Haven: Country living with class

Bill O'Donnell admits: "I always dreamed of owning a stone farmhouse."

It became a fantasy fulfilled on seven scenic acres three years ago, when O'Donnell and partner Rick Farris moved to Dark Hollow Farm in Bucks County, with its six-bedroom, five-fireplace dwelling, plus a tennis court, a pool, a guest house, a studio with a two-car garage, and a red barn.

The house was in good condition but needed redecorating. O'Donnell could handle that - he has an interior-design consulting firm.

The earliest structure on the farm, dating to the late 1700s or early 1800s, was one room (early settlers called it a "keeping room") with a loft above. Over the next two centuries, three additions expanded it to 6,500 square feet, providing a parlor, a family room, a dining room, a library, a breakfast room, a kitchen, an enclosed porch, and several bedrooms and bathrooms.

Unlike other old homes with add-ons, his has a pleasing circular flow, O'Donnell says.

A new kitchen was installed in the 1990s, the old one converted into a butler's pantry with plenty of shelving for china and glassware. O'Donnell and Farris kept the kitchen's high-end appliances and cherry cabinets. The fussy pink decor had to go, though. Walls were repainted in earth tones; hammered copper replaced Laura Ashley accent tiles on the backsplash.

Both men like to cook. ("I'm better," Farris says. Counters O'Donnell: "I'm more adventurous.")

Farris has built three walls of racks in the basement to accommodate the numerous bottles of wine O'Donnell has acquired.

A lantern-styled light fixture purchased on sale from Restoration Hardware hangs from the breakfast room's peaked, wood-paneled ceiling.

As a designer, O'Donnell says he believes in "paying attention to the needs of the house" and what is historically appropriate. Throughout, he has used muted sage, buff, cream and soft gold tones featured in Benjamin Moore's historic paints collection.

The leaf-motif Thibaut wallpaper he chose for the dining room would have been suitable in 1840, when the room was added to the house. Colors were picked up from a Persian rug purchased from the Dump. A curving metal chandelier came from Heritage Lighting in nearby Lambertville.

O'Donnell, 59, and Farris, 53, met 10 years ago, after both had moved to Bucks County.

They like buying local. Most of the art in the house was purchased from Pennsylvania and New Jersey residents. Cesar Jerez painted two woodland scenes in the hall. Pastel still lifes in the dining room are by Sue Ketcham, and the snowy scene over the kitchen fireplace is by Bob Seufert. Susan Schwartz did a faux wood grain finish on the walls in the keeping room and stenciled a hall.

Farris' favorite artwork, however, is an oil painting by Susan Blubaugh placed over the piano in the pale-green living room. The depiction of cows grazing in an autumn meadow "reminds me what this place would have looked like 200 years ago," Farris says.

The homeowners grow vegetables for their table, but the farm's landscape is more formal than it was when crops were cultivated there. Every window frames vistas of flowering trees and shrubs, beds of perennials, and velvet lawns.

"I'm the head gardener," Farris boasts. He washes up after digging in the dirt in the fieldstone pool house that once may have been the summer kitchen for Amos and Rachel Kirk, siblings who owned the farm in the mid-1800s. A. Kirk, 1848, is etched on an exterior wall.

Instead of cows and chickens, the present owners have two dogs: a golden retriever and a border-collie mix. Two cats slink about the barn, keeping rodents from nibbling the tires of 15 vintage autos stored there. O'Donnell collects the cars, and Farris keeps them in running order. For 23 years he was an electrician, mechanic and pilot for private-plane owners.

The cars, including a red 1965 Ford Mustang and a laurel green 1953 Pontiac Custom Catalina, will be on display June 14, during the Bucks Beautiful Kitchen & Garden Tour. Dark Hollow Farm will be a highlight of the tour.

4 p.m. June 14. Tickets: $35. Information: www.bucksbeautiful.com,

215-340-3639