At the turn of the millennium, Audrey Isaac and Michelle Iacolina bought the perfect Catskills retreat. Set on three acres in bucolic Marbletown, the two-story farmhouse was compact—at just under 1,300 square feet, it was big enough for the New York City-based couple to bunk on weekends but small enough that they wouldn’t waste precious Saturdays or Sundays on home maintenance. “We bought it just to get outside,” says Isaac, of the base camp from which the two launched countless adventures kayaking, hiking, biking, or snowshoeing. “It was two hours from the city but felt worlds away.” “When we were up here, we were always out doing things,” explains Iacolina. “It was really a place to crash, but not a place to live.”
Then the 2020 lockdown hit. The two decided to decamp to the Hudson Valley full-time, where Iacolina, a biologist, pivoted to full-time remote work, and Isaac took a job at Hutton Brickyards. The only problem was the house. “We realized just how small it actually was,” remembers Isaac. “It was torturous being on top of each other all the time.” The idyllic farmhouse started to feel cramped.
They began considering an upgrade, looking for a home in the area that was better suited for full-time living or even some buildable land. “Unfortunately, so was everyone else,” explains Isaac. “We looked at a ton of houses and many plots of land, but we kept getting squeezed out.” One cold afternoon in February, after months of searching, the two realized they’d been beat. “We’d gone to see undeveloped land in Sundown on the first day of its showing,” says Isaac. “While we were slipping on the ice and snow, the realtor’s phone was already blowing up with offers, sight unseen.” Competing in the hot market wasn’t for them, so Isaac and Iacolina turned their sights back to the farmhouse, wondering if they could adapt the structure for their next phase.
Isaac, who has enjoyed a long career in the field of high-end catering and event planning, admits she’s most comfortable in charge. “The way my brain works is by always anticipating the next step and asking, ‘What’s the contingency plan?’” explains Isaac. “I have a tendency to overthink. I don’t trust the process; I’ve got to be in the middle of it.” The two wondered if their relationship could survive a remodel, and they didn’t want to ruin the charming cottage, enveloped by woodlands and ancient orchards, they’d grown to love.
Serendipity intervened, encouraging the couple to dream big and take a longer view. With the help of local artisans, Isaac and Iacolina preserved the bones of the original farmhouse while transforming the space into a newly expanded habitat that would shelter them for the next phase of their lives. In the process, they didn’t just renovate a home but put down new roots. In the long process of metamorphosis, Isaac and Iacolina realized they’d been right at home all along.
One and Done
The couple first approached Stone Ridge-based architect James Lyman Reynolds 15 years earlier when Iacolina wanted to build a screened-in porch. The scope of the project was too small for Reynolds, but when they approached him again in 2023, they had something bigger in mind: an entirely new first-floor primary suite. Reynolds pushed them even further, suggesting a renovation plan that included knocking down the home’s existing kitchen. They were immediately overwhelmed. “We’d never said a word about wanting a new kitchen,” remembers Iacolina. “It felt like it was getting out of control very quickly.”
Then a conversation with Isaac’s mother changed their minds. “She told us we were being short-sighted,” recalls Isaac. “The kitchen was already out of date. How many times did we want to do this?” Their answer was an emphatic, “just once.” They took a longer view, considering how they wanted to spend the next phase of their lives and what modern amenities and sustainability features would become appealing and even necessary over time.
The 25-Year Plan
Isaac and Iacolina devised what they call their 25-year plan. “It became the overarching theme of every decision,” says Isaac. “We weren’t going to do a major renovation again, and we weren’t ever going to spend money like this. We didn’t want to look back and think, ‘Why didn’t we do this or that when we had the chance?” The two began to write down everything that had ever bothered them about the home, as well as everything they loved and hated about home design in general. Then they tried to visualize what might become important over the next 25 years. “It was all about use cases,” explains Iacolina. “What activities did we love and how did we want to utilize the home in the future?”
Together, they came up with a design that wasn’t about curb appeal but rather completely tailored to their lifestyle and quirks. Isaac wanted to add as much light and as many windows as possible. “I wanted the feeling of nature coming inside,” she explains. “If we could have, we would have built an entirely glass house.” Besides, her long-coveted screened-in porch, Iacolina wanted the home’s new addition to blend with the original farmhouse. “I didn’t want it to look like a tumor grew on the house,” she explains. “I wanted the addition and original home to feel balanced. “
Along with the first-floor primary suite, both wanted to expand the kitchen and dining area for hosting. “We cook and entertain a lot,” says Isaac. “We wanted a space that was easy to move and work in.” Both loved the 30-year-old farmhouse’s wood trim and beams, and wanted to preserve and extend that motif into the new construction. “When entering the house, there was a sense of calm and good energy from the natural finishes,” says Isaac.
Good Hands
Reynolds transformed their wish-list into a highly particular, detail-oriented plan. Then he introduced them to master builder Austin Sweeney, who thrives on the opportunity to solve highly individualized design challenges for clients. Raised in Rosendale and Accord, Sweeney apprenticed with a local carpenter before starting Sweeney Custom Builders in 2007. The scope of the project—and the couple’s now-or-never approach—didn’t intimidate him. We take on a lot of custom work where skill and patience are a necessity,” says Sweeney. “Problems come up with every project. Issues arise, and I have to come up with sound solutions—sometimes on the fly—but that’s something I think I’m pretty good at.”
“The minute we met Austin, we felt, yeah—he’s terrific,” remembers Iacolina. “Every time we went to fill out a new permit or drop off paperwork in town, people would tell us, ‘You’re in such good hands with Austin. Everything is going to be fine.’ He has such a great reputation that we felt better.” With their plan in place, they began construction in June of 2023.
A Seamless Transition
To expand the home while maintaining symmetry, Reynolds designed an addition that almost mirrors the original farmhouse, effectively doubling the space. The home’s new primary bedroom suite, which features cathedral ceilings peaked to mimic the original structure’s second floor, sprawls across the new addition and includes a west-facing bedroom, a reading nook, and a walk-in closet.
After finding a slab of Cristallo Fire quartzite in a local stone yard, the two decided to incorporate it into their primary bathroom. “We loved the pink colors in the stone,” explains Isaac. “It reminded us of wildflowers.” After conducting intensive research, Sweeney devised a way to backlight the stone with LED lights, which they incorporated as the back wall of their shower.
Connecting the new addition with the original farmhouse, the open-concept kitchen and dining area is finished with local stone. Above, a cupola infuses the space with light. The curved wood-trimmed ceiling required particular attention to detail. “Trying to figure out the best way to transition the wood ceiling into the cupola space took a lot of planning,” explains Sweeney. He concealed engineering components and steel tension rods behind the antique exposed beams, which were added to match the original interior. “Finding clever ways to hide structural components is part of the fun of building,” he says.
Out back, Iacolina finally got her screened-in porch. Overlooking the woods and a new patio, the outdoor room features cathedral ceilings and exposed wooden beams that carry forward architectural details from the interior design. Like the rest of the house, the porch was worth waiting for. “We loved our house, but we were willing to walk away because it was too small,” says Isaac. “Then we did what we needed to love it even more. The end of this story is: There’s no place like home.”
This article appears in December 2025.
A stunning renovation. I love the marble in the bathroom. Well done!!!