The Story
Homestedt began in 2016, when a Swedish-English couple, Anna Åberg and Tom Roberts, bought their first fixer-upper in the western Catskills. What grew out of it is now a small constellation: a home-goods shop in Livingston Manor and North Branch, a design-and-build studio that sells prefabricated cabins and chalets, a handful of rentals, and the ongoing restoration of the North Branch Cider Mill. Along the way, the two of them became one of the reasons a former fly-fishing town turned into a design destination.
This house, on more than four acres along the Shandelee Brook, is the one they built for themselves. They bought it in 2020 as a 1970s raised ranch and kept almost none of it. By the time the work was done, only the foundation, the well, and the garage remained. What replaced them is Scandinavian in the most literal sense: a house designed and built by a couple who grew up with the reference points, for a studio that does this for a living.
Inside
The rooms are lined in custom-milled basswood, floor to vaulted ceiling, over solid white oak with radiant heat running beneath it. Oversized windows pull the woodland in, and a wall of divided-light glazing frames the brook. The kitchen is tailored rather than showy, and the great room turns around a black wood-burning stove. Downstairs, a finished lower level keeps a stone fireplace, a wet bar, and a hidden projector, an easy second suite or retreat.
Outside, the living space opens onto a wraparound white cedar deck built around a plunge pool, an outdoor shower, and an outdoor kitchen, with a fire pit beyond. Mature woodland, perennial gardens, and winding stone paths give it a privacy that belies the six-minute drive to Livingston Manor’s shops, galleries, and restaurants. Offered at $975,000, with the first open house on Saturday, July 18, from noon to 1. The house has appeared in Rizzoli’s Living Upriver and Hudson Valley Magazine, and for a time it ran as a rental.
In Contract
