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A historic farmhouse in Rockland is reborn as an everyday country retreat.
(page 3 of 4)
Krewson configured the interior space to suit her lifestyle. The kitchen, a stylish home office, a jot of a powder room and a large living room with a fireplace inhabit the first floor. The gate-leg table under the crystal chandelier opens for dinner parties. On the second floor, there’s a guest room and a sumptuous master suite with a sitting room and bath. In the cellar, there’s a fireproof depository for records and climate-controlled wine storage.
Like her home, Krewson’s furnishings were plucked from the past. “I started buying antiques years before I even owned a house,” she says.
One of her favorite finds is the matching French loveseats she discovered in an antiques store in Los Angeles. Their silk was dry rotted and the cushions needed to be gutted and re-done. But their ornately carved walnut frames were in perfect condition, so Krewson knew she could bring them back to life. Today the loveseats provide a perfect perch for a conversation in her office.
She is only the second owner of a chest-on-chest commissioned by a family in Richmond, Virginia, and shipped from England around 1770.
The Victorian settee and lady’s and gentleman’s chairs in the upstairs sitting room came from an auction at the last Talley farmhouse in Brandywine Hundred, a site on Foulk Road that is now the New Castle County Library. The high poster bed in the guest room came out of the Weldin family farmhouse in North Wilmington.
“I also love to read and write letters, so every room has a comfy chair for reading and both floors have writing desks, complete with stationery,” she says.
Art is an essential part of the mix, and Krewson is committed to supporting Delaware artists. Their work is found throughout the house. They include pieces by two of her favorites, Daniel Jackson and Kelly McConnell Cox.
She is an accomplished hostess, so a well-appointed kitchen with a professional-style range and hardwood counters was a priority. She based her design on the kitchens of French farm country. She found the imported rooster tiles that decorate the backsplash during a break on a business trip to New York City.
The kitchen also is the site of the only television in the house, a wall-mounted model with a 9-inch screen, just large enough for viewing Phillies games.
Krewson’s job frequently took her around the U.S. and overseas. The company headquarters is in Richmond, where she restored a house in the city’s historic district and once lived during the work week.
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