Inside An 1850 Pennsylvania Farmhouse A Designer And His Childhood Friend Spent 20 Years Perfecting
AIThis post was created with the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI).

TL;DR

Before you orderOffer from Amazon

Get home appliances delivered free with Prime

  • Fast, free delivery on millions of items
  • Prime Video, Amazon Music and more included
  • Member-only deals all year
Start your free Prime trial Free trial for eligible customers · Cancel anytime
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.

A Veranda report revisits an 1850 stone farmhouse in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, renovated and decorated through a 20-year collaboration between homeowner Follin Smith and designer Richard Keith Langham. The home brings together Smith’s long-held room plans, reused decorative pieces and antiques; the report does not give a recent renovation date or cost.

Follin Smith and designer Richard Keith Langham, friends since childhood, spent about 20 years shaping Smith’s 1850 stone farmhouse in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, into a home that matched plans they had discussed long before its renovation. A Veranda report, featured in the magazine’s November/December 2018 issue, describes the project’s rooms, furnishings and long-running personal collaboration.

Smith lived in the farmhouse for 20 years after buying it before the transformation took shape. The house had many small rooms, lacked a dining room and included what the report describes as a mismatched addition. During those years, Smith formed detailed ideas for how the home should work, including a dark dining room, a small bedroom, a dressing room and a compact kitchen paired with a large pantry.

Langham and Smith carried familiar elements into the finished interiors, including hydrangea wallpaper and aubergine silk curtains in the dining room. The living room features limed Mississippi cypress paneling, a pineapple-patterned rug and crewelwork panels Smith had stored for 15 years. The report says Smith and a friend devised a one-off liming technique for the paneling.

The kitchen and breakfast room combine a spacious pantry with a comparatively small cooking area. Langham highlighted the deep raisin-colored cabinetry, small ladder-back chairs in several sizes and a floor made from differently colored limestone. Upstairs, white organza curtains divide Smith’s dressing room into alcoves for clothing, shoes, jewelry and bags; her bedroom is sized around her grandmother’s American Empire bed and a chaise.

At a glance
reportWhen: Originally featured in Veranda’s Novemb…
The developmentA Veranda feature documents the 20-year design collaboration between Follin Smith and Richard Keith Langham on Smith’s 1850 Pennsylvania farmhouse.

A Long-Planned Home Takes Shape

The story shows how the renovation followed a homeowner’s long-term vision rather than a rapid redesign. Smith’s two decades living with the house as it was gave her time to define how each space should look and function. The result described in Veranda connects those plans to choices such as the oversized pantry, intimate bedroom and distinct dressing-room alcoves.

The project also centers on a professional relationship rooted in a longstanding friendship. Langham had decorated Smith’s doghouse when they were children, according to the report, and remained her designer and close friend. Their work offers a specific example of how a client-designer partnership can span many years, with earlier ideas and saved furnishings incorporated into a later home project.

For readers interested in preservation and interior design, the farmhouse is presented as a combination of an old stone house, antiques and highly personal interventions. The account does not claim that the project represents a broader trend; its significance lies in the documented process and the way the finished rooms reflect Smith’s stated preferences.

Products Worth Considering

Philips Hue Festavia 65-Foot Smart LED String Lights, 250 Color-Changing Mini LEDs

Philips Hue Festavia 65-Foot Smart LED String Lights, 250 Color-Changing Mini LEDs

As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.

From Childhood Friendship to Farmhouse

The farmhouse dates to 1850 and is in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Before its redesign, the report characterizes it as a crowded arrangement of rooms, with excess doors and an ill-matched addition. Smith did not immediately remodel after buying it, instead living with its existing layout for about two decades while imagining changes.

Veranda’s account credits Timothy L. Clites with the architecture and Langham with the interior design. Photographer Francesco Lagnese photographed the home for the magazine, and Carol Prisant wrote the report. It appeared in the November/December 2018 issue; the supplied material does not identify a later renovation announcement or current project update.

Several objects and ideas had histories of their own before entering the finished rooms. Smith kept the crewelwork panels in mothballs for 15 years, and the primary bedroom uses her grandmother’s bed. The report also describes the library’s tartan curtains as an expression of Smith’s Scottish heritage.

“We were 40 when we started, and when we finished, we were 60.”

— Richard Keith Langham, as quoted in Veranda

Project Costs and Later Changes

The report does not state the purchase price, renovation budget or exact start and completion dates. Langham’s comment that the work ran from age 40 to 60 is a rounded description, not a dated project timeline. The source also does not say whether the farmhouse has since undergone further changes or how it is used today.

The account is a design feature focused on the completed interiors, not a construction record. It does not provide details about permits, restoration methods for the 1850 structure, or the condition of the house before work began beyond the described layout problems. No new announcement or current status update is included in the supplied source material.

No New Renovation Update Reported

The available report does not identify a forthcoming renovation phase, public event or follow-up from Smith or Langham. Its stated publication reference is Veranda’s November/December 2018 issue, so readers should treat it as coverage of a completed design project, not as breaking news about a newly announced change.

Any account of the home’s present condition, ownership or subsequent work would require newer reporting or direct confirmation from Smith, Langham or the publication. Until then, the documented development is the long-running design collaboration and the farmhouse interiors shown in the 2018 feature.

Key Questions

Who designed the farmhouse interiors?

Richard Keith Langham designed the interiors for homeowner Follin Smith. The report credits Timothy L. Clites with the architecture.

Where is the farmhouse, and how old is it?

The stone farmhouse is in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and dates to 1850.

How long did the project take?

The report describes a 20-year span. Langham recalled that they began when they were about 40 and finished when they were about 60.

What design features did Smith want?

Her plans included a dark dining room, a small bedroom, a dedicated dressing room and a large pantry alongside a relatively small kitchen.

Is the farmhouse renovation a recent announcement?

No recent announcement is identified in the supplied material. The home was featured in Veranda’s November/December 2018 issue; its current status is not specified.

Source: veranda.com

You May Also Like

A Dark And Dated Living Room Gets A Dramatic Designer Makeover

A once gloomy, outdated living room has been completely revitalized through a dramatic designer makeover, showcasing modern style and brightening the space.

Grey Lynn And Ponsonby: From Working Class Roots To Auckland’s Most Sought After Suburbs – RNZ

Search interest in Grey Lynn and Ponsonby surges as these Auckland suburbs shift from working-class roots to highly sought-after neighborhoods, driven by rising property values.

Housing Bill

The U.S. Congress has passed a bipartisan housing bill aimed at increasing affordable housing, with the legislation now headed to the President for signature.

Tel Aviv Cinerama To Make Way For Office Towers, Homes – Globes – Israel Business News

Tel Aviv’s historic Cinerama cinema will be demolished to make way for new office and residential towers, as part of the city’s ongoing urban development.