6 Country Kitchens by Star Remodelers and House Flippers Amanda Pays and Corbin Bernsen
Amanda Pays and Corbin Bernsen say they’ve lost count of the remodeling projects they’ve taken on together. But we’ve clocked at least eight full house resuscitations in the last decade or so.
The couple met in 1988 as actors and early in their relationship, when Amanda recommended a new look for Corbin’s bachelor pad, they discovered a surprise calling as design collaborators. Amanda grew up in London where she learned how to overhaul houses from her talent agent father, and Corbin became a skilled carpenter under his godfather’s tutelage in the years before making it in Hollywood. The two love giving houses sensitive, cost-conscious makeovers; living in them for a bit; and then moving on.
They plan the spaces together, Corbin takes on a lot of the actual hands-on work, and Amanda orchestrates the finishing details, from color palettes to furnishings and coat hooks. They see walls and think about removing them: they like their rooms to flow. But little goes to waste in their projects—they were early adopters of the “restore, recycle, reuse” approach.
In recent years, they’ve moved from Los Angeles, where they raised their four sons, to New York’s Hudson Valley, where they’ve been on a remodeling tear. They also have a family place in the South of France, which they say is the one spot they’ll never sell. A unifying element is all of their projects is a beckoning, timeless country kitchen designed for cooking and gathering. Today, we’re taking a look back at six of these spots
Scrap Wood and Stainless Steel in Los Angeles
Above: We first met Amanda back in 2012, when she submitted photos of their newly complete Studio City kitchen to our reader design contest. We featured it in our first book, Remodelista: A Manual for the Considered Home, as a model of upcycled design. The cabinets are composed of old barn wood acquired from a salvage yard with vintage pulls (purchased at a swap meet: 50 for $25) and Corbin built the over-the-stove shelves out of scaffolding boards purchased from their contractor for $10 a plank.
A pair of toolshed tables from the Rose Bowl Flea Market form the base of the island; it has a stainless steel top and a new painted wood shelf underneath: the whole thing, Amanda says, totaled $200. Admiring the stove’s cement tiles? They’re from Badia Design, a North Hollywood Moroccan imports store. Photograph by Matthew Williams for Remodelista.
Plaster-Finished Open Storage in the South of France
Above: Amanda says they begin work on old houses by “stripping away the bad design decisions of the past and saving as many original details as possible.” At Mas Maroc, their beloved French farmhouse near the border with Spain, they went with a stripped-back kitchen with cast concrete counters, a double farmhouse sink, and plaster-finished island and fridge frame.
Amanda’s go-to interior colors are white on the walls (she likes Sydney Harbour’s Plaster of Paris and Benjamin Moore’s Decorator’s White and Simply White —and pale gray floors. Fixtures and appliances came from Leroy Merlin, “France’s answer to Home Depot.” Photography by Tim Beddow from Open House by Amanda Pays and Corbin Bernsen, by permission of Gibbs Smith.
Above: A plaster open sideboard holds dishes; the wooden crates store wine and extra glasses are kept in a wall-hung antique medicine cabinet. Note the pale gray painted backsplash that anchors the corner. To see more, go to A Family House in France, Hollywood Edition. Photography by Tim Beddow from Open House by Amanda Pays and Corbin Bernsen, by permission of Gibbs Smith.
Ikea Customized in Hudson Valley, NY, House Flip #1
Above: In 2019, after experiencing their family’s first white Christmas in upstate New York, Amanda and Corbin decided to stay put. They spent a month touring properties before committing to this 1880s farmhouse in Germantown. The new kitchen has Ikea cabinets—with Ikea’s vertical-grooved Hittarp fronts in an off-white lacquer that Amanda painted herself (Kilz primer followed by two coats of Benjamin Moore’s Chelsea Gray in a satin finish).
Amanda found the center island marble slab on Craig’s List for $150 and drove two hours in a U-Haul to get it. The dining table is one of their Brimfield purchases. Photograph by Rebecca Westby.
Above: Amanda finished the cabinets with painted wooden knobs from Home Depot. She also got the Kitchen Aid stove and other appliances from Home Depot: “I go when they’re having a buy two get the third free sale.” Photograph by Rebecca Westby.
English-Style Order in Hudson Valley, NY, House Flip #2
Above: In an 1880 New York farmhouse that the couple bought from afar—two of their sons toured it for them—the kitchen cabinetry was built to Corbin’s design by carpenter Ross Brown of Romber Works. It’s painted Behr’s Black Bamboo and the produce and bread drawers are detailed with decorative and practical ventilation holes—”a very British thing,” says Amanda.
The appliances are all KitchenAid and were bought as a bulk package from P.C. Richard: Amanda advises “do your research and see if they can match another deal you’ve found. And buy appliances as a package–it saves a ton.” See Saving (and Splurging) with Style for the full house tour. Photography by The Lillie K. Team.
A Barn Red Kitchen and a Barn Kitchen in Hudson Valley, NY, House Flip #3
Above: Barnswood, a 1910 farm estate in Germantown, NY, is the couple’s latest love ’em and leave ’em project. The cabinets—in a similar red used on the exterior—were built to Amanda’s specs by their local cabinetmaker Ross Brown. An apron-front, ceramic farmhouse sink—classic but not a brand name—is an element Amanda plants in all of her kitchens. But she often splurges on deVol’s Antique Ionian Tap faucets.
Above: Corbin and Amanda opened the kitchen to the dining room and connected the two with a built-in bar. Note the couple’s signature leftover wood overhead shelves.
Above: They converted the farm’s large barn into a multipurpose space—office, gym, party room—that can easily be converted into living quarters. Fittingly, they gave it a kitchen made of barn wood.
Above: Amanda and Corbin at home (for the time being) in Germantown. He stars in the thriller Laura Louise out this month. Photograph by Jessica Dube.
The couple have been very generous about sharing their remodeling secrets:
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