“We love thinking about every experience someone has from the minute they open the door. How can we help them feel relaxed, inspired, and at home as quickly and easily as possible?” Kristin Sloan is explaining what compelled her and her husband, Doug Jaeger, to launch what they’ve dubbed The Reset Club, a travel and shopping site for aesthetes.
The two have been in the midst of a reset themselves: she’s a New York City ballet dancer-turned-digital storyteller (she got her start launching the ballet’s media department), and he’s a former partner at TBWA\Chiat\Day. A few years ago, they decamped from NYC for the Catskills, where they run their own branding agency, JaegerSloan—and have been on a house makeover roll.
The fledgling Reset Club features their two Catskills Airbnb cabins, along with a short roster of the couple’s favorite places to stay near and far—accompanied by their own testimonials, remodeling stories, and glimpses of their on-the-go three year old. The shop section links to key design sources from these destinations. Yes, the Reset Club gets paid for many of these affiliate links, but not always. So far, the site reads like enthusiasts sharing fresh-from-the-construction-site wisdom and finds. Here’s our favorite property on the site, the couple’s Cook House, a Scandinavian-accented, minimalist hideaway that’s fully shoppable.
Photography by JaegerSloan Studio, courtesy of The Reset Club (@thereset.club).
Above: Set on a dead end in the hamlet of Kerhonkson, NY, the Cook House was built in 1920. The previous owners added the second floor and porch with a corrugated metal roof.
Kristin and Doug painted the exterior a medium charcoal—Valspar’s Ocean Storm (though sunlight makes the second story look like a lighter shade, it’s all one color, including trim and front door). “We love neutral, dark exterior colors that blend into the landscape,” says Kristin. “Our other buildings are black, but here we thought black might give off a haunted house vibe. We closed on the house last October and needed to paint ASAP to beat the cold, so we ended up finding a Valspar color similar to a Farrow & Ball color we had liked, but that we could easily grab in nearby Kingston.”
Above: The Cook House is set up for easy meals, indoors and out. The table and benches are a discontinued Ikea design. Above: The previous owners had installed a second story, but left the downstairs untouched. Working with a local crew—carpenter, electrician, and plumber—Kristin and Doug created an open plan and exposed the beams (which are painted the same charcoal gray as the exterior).
They also redesigned the stair in birch plywood, added built-in seating, and introduced soffits around the back and side walls to make room for plumbing and wiring: “There’s a lot of integrated smart home technology as well as low-voltage ambient lighting, all of which required a good bit of advance planning.” Note the record player in the corner (there’s also a Sonos sound system).
Above: The two sofas can be pushed together to form a double bed. The existing fireplace was replaced with a gas stove, the Jøtul GF 305 (controllable via the Nest thermostat), and the walls are clad in shiplap paneling painted Valspar’s Bistro White.
“We chose three materials that repeat across the entire house: birch plywood, white concrete, and shiplap,” explains Kristin. “The plywood helps warm and soften the space, and was a great material for the custom shelving and built-in furniture. The white concrete, left a bit rough, keeps things less formal while still feeling substantial and tactile. And the shiplap was a quick way of covering walls while adding some texture and a bit of the original farmhouse vibe.”
Above: “It takes a bit more time to install shiplap than Sheetrock, but doesn’t require all the finishing and sanding (and dust). We used wider planks than usual to give a less traditional feel and make it a bit faster to install,” says Kristin.
We, too, love shiplap: see The Enduring Appeal of Shiplap and 10 Things Nobody Tells You About Shiplap.
Above: There’s a large eat-in kitchen with Ikea Sektion cabinets and Veddinge doors: “We’re so familiar with the system that it makes it fast for us to plan, acquire, and assemble,” says Kristin. The orange stool is Tom Dixon’s discontinued Offcut, a flatpack design. Above: There’s a Bertazzoni five-burner range and a carefully assembled selection of pots, pans, and tools, including a Joule Sous Vide, which the couple write, has “completely changed how we cook on a weekly basis…it takes so much of the timing pressure off cooking.” The black Pour-Over Kettle is by Kinto. Above: Concrete counters frame an undermount sink with the couple’s Favorite Kitchen Faucet, the Delta Trinsic in matte black, of which they say: “When it comes to kitchen faucets there are a few aspects we won’t compromise on. We want a pull-out sprayer. We want a single handle, so you can set the volume and temperature while holding a dish in your hand.” Kristin found the Silicone Roll-Up Dish Rack at Overstock.com for $38.49.
The birch plywood throughout is finished with a water-based polyurethane that was applied before installation.
Above: Blu Dot’s Strut Table is paired with DWR’s Eos Benches; the hanging light is Norman Copenhagen’s aluminum Bell Lamp. Above: Shiplap paneling and birch plywood stairs. Note the door frame’s exposed plywood edging, a detail that also appears on the built-in shelving and furniture. Above: Two small upstairs bedrooms were converted to a single, airy space with windows on three sides. A built-in ledge serves as a bench and side table—Doug installed the bedside Hidden Wireless Charger marked by a circle. The couple’s Favorite Sheets are by Parachute, and they say they swear by the Casper Pillow.
An overhead Slim Projector allows guests to watch TV and movies on a recessed screen that emerges at the press of a button: “We’re big projection fans, in part because it’s a great way to hide a big clunky piece of technology when it’s not in use,” write the couple on their site. The hanging lights are by Menu.
Above: Bedside reading: the 75th anniversary edition of the Joy of Cooking bound in leather. The house is also stocked with a set of Modernist Cuisine Books. Above: Bring work with you: the room has a built-in desk and a Muuto Loft Chair—for others like it, see Top of the Class: Vintage-Style School Chairs are Having a Moment. Above: The plywood continues in the streamlined bathroom.
The basin and Minimal Wall Faucet were ordered from Build.com; of the latter, they say, “While you can find even more beautiful and minimal versions of this design from other countries, we think this one works well and it’s designed for the US, so it’s fairly straight-forward to install. Don’t forget to get the rough-in valve and a drain assembly (without overflow) or a drain assembly (with overflow) which are not included.”
Above: The house is stocked with Hand Soap and other toiletries by Grown Alchemist, neatly hung on black metal Soap Dispenser Holders from DesignStuff of Australia. (Amazon offers the similar Ceremony Home Wall-Mount Soap Dispenser with Glass Bottle.) Above: The Freestanding Bathtub is Signature Hardware’s Arya in acrylic (with internal insulation); $999.
Of their choice, the couple write: “There are lots of options when it comes to tubs: cast iron is beautiful but incredibly heavy, especially when you fill it with water (not great for a second floor bathroom with a small stairwell in an old farm house), porcelain can also be super heavy and has the added issue of potential staining and chipping. In the end, we landed on acrylic because it’s easy to clean, hard to damage, and was fairly easy to install.”
Above: Cook House is 2.5 hours from NYC and rents for $235 a night on Airbnb. It’s ideal for two and just big enough for four. The couple’s other rental, Zink Cabin, also sleeps four and is a few miles away.
Here are three more standout Upstate getaways:
Bohemian Mastermix: Foxfire Mountain House in the Catskills High in the Catskills: Camp Here Here, a Retreat for Stylish Stoners (and the Rest of Us Too) A Hotel with a Sense of Place: Rivertown Lodge in Upstate, NY #Uncategorized
