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TIM WILKES
Lopez Residence
Lopez Residence - Country home created around a converted barn frame
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TIM WILKES
Lopez Residence
Lopez Residence - Country home created around a converted barn frame
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TIM WILKES
Lopez Residence
Lopez Residence - Country home created around a converted barn frame
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TIM WILKES
Lopez Residence
Lopez Residence - Country home created around a converted barn frame
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TIM WILKES
Lopez Residence
Lopez Residence - Country home created around a converted barn frame
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TIM WILKES
Lopez Residence
Lopez Residence - Country home created around a converted barn frame
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photos by Tim Wilkes and Lauren Woods
It took Jen and Phil Lopez missing out on the house they wanted to conceptualize their dream house.
“We found a home … that was an old barn conversion that we fell in love with,” Phil says. “It was already sold. And that kind of got Jen’s ideas going.”
Jen, the owner of Jen Lopez Design, teamed up with Phil’s brother, Chris, who is an architect, and they began searching for other options. They looked into Texas-based Heritage Restorations, which restores timber frame buildings from the 18th and 19th centuries, and eventually decided to incorporate a barn frame into a new build. The 1895 barn, originally from Schenectady, New York, was brought, disassembled, on a flatbed truck from Texas to the approximately 3.5-acre lot Jen and Phil had bought in Hudson.
It was a long time coming. Both Jen and Phil had grown up in historic homes from 1910 and 1820, respectively. “I missed the character of an older home,” Jen says. “But [Phil] was not excited about buying something historic, because he knew how much work they are and the upkeep.”
The barn frame in a freshly constructed house was a perfect fit, a way to blend old and new. The home’s exterior has a brand-new look with white James Hardie concrete siding, a metal roof and a sleek white paver patio, but inside, the olden beams that frame the four-bedroom, 4 1/2-bath house stand out in every room.
“It was exciting for us to think about how we could incorporate this old barn, but make it feel modern and not farmhouse,” she says.
The frame’s exposed hemlock beams are on the ceiling, formed into railings and supports surrounding a three-story staircase, used as shelves in the owner’s bathroom and more. Eighty-five percent of the beams are original, and ones that couldn’t be used because of rotting and other issues, Heritage Restorations replaced with wood that was the same age and species.
“It was important for us to do that, take the extra time and expense to keep the character consistent,” Jen says.
Throughout the interior, a neutral color palette of black, gray, cream and white complements the beams, while remaining minimal and timeless, Jen says. “We try very hard to just let the barn speak and to keep everything else quiet,” she adds.
When you enter on the second floor, the open-concept space invites you in with rugs on a heated concrete floor, velvet couches and a black-brown 11-foot fireplace with steel plates. Vertical space under the floating staircase is dedicated to wine storage, with brass pins attached to the wall for single bottles. From the living area, you can see the kitchen’s black tile walls and spacious geometric island next to the dining area with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the backyard.
“It’s all open all the time, the whole house, basically, unless you’re in your bedroom,” Jen says.
The openness extends to the fresh air, as accordion doors push back, connecting the interior to the outdoor entertainment area.
Under an overhang supported by barn beams, there’s a black metal wood-burning fire feature, which allows for an intimate gathering. “There’s a lot of wildlife out there,” Jen says. “It’s nice for us to grab a cup of coffee in the morning and light a fire on the weekend and sit out.” And for outdoor gatherings, either with their two kids or with family and friends, the couple can turn on a two-sided gas fireplace with a concrete finish so that everyone in the yard can enjoy it. They have had a band perform on a stage they’ve built on the grass and have had family over to eat at the long table on the patio.
And although there isn’t live music inside the house, the couple’s love for music is also present in Phil’s modern rock-and-roll-themed office, which is in the loft. It has an attached balcony, where Phil can take his work calls, a gas fireplace, bold purple velvet chairs and a black bookcase with outward-facing music-focused books, some with rock stars’ faces on the covers. “I wanted them to be spaced out so that it looks like art,” Jen says. There is also a lineup of autographed guitars, with signatures such as Steven Tyler, Sammy Hagar and Lenny Kravitz.
These kinds of details make the historic barn genuine and personal to the family, and it’s a place they hope to stay forever. They have an elevator to accommodate guests and their future older selves, and they see it as a place that their kids can always return to.
This project, a callback to Jen’s first job on a farm when she was a teen, ultimately launched her career in interior design. “It was everything,” she says. “I really enjoyed it and knew that this is what I wanted to do going forward, instead of just dabbling in it.”
Connecting not only historic and modern elements, the house also links Jen and Phil’s past and present selves.
“I’ve always had an affinity for farms. So for me, there’s just something that feels like home,” Jen says. “There’s a lot of love here.”
“It was kind of a perfect fit,” Phil says, “from where we grew up, as well as where we’re calling home now.”
