How Paul Iappini's Country House And Gardens Grew

Paul Iappini is the Energizer Bunny of country life. This great cook and host, pet parent, keen reader and lover of art, and frequent traveler to France is also a wonderful gardener. At his 1920s-era vernacular Cape Cod house in Spencertown, New York, he integrates his interests and passions beautifully.  Iappini’s property is living proof that we can have the pleasures we seek (pool, pretty gardens, even organic food) while providing a healthy habitat for birds, bees and butterflies. Come see how this semi-retired psychologist lives in harmony with nature — and expect to be inspired. 

Part of the joy of owning a country house is the creative outlet it offers. The other part is the escape from one’s own quotidian. Paul Iappini was seeking both a creative outlet and an escape from the demands of his work as a psychologist 18 years ago when he came north from Manhattan in search of a weekend getaway.   

Eighteen years ago Iappini, a clinical social worker and psychotherapist (he retired last year as the Director of Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT) for New York City), was seeking both a creative outlet and an escape from the demands of his work when he came north in search of a weekend getaway.   

“I wanted beautiful land and to be in an area with farming,” Iappini says. “I found this part of Columbia County, especially Hillsdale and here in Spencertown, reminded me of the Dales region of England. It was beautiful. I looked at 12 houses in one day and chose this one, the last and most expensive.”  

THE HOUSE

The home he chose is a quintessential vernacular Cape Cod, with a classic 45-degree, 12-on-12 pitched roof, shutters with bird cutouts and a sturdy yet simple form. All on a scant three acres of pretty land.   

“It immediately reminded me of Massachusetts [he grew up in Cambridge] and of my family’s summer house on Cape Cod,” he says. Its history was evident – and that appealed to him from the start. “The house had a vintage feel about it, like it hadn’t budged from the 1920s,” he says. “To me, it was an authentic farmhouse with some Shaker simplicity.”    

Over the years, Iappini honored the 1920s era, keeping the house simple — almost humble — but always beautiful, and made changes and updates.  “I’d finish one project and move on to the next,” he says. 

Interior photos by Paul Iappini

To furnish the house, he called on Vivian Kimmelman of Berkshire Antiques, who found him lovely antiques and new upholstered pieces, and even became a restoration resource for the house. Where other homeowners might have tossed out the old farmhouse windows and upgraded to new, Iappini saw value in restoring them along with their original old float glass. Kimmelman rounded up the workers to accomplish this. About 10 years ago, Iappini added a large library, an additional bedroom, an office and a bathroom onto the existing 1,400-square-foot house, nearly doubling its size.  

A dyed-in-the-wool Francophile, Iappini travels to Paris several times a year. Many of the books, art, and wonderful objets around his house, which he sahres with his spouse, Kenneth Fox, a museum archivist, are French, including the colorful tiles installed in the mudroom, kitchen and bathrooms. If you’ve ever watched the TV show Spiral, you may recall those episodes filmed at Paris’ Gustave Moreau Museum.  The couple count this 19th Century French artist, known for dramatic painting using biblical and mythological characters, as one of his key décor inspirations, along with Impressionist painters Manet and Matisse, and macabre style (think Edgar Allan Poe).

Dining room and guest room

Despite these strong influences, the home isn't showy, dramatic or weird. The kitchen, with its open shelves, ironstone platters and copper cookery, is straight out of the French countryside. The couple entertains frequently, and uses all their treasures with relish, knowing that an occasional nick or ding only adds to their beauty and patina. 

THE GARDEN

Some years, the calendar can be little more than a guide for gardeners. This spring, for instance, has been colder than usual, and Iappini has been antsy hoping to get seeds sown and planted. His most recent undertaking is a new greenhouse (built by Centerline Construction), set on a bluestone foundation and framed in Western Redwood. Instead of glass, this greenhouse uses prismatic double-walled polycarbonate sheeting that protects against harmful ultraviolet light that can burn plants. It insulates better than glass, too, and its strength and lighter weight mean it won’t break easily. Hence, the greenhouse is located under trees, another intentional decision by Iappini, who will use it for starting seeds from February through May only. By the time the trees overhead leaf out and block the sun, the new plants will be happy and secure in one of the garden beds. 

Greenhouse with plexi panels

Early on, like any new gardener, Iappini made his share of mistakes, but he chalks those up to the learning curve and the normal need for gardeners to experiment. For years now he has used the “lasagna” technique to prep his garden beds, namely layering black and white newspaper with compost and mulch. Done right, it nourishes new plants and inhibits weeds.  

This season Iappini will continue developing a butterfly trail that's been in development for several seasons. It's an area of meadow beyond the pond that he's made into a haven for wildlife. With the help of Copake landscaper Ricardo “Tito” Lainez, the far horizon has been planted with maples, dogwood, exfoliating river bark birch, various fir, spruce and other evergreens, as well as crabapple, gooseberry, and both Anjou and Bartlett pear trees. 

“These are trees and shrubs that interest me and they’re good for wildlife,” Iappini says. “The crabapple attracts Baltimore Orioles, for instance.”  At the far end of the trail, where it’s semi-protected, Paul has installed butterfly houses, bat houses and — new this season — a Mason bee house. The trail is a riot of color for most of the growing season. It’s also wilder and more natural than the rest of the property. This area is no less deliberate, however, as he has planted a range of high plants (peony) and low (Joe Pye weed loved by butterflies), as well as other plants chosen for their bloom or their role in the ecosystem. 

The nearby pond is loaded with turtles, frogs and the cattails loved by red-winged blackbirds. Right now, native Marsh Marigolds are blooming nearby, along with bluebells, snowdrops and taller snowflakes. Iappini has planted swathes of camassia (wild hyacinth) and woodland fritillary (snakeshead), along with early-spring snowflake and Spanish bluebells that will spread over coming years to come thanks to their naturalizing habit.  Bulbs and early bloomers will give way in summer to bee balm, echinacea, and rose campion. There’s something blooming along the trail from March through October, and chances are it’s something needed by bees, birds and butterflies.  

Some years back, Iappini and Fox added a pool towards the back of the property, converting a side room in the garage into a changing room for guests. The pool gardens eventually came to look like Monet’s Giverny – the area was thick with tall perennials. 

“You had to brush back phlox and hollyhocks to reach the water!” Iappini says. Last summer he updated the pool area with the help of garden designer Marilyn Webb.  They expanded the sunbathing area by scaling back the number and type of plants to include structural perennials and sure-bet shrubbery like hydrangea paniculata, and re-cemented all the patio stone. Raised beds devoted to herbs and vegetables take up the sunniest section of the pool surround and are equipped with hidden drip lines buried just beneath the surface so that watering is automatic. 

The 140-foot-long stone wall (built by Centerline) is a recent addition, but looks like it’s always belonged on the property. It helps define the yard and keep Earl and April, the couple's two exuberant and charming Corgis, in check so they can run and play with no risk from cars in the driveway. 

The stone wall garden is a nod to classic English style — think Christopher Lloyd’s Great Dixter. It's the most formal garden on the property and employs repitition of form and plant material, including Dwarf Alberta spruce clipped into energic topiaries, as well as allium, foxglove, lupine, dahlia, and delphinium, which seem to beckon to visitors. From April’s first bulbs through October’s chrysanthemums, there’s always something in bloom here.