Upstate Chic

Living in busy, buzzing New York and designing for first ladies and film stars is no walk in the park. Luckily for Bibhu Mohapatra, his second home in quieter Upstate New York is an oasis, far from the madding crowd

- Arati Menon

The farmhouse dates back to 1820, and came with its original shutters intact. The 400-year-old maple tree remains Bibhu Mohapatra’s favourite feature of his home. English flower beds line the lawn. Facing page: Mohapatra in his trademark black T-shirt and jeans. Behind him is an ‘installation’ that artist Robert Beard, Mohapatra’s husband, made with bricks from the renovation. It now houses rabbits and nesting birds.

The second floor of the home was ripped out in a previous renovation, and the couple decided not to replace it. Instead, they built a mezzanine guest bedroom above the dining room. The dining table is vintage Danish from a Hudson store. The collection of fine art is from Morocco and the printed art is from Ghana; the other objects include studio ceramics and antique silver candle stands.

The large high-fired clay ceramic sculpture was hand-built and finished by Beard in 1979. He never thought he’d see it again until it arrived as a surprise package from his mother in Atlanta when she did a house clean-out. Facing page: The master bedroom is pared down but punctuated by an antiquered chair that used to belong to Beard’s grandmother. An editorial photograph of a dress by Mohapatra is one of the few visual references to his work in the house. The oil painting is by Beard’s great-grandmother from 1920.

The Danish chairs on the porch are from the 1940s and were bought at the Lincoln Road flea market on Miami Beach. The vintage garden-watering tractor in the foreground was bought in Hudson. The blue-painted ceiling is reminiscent of a Southern-style porch. Facing page: The settee is vintage American. The caneand-steel chairs are by Marcel Breuer.