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Green Acres an organic horse farm grows in bedford B y J e n n i f e r M o o r e S t a h l k r a n t z P h o t o g r a p h s by H u lya K o l a b a s July August 2014 bedford Magazine 31

W e ve been 100 percent organic for a decade says avid gardener and horsewoman Suzanne Galli as she delivers the daily kitchen scraps to her flock of Polish Crested chickens No chemicals have been put on the grass in the paddocks or the veggie garden for ten years With free range chickens you don t want any chemicals on the lawn Galli and her husband Stefano bought their Bedford horse farm in 1998 The property s existing 1950s Southern revival Colonial offered plenty of nesting space for the Manhattan dwelling horse loving newlyweds With the impending arrival of their first child they were thrilled to settle in and have their horses right outside their windows The Gallis quickly filled the house with three children and by 2007 they were ready to make some changes to the half century old home We are fortunate to live in a gorgeous part of the country surrounded by beautiful homes Over the years we photographed things we liked dormers details trim recalls Galli So when we hired our architect Bill Kleinman I handed him a front elevation sketch of what I wanted along with 20 photos Keeping to the original footprint the Gallis collaborated with Kleinman to create a design that was an amalgam of traditional American styles We wanted FAMILY TIME Grace Galli cools off in the pool while Ryan Suzanne Stefano Austin and the family dog Samson sit back and relax July August 2014 bedford Magazine 33

FARM FRESH Samson and his feathered friends peck by the coop Mittens the cat performs a balancing act while Grace grooms her pony Summer Breeze The red La Cornue stove was the inspiration for the kitchen s rich color scheme it to look old as if it belongs has been added onto and grown organically over the years she continues One of our challenges was developing the house in a modern way while keeping the historic scale and space allocation Bill s ability to avoid a looming effect and to maintain the scale that we wanted was invaluable Once the design was agreed on the couple hired contractor Joe Cusato to build their new home and Susan Thorn to decorate it Connecting her home s interior to the outdoors was a priority for Suzanne So everything from window placement to color choice hinged on that link An equestrian since the age of seven she wanted to maximize her views of the family s beloved horses To that end Galli requested a hallway that would run the width of the house so when they entered the side door at the north end they would have an uninterrupted sightline through the house to the horse paddocks From this central albeit non traditional hallway all the first floor rooms would unfold Cusato completed the construction over a 19 month period and the Gallis have been thrilled with the results While a covered porch beckons guests and hungry chickens to the front door family and friends enter through the side entrance Galli asked Thorn to create a cheerfully elegant red and white mudroom that leads to the kitchen and adjacent family room With a surname like Galli which mean roosters in Italian she was sure to in July August 2014 bedford Magazine 35

HORSE COUNTRY Equine antiques add a casually elegant touch to the pool room An early American cabinet in the dining room is a family heirloom The blue sofa in the living room accommodates the whole family on movie nights tegrate fowl motifs into these casual family spaces A keen observer will find them hidden in wallpaper upholstery and objects of art Inspired by millwork she admired in a Clive Christian showroom Galli had Cusato install a custom country kitchen featuring butter yellow cabinets and marble counters Decorating with vintage items like Roman amphoras that Stefano found in the sea while diving for treasure off the coast of his native Italy and Currier and Ives prints the couple picked up at an antiques shop gave the new space some historical weight Further down the hallway through one of Cusato s expertly crafted arches is the dining room bathed in a very pale shade of green A corner cabinet passed down from Stefano s parents is filled with blue and white dishes and a painting by Grace Galli age seven sets an informal family oriented tone The living room unfolds next This is where the Gallis gather for movie nights An oversized blue sectional accommodates the whole family including the dog and cat I fell in love with a Nancy Corzine silk velvet sofa and Susan said You can t have silk velvet with three little children you will hate it Galli laughs To prove her point she sent me home with a fabric sample and it was permanently marred by a frozen pea immediately So Susan found me the perfect airline grade fabric for a fraction of the price It looks just as beautiful Every time I look at this it makes me smile that she had that much integrity to July August 2014 bedford Magazine 37

OPEN HOUSE A series of arches forms a long hallway that runs the width of the house An organic vegetable garden feeds the family all summer long The master suite serves as a quiet refuge for Suzanne and Stefano help a mother with young children make her house elegant yet functional At the end of the hallway the final arch leads to the pool room Despite its name and the swimming pool outside everything about this room reflects its location in horse country Once a small library the space was reconfigured to accommodate a bank of glass doors that provide floor to ceiling views of the barn A vintage Colonel Patchen weathervane sits atop the mantle J Harris fox hunt engravings line the walls and an antique carousel horse stands guard by the entrance to an adjacent office This is one of Galli s favorite spots in the house Upstairs a master suite overlooking the paddocks is a tranquil escape for Galli and her husband Three family bedrooms are just down the hall for the children and an expansive playroom is located on the third floor Back outside Grace mounts her pony for a late morning ride and Galli leads the chickens to their coop noting In some ways I feel like we live in a Currier Ives lithograph The horses and the classic American architecture in those vintage prints truly embody life in this part of the country n