Step Inside 8 Refined Farmhouses That Are Undeniably Modern

Albers’s theory is brilliantly manifested at a 13-acre Stuyvesant, New York, countryside retreat, which Shellhammer and husband Georgi Balinov own. In a few short months, they transformed the 1840s three-bedroom farmhouse and the property’s eight (yes, you read that right) additional structures into a modernist Eden, with all the amenities for hosting their family and friends just two and a half hours from Manhattan. As a charming signpost indicates, there’s a swimming pool, sauna, network of bars and lounges, movie theater, and vegetable patch, not to mention an abundance of quiet spaces. The estate’s name, Rode Barns, comes from the three showstopping stables, painted in vivid hues inspired by Albers’s 1943 oil painting, Related (red). —Anne Quito

Pattern Play in East Hampton

In one family’s Long Island compound, two hallmarks of Hamptons architecture stand side by side: a 19th-century Shingle Style saltbox festooned with hydrangeas (they call it the farmhouse) and its super-modern foil heavy on the glass by New York City firm Architecture Outfit.

“East Hampton is our escape; it’s where we go to breathe and relax,” explains the client, who lives here with her husband and two sons. They acquired the tumbledown farmhouse in 2018 and knew they wanted a more contemporary counterpoint. “We needed to find an interior designer who could tie together these two very different structures.”

The client responded to New York City–based decorator Neal Beckstedt’s knack for what she calls “laid-back luxury,” a look he honed for a decade working for architect Russell Groves before launching his own business in 2010. For this project, Beckstedt recalls, “The client wanted something that was understated and livable—not stuffy. A new approach to the Hamptons.” And most importantly, “they were not afraid of color.” —Hannah Martin

Austin Furnishings That Put Family First