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A new-build farmhouse in St. Helena, California, gets its character not from pretending to be old, but from setting rough, naturally aged materials against precise architecture and polished finishes. Interior designer Lindsay Gerber and architect Joseph Farrell organized the house around a stone great room, then used paint, limewash, marble, wood, metal, and textiles to create a controlled tension between country ease and tailored elegance.
A new build that deliberately avoids a “new farmhouse” look
Architectural Digest’s January 2, 2024 home tour follows an unnamed family’s house on a vineyard-lined road in St. Helena, with views toward heritage redwoods. The property was a teardown: the owners bought an old rancher and removed it rather than restoring an historic structure. That distinction matters. The house can borrow the emotional vocabulary of a farmhouse—stone, worn-looking surfaces, practical rooms, generous proportions—without making a false claim to nineteenth-century construction.
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Gerber was already renovating her own old farmhouse when the clients approached her. Her first reaction was skepticism. “I was like, ‘Thanks, but no. I think that style has been overdone,’” she told Architectural Digest. She accepted after deciding that a modern farmhouse could be made more specific to its place and less dependent on a familiar stylistic checklist.
Her stated objective was to “contextualize” the brief so it would feel “less cliche and, hopefully, more enduring.” That explains why the finished house does not rely on one distressed finish or a collection of rustic props. Its identity comes from the relationship between materials: an irregular stone surface beside a crisp painted wall, a hand-painted landscape mural beside carefully made plumbing hardware, or a deep charcoal room opening to lighter shared spaces.
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The architectural idea: a stone heart with modern appendages
Gerber and local architect Joseph Farrell developed a narrative rather than copying a period plan. Gerber asked, “Can we create a narrative around this house? What would this house have been, if it were built 100 years ago?” Their answer was a stone great room as the conceptual center, with more modern wings—described as appendages—growing from it.
This approach gives the home a clear visual hierarchy. The stone-centered core suggests permanence and local memory, while the attached volumes can be cleaner, brighter, and more contemporary. It also allows the interior finishes to shift in intensity without making every room compete. Light neutral rooms carry the main circulation and entertaining areas; deeper colors and rougher surfaces appear where the family wanted a more intimate mood.
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Why the Napa setting changes the palette
The site is not an anonymous rural backdrop. Vineyards run along the road, and redwoods establish a strong regional reference. The house therefore uses landscape as a design constraint. The project does not announce a final siding color or a construction specification, but the exterior selection process was unusually deliberate: a local painter prepared 32 sample colors, and each color was tested in three finishes—wire-brushed, softer sanded, and sandblasted. The process shows that color and texture were evaluated together, in relation to the site, rather than chosen from a small painted chip.
The pool location was adjusted just as carefully. The finished site was raised two to three feet so the pool would sit above the vines and retain a sightline across them. That is a reported project measurement, not a general landscaping recommendation; its significance here is visual. A modest change in elevation protects the landscape view that helps the house feel rooted in Napa.
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The central design strategy: rustic texture against polished control
Gerber described her role as adding friction to an otherwise elegant brief: “This is the country. We need to bring some earthiness!” Later she summarized the compromise as, “I came in and tried to ruffle it up. We found a nice balance.” The balance is easiest to see when the contrasting finishes are placed side by side.
| Earthier element | Tailored counterpoint | Effect in the house |
|---|---|---|
| Old cobblestone in the poolhouse bath | Glossy painted walls | Irregular, tactile flooring feels intentional rather than unfinished because the wall surface is crisp. |
| Rough marble in the pantry floor | Glossy cabinetry and dark, finely made hardware | Natural variation becomes the room’s texture while the cabinetry supplies order. |
| Dry-aged walnut dining table | Upholstered side chairs and composed drapery | The substantial wood reads as grounded, not rustic-themed. |
| Suede, leather, nubby wool, and soapstone | Neutral upholstery, tailored window treatments, and controlled lighting | Comfort comes from touch, while the overall composition stays calm. |
The mostly neutral palette is important because it gives those differences room to register. When every surface is highly patterned or strongly colored, patina can look like clutter. Here, the visual interest is carried by sheen, grain, edge irregularity, and handwork as much as by hue.
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Living room: a pale envelope for tactile furnishings
Benjamin Moore Simply White provides the living room’s light backdrop. Against it, a Dmitriy & Co. Belgard sofa in Perennials Fairhaven fabric, Mark Alexander drapery, and a Patterson Flynn Balance rug create a layered but restrained setting. A Gregorius Pineo Vassaro Round Chandelier and Matthew Cox Vesper sconces add crafted metal and glass without turning the room into a showroom.
For painters, the lesson is not that Simply White is a universal farmhouse white. It is that a quiet wall color can make differences in upholstery, rug texture, and wood finish legible. The room’s character comes from the complete assembly, not from an aggressively aged wall treatment.
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Dining room: dry-aged walnut with a landscape view
A Gregorius Pineo Lorraine Refectory Table in dry-aged walnut supplies visual weight. De La Vega Coup D’etat Giac side chairs are upholstered in George Spencer Designs Talda, while Otis Textiles Lana Diagonal drapery frames the exterior landscape. The combination demonstrates how a large, naturally marked wood surface can coexist with tailored fabric when the surrounding colors remain measured.
Powder room: a mural as the landscape reference
Instead of using faux-aged plaster, the powder room receives a custom hand-painted mural by Caroline Lizarraga. A Watermark faucet is the named plumbing detail. The mural introduces a direct, artistic interpretation of the surrounding landscape, allowing the rest of the room to stay controlled. In a small room, one concentrated gesture can create more identity than multiple decorative finishes.
