A Lofty Contemporary in Chester for $679K

  |  October 23, 2023

This week, Upstater is aspiring to lofty heights, showcasing homes with loft areas for sitting, reading, napping, or creative pursuits. Today, we are in the Orange County town of Chester, at a post-and-beam home built in 1987.

The house climbs three stories tall, in a saltbox form; gray siding pops with yellow doors on some of the sides. Solar panels on the roof help reduce energy costs.

Wood beams and exposed rafters are the main theme of the home’s decor, with a few walls accented with paint or wallpaper, like here in the sitting room.

A skeletal yet sturdy staircase winds its way through the center of the house. The main level flooring is a mix of hardwood and terracotta tile. Built-in shelving will satisfy the collector or bibliophile.

We weren’t kidding about the amount of wood beams and exposed rafters throughout the house.

The two-story living room has a double stack of floor-to-ceiling windows; French doors lead out to the side deck.

The kitchen is big, with a breakfast bar. Its mix of chalk-painted and circa-1980s cabinetry and counters would likely need a facelift by the new owner.

The appliances, including a stainless-steel fridge and electric range, look new.

Another door off the kitchen is next to a huge window to brighten up the space.

The sitting room we saw earlier has a big skylight.

Next to it is this purple-painted loft overlooking the living room.

The first bedroom has exposed rafters, a pitched ceiling, and Palladian-topped, floor-to-ceiling windows.

The house has one and a half baths. This is the full bath—it has a hardwood floor and a sliding-glass-door tub/shower. The vanity has the same white-and-oak treatment as the kitchen cabinets, with a funky yellow-tiled countertop to the side. We’d keep certain elements (the floor, the wood beams), and refresh everything else.

Imagine lying in bed watching starlight among the trees via the skylight. Built-in shelves here take advantage of the exposed beams in this room.

The top of that winding staircase ends in a reading nook that leads…

…to a peaked-ceiling bedroom soaked in sunshine as cheery as its yellow walls. The ceiling beams meet in the middle here.

A second loft area opposite the bedroom is perfect for a writing area or home office.

The house is on eight acres at the end of a private road. It’s five minutes from the cute shops in Sugar Loaf, and six minutes to great brews at Tin Barn Brewing (stay with the house’s theme and try to visit when The Georgia 5—an excellent ’80s party band—is playing). Route 17 is a 10-minute drive from here, and it’s under 20 minutes to Woodbury Common Premium Outlets.

If this lofty home lifts your spirits, find out more about 29 Cedar Pond Lane, Chester, from Rebecca Kane with Keller Williams Hudson Valley United.

Read On, Reader...