After being cramped in their Brooklyn apartment with a new puppy during the early months of the pandemic, Jessica Califano and her husband, John O’Brien-Carelli, decided to get out of town and rent a house in the Catskills. Both could work remotely—he as a product manager at Square, and her for an environmental tech firm—and the couple’s puppy, Tina, could run wild.

But when it came time to return to the city, Jessica was reluctant. “I just started crying and I was like, ‘I don’t want to leave,’” she says. “My husband, ever the supportive partner, said we should try to find a house up here where I could start to put my passion for design into practice.”

Before: Exterior

After: Exterior

Prior to the pandemic, Jessica had taken interior design classes at New York City’s School of Visual Arts and dabbled in designing furniture and metalworking. “Aside from that, I thought that it would always just be a hobby for me,” Jessica says. The couple started looking for a home to purchase, and when this 2,160-square-foot residence came up for sale—complete with its own rooftop solar array and sitting on ten acres—the duo immediately put in an offer.

Built in 2016, the original structure was in great shape, with high ceilings in the main living spaces and lots of natural light with views of the woods. So, Jessica got to work refreshing the interiors. The first project was swapping out the existing Pergo floors for white oak throughout, and then coating the dwelling with fresh coats of paint: specifically, Behr’s Swiss Coffee for the interior, and Tricorn Black by Sherwin-Williams for the exterior.

Before: Main Living Spaces

After: Main Living Spaces

“I really wanted to play off all of the beautiful windows and nature that we have around us,” says Jessica of the black-and-white palette. “I didn't want to do too much in terms of color, just because it’s so colorful and beautiful outside.”

Next, the kitchen received a top-to-bottom makeover. The couple swapped out the cabinet doors, refreshing the style and color, then overlaid one counter with honed Valongo Black slate and put a contrasting white marbled quartz slab on the central island.

Before: Kitchen

After: Kitchen

“I knew I wanted to do something cool and custom somewhere in the kitchen and decided that fluting on the island would be the place,” says Jessica. For that project, the couple bought wood dowels at Home Depot and had their contractor cut each one in half before nailing the pieces in place.

The textural backsplash is clad in handmade Zellige Moroccan tile by Clé Tile in Sea Salt. “I’m obsessed with the variation in color and texture and love how the light reflects off of it throughout the day,” says Jessica.

Before: Deck

After: Deck

The other major project was the primary bathroom, which was reconfigured to give the shower more natural light and elbow room. In addition to updating the walls and floors with handmade tiles from Zia Tile and adding a new window, Jessica specified a custom concrete vanity, shower bench, niche shelves, and shower curb. A glass-enclosed shower, as opposed to the solid wall from before, makes the room feel much airier.

Before: Primary Suite

After: Primary Suite

Professionally, the home’s transformation marks the first entry in Jessica’s portfolio as she works to open her own design business in the future. However, the perks of the project extend beyond the field experience it provided her. “We can basically just go hiking in our backyard,” says Jessica.

Related Reading:

In the Idyllic Catskills, Designers Take Homes From Rickety to Ravishing

Construction Diary: A Stylist and a Photographer Reenvision a 1950s Bungalow

Project Credits:

Architect: Thomas J. Fiola

Landscape Design: Artisan Stone

Interior Design: The Modern Mountain House / @themodernmountainhouse

Bathroom and Kitchen Tile: Woodchips Construction