Actor Cecily Strong’s Upstate House Mixes Midcentury Finds With Animal-Inspired Accents

When actress and comedian Cecily Strong came across this house two hours from New York City, it felt like the opposite of the moment. “It was warm and comfortable, and I didn’t want to lose that,” she says. The pandemic had recently taken hold, and Cecily had friends who were already established upstate, so she decided to follow them for the time being and rent a place for herself and her dog, Lucy. And then what was supposed to be a temporary escape grew on her. 

“There are farms and horse paddocks around, as well as many picturesque small towns,” says Cecily, one of the longest tenured female stars of Saturday Night Live. “I wanted a quiet home outside of the city that was close enough to commute, where I could invite family and friends and have more space to host them.”

The hideaway she found felt open to the scenery and filled with sunlight—it even had a garden that she could use to hone her burgeoning green thumb. There were other long-standing properties in the area, but this nearly 40-year-old one seemed like it didn’t need too much help getting spiffed up. “The house had a midcentury feel, and I didn’t want to work against that,” she says. It had a large deck and rows of windows that were perfectly fine, plus a brick fireplace in a large living room Cecily had no intention of changing. Sure, it didn’t exactly have a primary bedroom suite, and every inch could use fresh coats of paint, but Cecily didn’t see those details as dealbreakers. Neither did the team at Ammor Architecture, whom she hired to handle the renovation.

“They’re so creative, and they do a lot of problem solving in tight spaces in New York City,” Cecily says. “On one of our first Zoom calls, they produced some really cute watercolor sketches that made me think, ‘This is what I want!’ It’s incredible how close the final result got to them.”

A former office and bedroom were combined to form a primary suite, complete with an oversized transom window and a freestanding bathtub. A new walk-in closet and double vanity were installed nearby, while the three other guestrooms and the living room were lightly refreshed. “The construction phase was totally fine because I was able to use the rest of the house, and the crew was lovely,” Cecily says. 

Once the structural changes were made to match the property’s existing midcentury character, Cecily partnered with the firm’s interior design team to pull it all together. She asked for “something unique and fresh” making it so each space would be awash in its own set of colors but still coordinate within a broader playful palette. “I love animals, all sorts of animals, and we had a lot of fun incorporating that into the design in many different ways,” she adds. Cecily also invited her friends over to paint, put up wallpaper, and build furniture together, which helped the home feel instantly more familiar.

“Everything had to be comfortable, happy, and not too precious,” Cecily says. “This is my place to retreat and recharge.” The summertime project was completed a few months ago and since then, Cecily has been able to really delve into the warmth and comfort she first felt walking through the door. Sun pours into a bedroom with a crescent pattern on the walls and a monkey lamp on a ledge. Elsewhere books line shelves beside a fireplace that was left as is. And importantly, visitors can gather on a mustard-colored sofa and then sleep over in a tropical-inspired bedroom if they’d like.  

Cecily has plans for maybe a pool or a spa in the future, but for now, she likes where she’s landed. “My bedroom and bathroom have so much natural light, and I love being able to see through the windows in every direction,” she says. “It’s also connected to an exterior deck, and it’s nice to wake up and pop outside for a minute before doing anything else.”