Bette Hestle looked past the poor condition of her 1850s farmhouse in Great Valley, New York, and fell in love with it, even though parts of the home were falling apart. 

“It was just an old beauty waiting to be restored. There were no windows upstairs. A hole in the roof had poured water in for years on the cherry staircase. No siding, no yard, and a very small and old front porch that was falling off and dangerous,” says Hestle, owner of Golden Hill Studio, a hand-painted glassware and home decor business. “I saw the potential of this lovely lady, and through the years, I have restored it … all with careful attention to detail.” 

The first thing Hestle did was put on a new roof, install new windows and add insulation. After that, she moved in. Since moving day in 1977, she has been molding this fixer-upper into a true gem, little by little. 

Hestle spends most of her time in her kitchen — which, when she first moved in, wasn’t even functional and had holes in the floor. In 1998, Hestle added on to the space to make it larger and installed new cabinets. The design in this room was influenced by Hestle’s many travels to Europe and beyond, so she wanted cabinets that reflected what she describes as “casual and worn” old-world charm. The cabinets are by Wood-Mode. “I wanted the cabinet doors and drawers to be flush, a style that one finds in old cabinets,” Hestle says.

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