& LIFE STYLE

Country Living

How a post-and-beam in Pascoag ended up on the cover of a national magazine

When Jennifer Barone first moved to Rhode Island from Connecticut, she bought an old storage trunk salvaged from a barn in Burrillville. “That was in 2010 and I didn’t even know where that was,” she recalls with a chuckle. Just three years later Barone ended up in Pascoag, one of the eight villages that comprise Burrillville in the northwest corner of the state – about a 40-minute backroads ride from Providence. She and husband Nicholas were instantly smitten with a saltbox Colonial reminiscent of her childhood dollhouse; the charming property sat on 12 acres abutting the George Washington Management Area and even had its own red barn. “I feel like I brought the trunk back to its home,” says Barone.

The rustic home looked like it could be on the cover of Country Living magazine – a dream of Barone’s that was realized this past December. “I’m still pinching myself,” she says. A magazine representative reached out in December of 2021 after seeing a photo of the family picking out a Christmas tree on Barone’s Instagram page. “They wanted to feature a classic New England Christmas with kiddos who all believe in Santa Claus. They photographed our home in February 2022 so we had to swap out Valentine’s Day for Christmas which was quite confusing for the children!” She adds, “The miracle was we had a snowstorm the day before the shoot so we were able to feature our home with a fresh blanket of powder that felt very Christmassy.”

Barone describes her style as “New England farmhouse” and takes design cues from the woodland location, which includes stone walls and even a cranberry bog. “The man we bought the house from built it using reclaimed beams from an 1800s mill in Providence and brick salvaged from Boston’s Big Dig,” she begins. “He whittled each peg from trees from the property. All of our floors are also wood from pine trees that were here. He first built our red barn in the back in 2006, then completed the saltbox in 2008.” Since taking ownership the Barones added on a garage, mudroom, and bedroom, adhering to a “carriage house” sensibility while accommodating their growing family of four children, a dog, four chickens, and a catfish.

“The post and beams in the house add so much character. I love every wooden peg and it’s also convenient since there are so many little places I can hang or tuck something special,” says Barone. To keep interiors feeling bright despite the deep wood tones, she relies on white paint to help reflect light. Accents are a discerning assemblage of family heirlooms, vintage prints, patterned plates, and finds from shopping downtown Chepachet.