HO U S E PRO FIL E
A Handcrafted Woodland Retreat A furniture maker and sculptor designs and builds a contemporary, Tuscan-inspired home By Kim Marshall Photos by Winona Barton-Ballentine
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ucked away in Ulster Park near the confluence of the Wallkill River and the Rondout Creek, furniture maker and sculptor Rob Hare and his wife, children’s book author and illustrator Iza Trapani, dwell in their contemporary, Tuscan-inspired house that Hare designed and built from scratch. The house, which Hare designed and built from scratch, sits on a cliff edge, giving it a treehouse quality. When they married in ’97, Hare had been living in Kingston, and Trapani in New Paltz, but they wanted to stay in close proximity to friends, so they looked into purchasing a home located in between the two. After real estate agents couldn’t help them find homes they were interested in, they decided to knock on doors. While driving toward Kingston, Hare realized a long driveway that he’d seen for years led to a house sitting on property he and Trapani admired. “Once I screwed up enough courage to drive down that long driveway, the caretaker at that time said, ‘Oh, yeah. The whole place is for sale; the owners just put it on the market,’ and it hadn’t even been advertised. So we bought it.” DOWNSIZED DESIGN The 150-acre farm came with two houses, which they planned to rent out, and a large barn. They eventually built Hare’s furniture-making studio near the road and the 3,000-square-foot Tuscan farmhouse (sold in 2016) that their new home was modeled after. When designing the new house, Hare and Trapani decided to downsize but keep the features each of them enjoyed about their old home. They also wanted to ensure it was conducive to aging, with just one floor. “The old house was very spacious,” says Hare. “It had a living room, dining room, and peaked ceilings that were 26 feet off the floor, so it was a big open space. We both wanted a house that felt warmer and not quite as grandiose.” To achieve this, Hare designed the home to be smaller and cozier in the kitchen and library, with a larger, more spacious design in the dining and living room areas. To make it work, he kept the roof low in the kitchen and library, while the dining and living room area, as well as Trapani’s studio, have higher ceilings.
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online at upstatehouse.com
Top: A long deck spans the entire left-hand side of the contemporary, Tuscaninspired house of Rob Hare and Iza Trapani. The house, which Hare designed and built from scratch, sits on a cliff edge, giving it a treehouse quality. Bottom: Hare and Trapani on the deck with their Lab/pit bull mix, Nugget.
