“I wanted you to come into a place that was inviting, but with a muted warmth,” says Kara of the decision to immerse the dining room in Farrow & Ball’s Green Smoke, including walls, ceiling, cabinetry, and fireplace, the latter with a relocated mantel. The table is a 17th C. Spanish Walnut Trestle Rectangular Dining Table via Restoration Hardware, surrounded by Ceremonie Green Mohair dining chairs by Athena Calderone, from Crate&Barrel. The Tambor Buffet, beneath windows that Seamus relocated from elsewhere in the house, is from Anthropologie.
The couple added the wainscot, installed by Seamus, and painted in Farrow & Ball Red Earth to continue the “color story” from the breakfast room. The white oak built-in has much needed storage behind the cane cabinet fronts and display. The Caitlin couch by Everygirl for Interior Define sits atop a vintage checkered rug with an Anthropologie coffee table and Hay Paper Shade overhead.
The couple added curved cabinetry and a window seat to form a breakfast nook, painted in Farrow & Ball Red Earth. The table is discontinued from Anthropologie, where Kara previously worked as a display coordinator, and the overhead light is the Lambert & Fils Waldorf Double.
An arched opening was added to connect the kitchen and breakfast nook, and gain sightlines to the yard. Seamus refinished the fireplace mantle and added square zellige Zia tile in ‘Nana’s Lipstick’ to the surround. Gubi Semi Pendants hang over the island, and the sink has a Devol Ionian Bridge Tap.
The new powder room has Blackthorn wallpaper from Morris & Co, which was chosen for how its green and pink palette “bridges” the other spaces in the home, says Kara. Beckham Double Sconces from Visual Comfort flank a Tufa Modern Mirror from Scout and Nimble, over a marble sink.
Cohen and his wife, Sally, sit in the dining room, which along with the connected living room, is a focal point of the house, lighted in part by high, remote-controlled clerestory windows.
A pair of LC2 chairs by Le Corbusier are ideal spots for watching the river down below. The Womb chair by Eero Saarinen is a close second.
Maison Amtrak, Peter and Saly Cohen's home, is the latest of five spine and module houses he's designed. Clipping rooms, decks and the garage onto a central spine makes Cohen's designs high adaptable to different sites.
Viewed from a good distance down the slope running to the Union River, the Maison Amtrak is clearly oriented toward the river. The deck is sheltered from the neighbors’ view by Cohen’s bedroom to the right and the living room at left.