Perched high in the mountains of New York’s Hudson Valley, a modest mid-1970s house in Accord has been quietly reimagined by Studio 8 Architecture as a restorative weekend escape—and a highly adaptable vacation rental—designed to welcome large groups while preserving the site’s sense of calm. Set at the center of an 8½-acre property, a quarter mile up a private drive, the house feels deliberately removed from the velocity of city life. Nestled into the hillside, it looks out over the first of two natural plateaus, with sweeping views that reinforce its role as a retreat rather than a showpiece.

When Studio 8 took on the project, the house had seen little intervention since its construction, save for a few idiosyncratic flourishes, including mustard-yellow carpet in the primary bath. Working within a tightly controlled budget, the firm devised a clear-eyed strategy: open the house’s ground floor and reconfigure it to comfortably host up to ten weekend guests, prioritizing flow, flexibility, and warmth over wholesale reinvention.

The first floor was opened into a generous, continuous living environment, its zones loosely defined by furniture groupings rather than walls. Original quarry tile floors in the kitchen and dining area were preserved, grounding the space in its 1970s origins. Elsewhere, a simple white tile was introduced to brighten interiors that receive predominantly diffuse northern light. Adjacent to the kitchen, the dining room expands the social footprint during meal preparation, encouraging guests to gather rather than disperse.

Just off the kitchen, a vintage Knoll sofa flanked by brown leather Falcon chairs forms an intimate seating area oriented toward a brick fireplace—close enough to feel connected to the kitchen’s activity, yet cozy in its own right. At the opposite end of the house, separated by the home’s utility core a second lounge offers a more private retreat, anchored by a Milo Baughman sectional and a large television. Bridging these two zones, Studio 8 inserted a small white marble Tulip table in front of a 1960s bookshelf sourced from a West Village estate, styled as a game table complete with a wood-and-ivory chess set from an Ohio auction house. A midcentury piano sits just beyond, both pieces illuminated by low-hanging pendants that cast a soft, theatrical glow.

Throughout the first floor, the palette remains earthy yet light: warm white surfaces paired with natural woods and tactile, muted upholstery. Upstairs, the mood shifts. Five generous bedrooms line a long central hallway painted a saturated mauve. Behind each door, variations of terracotta and mellow peach envelop the walls, ceilings, and trim, creating rooms that feel cocooning without being heavy. Wide-plank pine floors, lightly whitewashed, run throughout the level, their pink undertones subtly echoing the hues on the surrounding surfaces.