James Carville and Mary Matalin’s Country Home Has a Design Narrative of “Farmers on Acid”

In 1995 James Carville, the voluble Bill Clinton adviser, was in the stands watching a Red Sox baseball game at Fenway Park when he was summoned to Gate D for a call. His wife Mary Matalin, the veteran Republican political strategist, was pregnant at the time, and Carville assumed it was an emergency. Matalin was on the other line and it was an emergency, although it was one of the housing variety. Matalin had found a property in Morristown, Virginia, which she insisted she and Carville had to purchase. Carville and Matalin form one of America’s most well-known political marriages, and while the two famously disagree on much, he was in no position to argue. “I bought the house standing in Fenway Park,” he says.Yes, those are real goats in the entrance to Carville and Matalin’s country home in Morristown, Virginia. The property combines a modern wing built in the ’90s with an 18th-century log structure. The Farm, as they call it, sits on 120 acres of land and is home to goats, chickens, and horses. It’s where the family gathers for holidays, anniversaries, and weddings. “I look at it as a Thanksgiving house,” Carville says. “When it’s kind of cool, the game is on, the fire is roaring, and everybody is in the kitchen—that’s my favorite time to be there.” For over 30 years the property became a kind of uncurated holding pen for various antiques until the couple hired Washington, DC-based interior designer Cameron Ruppert to give it a new lease on life.“A family favorite is the dusty ‘sombrero’ room at golden hour,” says Matalin. Ruppert brought together a cornucopia of colors and patterns. The striped ceiling light is by Beauvamp and the borne settee by Cisco was recovered in an orange mohair. The armchair and curtain are in a Pierre Frey fabric. The armoire has been in Matalin’s family since she was a baby. House of Noa Swiss Dot Ruffle PillowBeauvamp Tiffany Ruffle LampshadeThe project became a three-way collaboration between Matalin, one of their daughters, Emerson, who worked with Ruppert; and Ruppert. “Our daughters have been designing the farm since they could talk,” says Matalin. Ruppert calls Matalin “the rare unicorn type of client.” She kept the brief simple: no white paint and no light colors. A theme coalesced when Matalin approved a brightly hued wallpaper with illustrations of farmers for a stairwell and a Farrow & Ball trim color for the full bath called Acid Drop. “This is what I want the farm to be—farmers on acid,” Ruppert recalls Matalin saying.The hallway and stairwell feature the motif that inspired the “farmers on acid” direction: Thomas Strahan’s Farmer wallpaper. The roman shades are customized with Décors Barbares Casse-noisette; the ceiling light also sports a Décors Barbares fabric (Natacha). The antique furniture came from Matalin’s collection. That remark tipped things in a kaleidoscopic direction, with color resolving the project’s central challenge: reconciling two disparate architectural styles. The original log-sided house dates to 1753 and served as what is believed to have been a Civil War hospital complete with blood-stained floors; a sharply angular addition arrived in the 1990s and came with the property. “[The addition] didn’t have a ton of personality,” Ruppert says. And because Matalin didn’t want to undergo any extensive structural changes, Ruppert thought “going really over the top with the design” would make the two parts feel more compatible.The home is dominated by an enormous great room. Ruppert brought organization by creating defined areas. The armchairs were in the family’s collection and were revamped with a dusty pink House of Hackney velvet. “Sitting in the great room, it relaxes me,” Carville says. “I’m a very big chair guy and I love sitting in that chair.” The sofa features Ian Sanderson’s Mandarin Plaid fabric. The artworks are by Russian postwar artist Victor Razgulin. In the great room, Ruppert turned to Farrow & Ball’s Sulking Room Pink, using its moody depth to temper the abundance of natural light. “The light is the thing that really gets me and that I enjoy,” Carville says. The shade also grounds Matalin’s collection of oversized paintings by Russian postwar artist Victor Razgulin without competing for attention. In a particularly deft move, Ruppert commissioned a custom casing for a Samsung