A Historical Home in Long Valley Gets a New Life

Rotted floors and collapsing fireplaces were no match for homeowners who lovingly restored the residence, taking inspiration from their extensive travels

The house had seen better days — and that’s putting it mildly. “It had been abandoned and was in disrepair. The walls were caving in. It needed to be gutted.” Designer Russell Minion is describing his initial visits to the 1870 Long Valley vacation home that he now shares with his partner, architect Juan Gutierrez. Prevailing opinion seemed to be that the home was beyond saving. “The Realtor’s kids called it ‘the haunted house.’ The Realtor wouldn’t even come in.” But the state of the residence didn’t deter the pair. As principals at Manhattan-based Minion-Gutierrez Design (@Minion_Gutierrez_Design), they were well-suited to take on the challenges of refurbishing a vintage home. Their expertise was sorely needed to return the home to its former glory.

Any changes to the exterior had to be approved by the local historical society so when it was time to replace the home’s broken windows, designer Russel Minion and architect Juan Guttierez chose specialty glass designed to look vintage. “We had to make them look authentic; we couldn’t just go to a hardware store and buy panes of glass.”

Not Your Standard “Farmhouse” Kitchen
“This is a farmhouse,” Minion says. “It’s in the historic registry as Buttonball Farm.” But he doesn’t care for the word “farmhouse,” particularly the way the term has evolved in the design field. So as far as the kitchen was concerned, he says, “I wanted it to look like a farmhouse kitchen, but not ‘Instagram farmhouse.’”

To that end, the designer selected furnishings that would outlast fleeting social media trends. “The cabinets are a custom gray-green color, which people love. It doesn’t look like white or gray. It’s putty green. The kitchen is 10 years old and it doesn’t look dated.”

It does, however, look rustic in the way a historical home should, with exposed, original beams on the ceiling that add charm to the space. “The ceiling is only 7 feet tall; when we had clapboard on it, it felt really closed in. We painted the beams white and it opened up the whole space.” Those original beams are also a testament to 19^th-century craftsmanship. “The house was built in 1870 with wood from trees that were probably 200 years old at the time. That’s why everything is solid. The wood they grow today that they use in five years usually rots in 6 years.”

A glass-topped table keeps the mood light and airy in the kitchen dining area.

Minion added more modern touches in the adjacent dining area with a 1980s glass-topped table that belonged to his mother. The clear glass ensures that the space remains light and airy. The lightness of the table is offset by the weighty Dakota Jackson Library Chairs that surround it. The lighting is classic and elegant – Murano fixtures with hand-blown, glass shades.

New Life for the Library
The library required extensive renovations. “We had to rip the whole floor out. It was rotted,” Minion notes. Once the room was on solid ground again, the designer had built-in bookcases installed and traded the stone fireplace surround with glass. “I get inspired from different places. I saw this in a book featuring Yves St. Laurent’s famous Paris apartment. He had a glass surround and a whole wall that was mirrored.” In this case, Minion used a mirror that was in the house when it was purchased. “We couldn’t get it out at the time because the front porch was condemned.” At 6 feet tall and 4 feet wide, the mirror was too big for their purposes, so they had it cut to fit the space above the mantel.

Minion and Gutierrez often find art pieces while on vacation. “We travel twice a year. Accents in this room are from all over the world. It’s nice when you can sit in a room and remember being at a special place.”

The library features a palette of warm beige and green tones with gold accents.

Drama in the Dining Room

Intricate crown molding and a crystal chandelier create an elegant aesthetic in the dining room. The circa-1932 Jensen chairs were another serendipitous find while the homeowners were antiquing on vacation.

A pedestal in the dining room displays the sculpture “Galatea 1993” by Hector Lombana.

Cabinetry in the dining room is also new, built around an existing fireplace that needed to be kept intact. The walls are clad in an elegant 1924 de Gournay wallpaper. “We purchased 10 panels at auction and when we received the package, it had 20 panels (two sets). I was flabbergasted to find them,” Minion says. That was a pleasant surprise; the panels, though, were showing their age. “When we opened them up, we saw they were all oxidized. They’d been sitting in someone’s attic for 100 years.” Still, the panels were put to use, with some adjustments to accommodate their vintage status. “They’re old and brittle and had to be backed with muslin. It took the installer five days because the paper was so delicate.” The lengthy process was worth it, and the addition of the second set of panels was serendipitous. “We had just enough to do the entire room. It was almost like the house was calling for it to be restored to the way it was.”

Minion and Gutierrez found the dining room sideboard at an antiques shop in Connecticut. “It was a limited-edition drop-leaf desk that was handmade from mahogany. It was the most beautiful desk I’d ever seen. It turned out to be a desk I had seen and loved in Beacon Hill 20 years prior but hadn’t bought.”

Minion says fortuitous finds seem to be a theme of this project. For instance, he’d seen the dining room sideboard, which started its life as a drop-leaf desk, decades before, but had passed it up. It reappeared in an antique shop in Connecticut at just the right time to be included in this home. “Things that I would think about getting, but would hesitate about, would fall into my lap. It’s like everything was meant to be.”