An historic Pennsylvania farmhouse with a calm and considered interior by Madeline Hause
“I always hesitate to use the word minimal because I am a collector at heart – I love things,” says Philadelphia-based interior designer Madeline Hause. “But I think about the way I design as being very intentional. I have a storage space filled with beautiful pieces but everything that goes into a specific project has a meaning, it's very thought through.” It's an ethos that is completely clear to see in this wonderfully serene house in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, where the spaces themselves are quiet and pared-back, but every corner contains fascinating pieces, each with their own story.
The house was a dream project for Madeline, who started her eponymous studio three years ago, after working in fashion and designing showrooms in New York. The history of the house (its earliest part dates back to the 1740s) was one of the principal draws. “It's wonderful to be in the position to take a historic house like this and look right into it, really understand it, and then build on its past so that it can continue on into the future. It has this whole story and all this energy already, and I want to be a part of helping it go on.” The setting in Bucks County brings plenty of charm with it too. “There's a lot of history there," explains Madeline, "but there's also a lot of space. You're an hour from Philadelphia, an hour and a half from New York City, but you get this open space and all the airiness of country living.”
The brief from Madeline's clients was to create a multi-generational house that could easily accommodate their children and grandchildren for regular family gatherings. The property offered plenty of space, with the original 18th-century house having been extended at various points in its history, and a next-door barn offering a soaring space for entertaining. The previous owners had done the hard graft of restoring both buildings – rewiring, adding heating and air-conditioning – but had done it sensitively, leaving the period features such as fireplaces and beams intact. “I just got to do the fun part,” laughs Madeline.
When the clients got in touch, it instantly seemed like a good fit. “In their first enquiry, they hit a lot of the words that I tend to talk about in my design. They were looking for clean lines, function, and plenty of antique and vintage furniture.” It emerged over the course of their initial conversations, as Madeline got to know them and their interests, that Japan was an important place for them, and so there are Japanese elements layered throughout the house, especially in the barn. But she was also keen to make use of as much local craft as possible, incorporating the local vernacular of Bucks Country, which was one of the first parts of Pennsylvania to be settled by Europeans. “I sourced lots of fabrics that are local to Bucks County, and worked with local carpenters on pieces for the house,” Madeline explains.
Although Japanese influences and Pennsylvania folk traditions might not immediately sound like happy bedfellows, there is a lovely simplicity to both strands of the design, and nothing in the house feels overwrought. Organic materials predominate, from the rush-seated chairs in the dining areas to the plant fibre lights from Pinch; the colour palette sticks to neutral tones, with the patina of the antique wooden furniture standing out elegantly from clean white walls. There are no fussy patterns or clutter – everything is, as Madeline says, intentionally placed, with each piece given the space to tell its own story.
There are indeed some fascinating stories to be found amongst the pieces Madeline found for the house. One of the most eye-catching is an antique shelf on the landing that houses the client's collection of icons. “One of the first things she had requested,” says Madeline, “was a prayer corner, and this landing has a window that faces east, so it felt like it was meant to be.” The icon collection is beautiful, and the golds and rust tones of the paintings were in fact a source of inspiration as Madeline went about decorating the house, so she wanted to find something special to accommodate them. Researching the traditional architecture of Orthodox churches, she lighted on the idea of the iconostasis, or the icon screen, and set about finding a shelf that could replicate that style, and eventually found this hand carved oak shelf at Carpenter Studio, its rather ornate lines subtly recalling the architecture of a church.
This thoughtfulness is continued in other references throughout the house. The cushions on the sofa in the barn are made up in a traditionally handcrafted fabric from the city of Nagato in Japan, and they sit looking at a coffee table made of ash charred in the Japanese style known as yakisugi. The granddaughter's room has a 1940s Swedish folk art desk which Madeline bought in the hope of instilling a love of design in this child, just as she herself was influenced by her grandmother's house growing up.
“I think really great design always has a story associated with it,” says Madeline. “And I get to know my clients really well so I can tell their story.” It's an approach that yields beautiful, intriguing results, and one that has ensured that the ongoing narrative of this historic house has a wonderful new chapter.
Brian Wetzel Photo1/17An office and sunroom occupies this extension to the house, which has sliding doors out into the garden. Madeline had the table made by a local carpenter and a local iron worker to get the look of an antique French table at the right scale for the room. She found the easel on an antiquing trip in the Hudson Valley.
Brian Wetzel Photo2/17A custom version of Sixpenny's ‘Camino’ sectional sofa in inky blue linen provides a place to relax, with natural linen curtains filtering the light at the windows.
Brian Wetzel Photo3/17The landing has been set up as a prayer corner, with an antique shelf housing the client's collection of icons.
Brian Wetzel Photo4/17The landing leads into a spare bedroom in the early 20th-century part of the house, where the period chimneypiece still has its original tiles from the local Moravian Pottery and Tile Works in Doylestown, PA, which was established in the 1910s. The chair is covered in a rust-coloured mohair from JB Martin, echoing the colours of the icons on the landing outside.
Brian Wetzel Photo5/17This room actually squeezes in two queen beds (one out of shot) to maximise space for guests. Pillows in a tapestry design from Pierce & Ward, picking up on the colours in the fireplace, decorate the bed.
Brian Wetzel Photo6/17The main bedroom has an early 19th century English pine dresser from The Parson's Nose, a Michigan-based antiques dealer specialising in English pieces. A tramp art mirror hangs above, and a banister-back chair found by chance on Madeline's way home from this house stands next to it. The bolster pillow is made up in an antique jacquard fabric found in Lambertville, NJ.
Brian Wetzel Photo7/17In the hallway is an antique cabinet from Nickey Kehoe.
Brian Wetzel Photo8/17Another spare room in the oldest part of the house. An antique wood relief icon hangs over the bed, and the light is a 1960s German pendant.
Brian Wetzel Photo9/17In the granddaughter's bedroom, the client's Schoolhouse quilt became the starting point for a folky scheme.
Brian Wetzel Photo10/17The 1940s Swedish desk is one of Madeline's favourite pieces.
11/17The barn has been restored to provide a large entertaining space for the family.
Brian Wetzel Photo12/17On the second level of the barn, the large windows open up to overlook the ool.
Brian Wetzel Photo13/17Potted maples on the table lend a Japanese flavour to the space.
Brian Wetzel Photo14/17Madeline sourced the 15-foot Italian monastery table from a Nashville based dealer. The French chairs have rush seats and backs.
Brian Wetzel Photo15/17The sitting area occupies the other side of this vast space. Madeline had the rug made by Nordic Knots. The cushions on the sofa in the are made up in a traditionally handcrafted fabric from the city of Nagato in Japan, and the ash coffee table is charred in the Japanese yakisugi style.
Brian Wetzel Photo16/17An antique wine tasting table in this corner has a tilt top so that it can easily be stowed away if necessary.
Brian Wetzel Photo17/17The walls of the barn are all hand-laid stone. The walnut cabinetry in this mezzanine space was made to Madeline's design with diamond cut-out handles by a local carpenter, and is actually 23 feet long. The pair of Brazilian Brutalist leather and oak armchairs were restored by a local leatherworker.