Frame TV—disguised among the works—to echo their frames.Every piece in this dining area was either already part of the family collection or custom. Ruppert covered the bench in Antoine d’Albiousse’s tapestry-like Vélasquez fabric. Serena & Lily Miramar English Roll Arm ChairCB2 Iris Taper Candle Holders (Set of 2)The home goes big on pattern, with some rooms displaying up to six different motifs at a time. In what Matalin calls the “conversation room,” a circular orange mohair couch is a focal point with floral drapery serving as the anchor fabric, from which Ruppert pulled out hues to incorporate with other patterns across the space. “A plaid and a floral always work together,” she says matter-of-factly.The bright colors throughout the house and the wildlife from outside meet in the Pierre Frey Foret d’Eden wallcovering in the powder room. Carville was content to let Matalin and Ruppert take the lead on everything, but he did have one firm request. He needed a chair, a TV, and the fire. “Sitting in that chair, particularly in the early mornings, is maybe my favorite thing to do anywhere in the world,” Carville says. Rather than acquiesce to the political advisor's preferred La-Z-Boy-style recliner, the designer reupholstered a roomy lounge chair and ottoman in floral fabric, preserving comfort while bringing it into the home’s off-kilter orbit.The benches and chairs in the breakfast nook sport a friendly citrus print by Jennifer Shorto, which Ruppert had covered in a laminate since this is the spot where the grandkids eat. “We have chickens and fresh eggs,” Carville says. “I love having big holidays and fixing breakfast for the family.” The chairs, by Rejuvenation, got a custom coat of Farrow & Ball’s Bancha to match the built-in and trim. Astier de Villatte Vauban VaseSoleil Semi-Flush Mount by Suzanne KaslerMany of the home’s most charming moments are personal. Ruppert included pieces from Matalin’s childhood bedroom and family home throughout the property, including hand-painted furniture in shades of green, yellow, and red that helped inspire one sunflower-filled guest room. Elsewhere, Matalin’s mother’s nursing chair was reupholstered and fitted with custom carved animal feet, a nod to the family’s love of animals.Thanks to Ruppert’s team, The Farm now feels like a living family scrapbook, with memories and nostalgia tucked into corners that explode with exuberant patterns and color. “We all love every room and take turns of delight in each of them,” says Matalin. “It’s a very happy place,” Carville says.The primary bedroom opens up to the upper level of the great room. An oxblood curtain serves as a backdrop against the primary bed. The bed and folding screen are covered in a St. Frank fabric. A counter curtain is made with House of Hackney’s Hollyhock fabric in the dusty pink room. A ceramic cachepot tops the marble counters. A cat lies on a custom chaise chair by Lee Industries covered in House of Hackney’s Hollyhock fabric. The antique chair is covered in a Holland & Sherry fabric. Vintage Grammar School Pine DeskUrban Outfitters Modern Table LampFun fact: This bed, in the historic part of the home, required a custom dust ruffle with extra inches added to the hem because of the deeply sloped floors. “You can throw a marble on there and that thing will roll around forever,” Carville says. Farrow & Ball’s Sudbury Yellow offers a sunny backdrop for fabrics from Décors Barbares and Antoinette Poisson. The handpainted nightstand once stood in Matalin’s childhood bedroom. “Cameron’s global network of artisans and vendors, attention to minute detail, facility with colors, fabrics, furniture, art, flow and careful curation of our eclectic collection of family treasures transformed our beloved, if decrepit, family home into a magical place,” Matalin says. The pillows are in a Décors Barbares Ecailles Rimski fabric. Wallace Sewell Lovelace ThrowAnthropologie Swan Scalloped-Shade Table LampA bathroom offers an unexpected trio of hues: neon green trim painted in Farrow & Ball’s Acid Drop, deep purple walls painted in Farrow & Ball’s Pelt, and a punchy coral in the form of Kristy Stafford fabric for the window and shower curtain. Matalin and Carville on the farm where the two also have horses, goats, and chickens, as well as a number of outdoor activities. “I designed the farm for a 14-year-old boy,” Carville says. “Because I am a 14-year-old boy.”