Romancing the Stone: Go Inside This Restored, Preserved Farmhouse in Pennsylvania

Kristal Hill is one of those people who flicks through real-estate websites for fun. One fall evening back in 2012, just as she and her husband, Dan Daughenbaugh, were finishing a gut renovation of an old farmhouse in the leafy Mount Airy neighborhood of Philadelphia, she stopped cold on a listing for a turn-of-the-century stone cottage in the nearby Brandywine Valley. "I said to my husband, 'This can't be real—it looks like a Wyeth painting,'" Hill says, referring to the Pennsylvania-born artist Andrew Wyeth, who iconically captured the state's farms and rolling hills.

On a lark, they took a scenic drive with their two daughters, Adele, now 13; and Olympia, now 11, to see the place. "We just fell in love with it," says Hill, who is the creative head of design and lifestyle for FP Movement, the bohemian fashion brand Free People's activewear line. "The girls jumped out of the car and went running into the fields. We realized they would enjoy growing up immersed in nature." They also liked that the seven-acre property included two antique outbuildings: a carriage house that Hill has since turned into a meditation space, and a barn that Daughenbaugh uses as his workshop.

When they moved in, the 1,100-square-foot house had only two bedrooms and one bath, but Hill felt confident they could transform it into a comfortable family home over time. Daughenbaugh co-owns a Philadelphia construction company and the city's Kestrel Hotel, and they already had a few renovations under their belt: their Mount Airy abode, and a row house in South Philadelphia before that. "I happened to marry my perfect partner, who can make all my dreams come true," she says lightheartedly. Their solution was to keep the original house intact (except for the kitchen, which became a cozy library) and put the girls' bedrooms, shared bath, and a guest room there, and build on a second structure with a family room, kitchen, and master suite. They broke ground in 2015 and finished last year. Now the new and old sections are connected by a sleek glass corridor that serves as a foyer and sunroom, and an elegant flagstone courtyard that looks like a piece of Provence transplanted to Pennsylvania.

The couple took care to make the addition authentic. For its exterior, Daughenbaugh sourced stones from nearby quarries to match the original house. Indoors, they mixed vintage finds with furniture from Free People's sister brands Terrain and Anthropologie, and optimized the farmland view: The kitchen opens onto a double-height living room with a floor-to-ceiling window framing hayfields. "We wanted this side of the house to feel at one with nature," Hill says. "It faces west, and you can see storms rolling in. When it snows and even the sky is white, it's incredible." As they sheltered in place this spring and summer, the family felt a renewed appreciation for the home they call Two Foxes Farmette, a name that nods to a bedtime story the parents used to tell their kids, as well as the region's history as a fox-hunting destination. "We've been soaking up the simplicity and ease of life away from the city, cooking together, and taking long, meandering walks," says Hill. "It has been our sanctuary."

Art Direction by James Maikowski; Styling by Lili Abir Regen.