A Cozy New York Retreat in Modern Farmhouse Style

For a pastoral oasis in Upstate New York’s Hudson Valley, design-school friends Christie Ward and Staver Gray, founders of the New York boutique design firm Ward + Gray, took inspiration from the 140 acres of lush woodlands and meadows that Wildflower Farms is situated on.

Tasked with designing the hotel’s 65 cabins, spa, restaurant, outdoor public spaces, and indoor and outdoor pools, Ward and Gray immersed themselves in the hotel’s location, visiting local artisans and antique shops and exploring the restaurant’s gardens to familiarize themselves with the vegetables grown onsite. They used these observations to build upon the Swiss and Dutch traditional design cues added by the architects, women-founded California-based firm Electric Bowery, to create a contemporary farmhouse- and barn-inspired compound with rich hues and an abundance of bespoke elements. The firm custom designed 90 per cent of the furniture, rugs, lighting, and textiles for Wildwood Farms—over 450 pieces—and added antiques sourced locally. The layers of pattern and texture add a homey and rustic atmosphere, while the attention to detail and quality maintain its refinement.

The lobby  was designed to feel like the homeowner’s potting shed. “We imagined guests wandering throughout the property, foraging and coming back inside to arrange wildflowers,” Ward and Gray say in a statement. A cozy sitting room with a sculptural checkered fireplace features a large wooden rocking chair, a long couch with a patchwork of patterns, and large framed botanicals that were foraged and pressed.

Stretching between the lobby and the restaurant is an expansive covered porch with an asymmetrical gabled ceiling. A large raised fire pit at the centre of the porch is surrounded by seating vignettes with olive green benches, round wooden tables, and stools with plush houndstooth cushions, blending fresh air and verdant views of Shawangunk Ridge with comfortable lounging.

At Clay Restaurant, reclaimed wood planks imbue the space with a warm and relaxed feel. Large potted trees, bathed in sunlight from the huge windows, continue the blending of indoors with outdoors. Banquettes with black-and-grey-gridded cushions and oversized wood-turned chairs line the perimeter, while armchairs in a retro mustard yellow floral print offer seating in the centre of the dining room. The inviting muted-maroon and stone fireplace is surrounded by a relaxed seating area, inspired by the conversation pits of the 1960s and ’70s, with chocolate-brown sofas with pink fluting and low-backed stools. Ward and Gray designed four tapestries—one for each season—to hang from the fireplace’s cladding.

In the Green Room, a moodier and cozier space, rough-wood walls and ceilings finished in green are paired with fringed chandeliers and lamps. Against one wall, wooden cabinets with oval cutouts display bottles of liquor. Low couches in a purple diamond pattern and plaid-and-wood armchairs surround pear-shaped wood coffee tables.

Though each space designed by Ward and Gray at Wildflower Farms carves out its own aesthetic niche—from the Green Room’s playful retro feel to the more subdued tones of the spa—they are all rooted in a deep appreciation for the land that it sits on, with organic elements and bucolic details.

Photography by Read McKendree / JBSA.