An Old Farmhouse Gets a
New Lease on Life as a Private Guesthouse
Written by Jeanine Matlow
Photography by Mimi Giboin
It all began with a quest for
more land. As Carolyn Duryea Smith, founder and partner of Hourglass
Wine Company, in St. Helena, California, explains, “The wine
we created from the original four-acre Hourglass Vineyard, which
my husband’s family purchased in 1976, became very successful,
but it limited us in how much wine we could make.” So, she
and her husband, Jeff, searched for another vineyard where they could
develop a second estate wine.
Their search led to a beautiful
forty-one-acre piece of property now known as the Blueline Vineyard.
The 1850s farmhouse on the property, however, left much to be desired. “It
was very dark, with heavy window treatments and no real continuity
between the rooms,” she explains. “The kitchen had been
taken over by field mice, and the gardens were a bit overgrown. What
it needed was a fresh start. We wanted to open it up to celebrate
the amazing vineyard setting.”
The direction of the renovation
was clear from the start. “We have great reverence for Napa
Valley’s history, so tearing it down was not an option,” Smith
says of the approximately 1,400-square-foot structure that now serves
as a private guesthouse. “From that point, the guiding vision
was to simplify and refresh.”
Because the guesthouse
is part of the vineyard and winery, Smith says the aesthetic is driven
largely by the forty-one acres that make up Hourglass and the style
of wine they make. “Our plan was really a process of reduction
more than anything,” she says. “The bones were there;
they just needed to be uncovered. We removed much of the adornment
that had been added over the years, creating a simpler, cleaner look.”
They removed an exterior
wall in the newly renovated kitchen and replaced it with French doors
that lead to an outdoor living and eating area. “We did this
to encourage that wonderful California indoor-outdoor lifestyle,” Smith
says. “But when it came to the original fireplace—the
centerpiece of the living room—we simply reconditioned it [by
painting the mantel white]. Beyond that, most of the changes were
quite modest.”
A natural green paint was
chosen for the façade to connect the structure to the gardens
and the vineyard setting. “The indoor-outdoor nature of the
house and garden is the soul of the property,” Smith says. “The
changes we made make it a wonderful place to entertain on those long
Napa Valley summer nights. Open the doors and windows, get the Green
Egg barbecue fired up, and pour a glass of wine. Or two.”
Smith relied on her keen
sense of style to make the place shine. “My mother was an interior
designer, so I suppose I couldn’t help but be influenced by
my surroundings growing up,” she says. “I then studied
art history—a great way to train one’s eye—and
I am constantly perusing magazines, art and design books, and rock-and-roll
album covers. And, of course, the natural beauty surrounding us here
in Napa Valley is always an inspiration.”
White is the driving force
throughout the house. “The white painted floors provide a serene,
airy feel that encourages the soul to relax, while the white environment
offers a blank canvas that allows small elements of color to take
on a sense of drama,” Smith says. She added a lively dose of
colors and textures to pop against the white. “I love that
juxtaposition. To me, contrast—and it can be very subtle—is
what makes design interesting.”
She also prefers a laid-back
lifestyle. “I love floor pillows and the casualness of stripes
and wicker, but with a Big Sur in the ’70s twist,” Smith
says. “This is the embodiment of California summers to me—laying
on the floor, lounging, bare feet—a place where you can leave
a wet towel and it’s not a heinous crime.”
Though the guest house is not
open to the public, it serves as a place to entertain their distributors
and host charity events. Almost everything inside was either a found
item, such as the dining room table, which they discovered rotting
on the property; given to them; or from a flea market or IKEA. “I’m
a firm believer that a huge budget not only doesn’t equal great
design, but it often stifles it because you don’t have to dig
deeper,” Smith says. “Then again, it might be fun to
test that theory!” 
