Synchronicity in Stanfordville
A Perfect Melding of Styles
By Tara Kelly
Laura Kirkpatrick and Beth Ann Walters are one of those couples who are so in sync, they finish each other’s thoughts—and occasionally burst into song. Their complete ease has made the creation of Frog Pond Farm, their little slice of perfection in Stanfordville, a breeze. It’s also turned their world from black and white to Technicolor.
“When we first met,” Walters says, “Laura was a beige kind of gal, and I gravitated toward gray.” It’s almost hard to believe. Color seems to define their style: French blue cabinetry in the kitchen, blue china plates on a wall in the dining area, tartan fabric in the mudroom; and in the entryway to the barn apartment: bright green cabinetry, with a tropical garden vibe for the wallpaper and fabric. Black, beige, brown, and gray still get space on the palette, but it is the color that catches the eye.
Kirkpatrick and Walters both spent their careers in retail. Kirkpatrick was the VP of creative planning at Macy’s when she retired; Walters spent decades in luxury retail, working for Louis Vuitton and Scully & Scully. It has clearly defined their design sensibility.
When they first saw the 1780s farmhouse in April 2016, it needed work. “One room was entirely papered in pink toile, and another in blue toile, so those went the way of the dodo,” says Kirkpatrick.
It was also too small. “We cleaned the house up, let it marinate a tiny bit, then dove in.”
They enlarged the footprint of the house by adding a living room and screened-in porch. She credits Bob Nilsen of R.A. Nilsen Construction in Millbrook (who inspected the property with them before they bought it) with overseeing all the renovations.
“When we walked around the house, Bob reminded me a bit of my father. He blends preservation with modernization,” Kirkpatrick says.
The 1850s-era barn was the next project. “It was a wreck; most of the wood was rotten. Bob was able to repurpose some of the beams for decorative uses,” Kirkpatrick says. It now does double duty as guest quarters and garage.
The latest addition to the house is an elegant and yet supremely practical mudroom. Kirkpatrick wanted three dogs (they already have two), and Walters said, “Either we have to move, or build a mudroom.” The inspiration for the room was The Fife Arms in Braemar, Scotland, where they’d stayed in 2023.
“We’re born collectors. Laura’s a Francophile, and I’m an Anglophile,” says Walters. The art and furnishings are a perfect blend of English style with a French influence. Walters, who collects work by French street artist Francois, says, “We wanted to reuse what we already had.”
It’s a perfect melding of what they owned, although they have also purchased some things. Kirkpatrick points to a pair of rattan chairs.
“We found those on our way home from our honeymoon in Lake Placid,” she says. “There’s a lot of kismet involved in this,” adds Walters. “Everything we have in the house tells a story.”