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Kitchen: polished focal points with warm metal details
The kitchen centers on a La Cornue range, which functions as both working equipment and a visual anchor. Calacatta Oro marble covers the counters and backsplash, bringing natural veining to an otherwise precise installation. Rose Uniacke Plaster Cone pendants hang above, while Sun Valley Bronze knobs, pulls, and appliance pulls add a soft, aged-metal note. A Waterworks faucet and Oja Design custom stools complete the specified elements; the walls are Benjamin Moore Simply White.
The useful contrast is between the marble’s geological variation and the kitchen’s tailored geometry. The marble is not described as uniform or flawless, and the bronze hardware prevents the white setting from feeling clinical. If you are adapting the idea, select one naturally variable surface and let the paint, cabinetry, and lighting provide discipline around it.
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Pantry: the house’s deliberately moody gathering room
The pantry reverses the kitchen’s brightness. Kelly-Moore Yacht Club covers the walls, and a checked Heritage Collection Soho White and Grey floor from Exquisite Surfaces introduces pattern underfoot. Black Moon Soapstone forms the counters, custom sink, and backsplash. Waterworks’ Easton Faucet, Frank Allart cabinet and glass-cabinet hardware, Merit Metal latches, and Sun Valley Bronze appliance pulls supply a mix of dark and warm metal notes.
Urban Electric Co. pendant and sconces provide the lighting named in the tour. The article reports that this darker room became a favorite guest gathering spot. Its success comes from concentration: one deep wall color, a graphic floor, and soapstone that is visually quiet but materially substantial. The room does not need distressed paint to feel old-fashioned; its depth and hand-finished components create the atmosphere.
Primary bedroom and bath: softness before spectacle
The primary bedroom layers neutral textiles rather than introducing another strong color. A Marc Phillips Solid Mohair rug, a Coup D’etat Sprung Bench, and an A. Rudin No. 706 chair in Holly Hunt Chalet with Elmosoft leather trim establish a tactile, quiet mood.
In the bath, custom-color limewash brings variation to the walls, while Calacatta Oro covers the shower. Apparatus and Matthew Cox lighting, Sun Valley Bronze hardware, Waterworks fixtures, and a Faye Toogood Roly Poly Stool add sculptural and crafted details. Limewash is effective here because its subtle movement complements the marble’s veining without competing with it. The tour identifies the finish as custom color but does not provide a formula or application schedule.
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Family room: deep charcoal and graphic artwork
Benjamin Moore Kendall Charcoal covers the family-room walls. Guy Overfelt’s asphalt paint on linen artwork anchors the space, with an RH Haniya hand-knotted wool rug and furnishings by Rose Tarlow, Coup Studio, and Tom Faulkner. The room demonstrates that a modern farmhouse does not have to keep every shared space pale. A dark envelope can make wool, linen, and painted artwork feel more enveloping while still belonging to the same material story.
Poolhouse bath: the clearest rustic-polished exchange
Exquisite Surfaces Bleu Chinois cobblestone appears underfoot in the poolhouse bath. Glossy paint on the walls was the negotiated counterpart: the homeowners preferred a pristine finish, while Gerber argued for country texture. RH Balmain teak chaises with Great Outdoors Breathe Easy cushions appear in the outdoor setting. Together, the bath and pool area show how a rough floor can feel intentional when the vertical surfaces and furniture are cleanly resolved.
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How to translate the project’s painting lessons to your own house
- Start with the setting. Observe the colors that already belong to the site—vegetation, stone, soil, neighboring buildings, and the quality of daylight. The St. Helena house was designed in conversation with vineyards and redwoods, not in isolation.
- Choose the desired tension before choosing a paint color. Decide whether a room needs rustic-versus-polished, matte-versus-glossy, or light-versus-deep contrast. A finish has a job; it should not be added merely to make a room look “farmhouse.”
- Make large sample boards. Test color and sheen together on movable boards. The project’s exterior team evaluated 32 colors in three surface treatments, illustrating why a single small chip cannot predict the appearance of a textured finish in changing light.
- Reserve the strongest color for a room that can support it. The pantry uses Kelly-Moore Yacht Club and the family room uses Kendall Charcoal, while the living room and kitchen stay lighter. Use circulation, window exposure, and the amount of natural material in the room to determine how much visual weight the walls can carry.
- Pair variation with order. If the floor, stone, or wood has strong natural movement, keep adjacent painted surfaces simpler. The checked pantry floor and soapstone work because the cabinetry and hardware establish a clear framework.
- Coordinate sheen deliberately. Glossy walls in the poolhouse bath and glossy cabinetry in the pantry are not interchangeable with matte or limewashed surfaces. Confirm the intended reflectance with the designer and painter, then specify it in writing rather than relying on labels such as “satin” alone.
- Let one crafted feature lead. A mural, a deep wall color, a stone floor, or a distinctive range can be the room’s primary story. Additional rustic details should support that feature instead of competing with it.
What the tour establishes—and what it leaves open
The project is documented as a new teardown build in St. Helena, not as a restoration. The tour identifies the design team, many room finishes, the two-to-three-foot site raise, and the 32-color exterior sampling process. It does not identify the homeowners, exact address, square footage, construction budget, complete building specifications, or the final siding color and finish. Those omissions matter if you are trying to reproduce the house exactly: the published material supports a design method and a list of named finishes, not a full set of construction documents.
Product models, paint availability, and finish names can change after the 2024 publication. Confirm current specifications with manufacturers and the project’s suppliers before treating any named item as an available match. The enduring takeaway is the hierarchy: begin with place, establish a strong architectural idea, then use paint and materials to negotiate between the roughness people expect from a farmhouse and the precision they want from a new home.
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