design firm Worrell Yeung. The result reflects the designers’ goal of expressing architectural volume by simplifying the individual components. The separate buildings form a harmonious whole, like architectural siblings related in expression and materials but with clear design variations.

Private residence – Westchester County, New York, USA

Architect: Worrell Yeung

Photographer: Naho Kubota

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Douglas Classic

Thickness: 28 mm. Width: 300 mm. Length: 2–5 m

Finish: White Oil

North Salem Farm is set on a beautiful natural site. The separate buildings stand out with a simple design in dark colour tones that resonate with and respect the original rural vernacular, integrating with the landscape.

The exteriors on the approach side are designed to emphasise privacy. In contrast, the rear side features large windows complementing the interior with panoramic views of the pond and trees in the garden.

‘The exterior palette was inspired by dark mossy covered barns and so we came up with a custom stain that takes on different readings depending on the light and season while still imbuing the character of the cypress wood.’

– Jejon Yeung, architect and cofounder of Worrell Yeung

In renovating North Salem Farm, Worrell Yeung applied a limited material palette, favouring natural materials that allow for high-precision craftsmanship.

The main house features a large, timbered roof construction extending the entire length of the building. Below, a dramatic open communal space combines kitchen, dining room and living room in one.

From an early stage of the project, Worrell Yeung selected Douglas fir for the exposed load-bearing elements of the roof structure. The designers wanted a matching floor material to complement this expression and create a harmonious whole.

‘Dinesen was perfect for this project. The Douglas plank floors with White Oil finish imbue the perfect balance of expressed grain that highlights the character and nature of the wood while also providing a subtle, neutral, monolithic quality to the floor. We used the same Dinesen White Oil finish to apply onto the Douglas fir rafters and millwork to unify all the wood elements throughout the house.’

– Max Worrell, architect and cofounder of Worrell Yeung

For the floors in the upstairs rooms of the main building and the steps of the minimalist wood-and-steel stairs leading into the basement, the designers chose Dinesen Douglas Classic. The basement is a social space with large windows and sliding glass doors to the landscape and an outdoor swimming pool. The original 19th-century stone walls were preserved, forming a textured contrast to the concrete floor, and the new ceilings are lined with Dinesen Douglas.