Spring in Saratoga Springs

When driving up to the upstate New York home owned by former Brooklyn residents Bethany Bower Khan and husband Jamil Khan you start to question if this is a very old home or a very new build. The lines are just a bit too straight and the angles too sharp to be old, but the style instantly feels like a home that could be centuries old. 

Spring arrives a bit later here in Saratoga Springs. The daffodils take their sweet time to bloom, long after the blooms in the southern states are already spent, but that makes the Spring here in upstate New York all the sweeter. 

Fueled by a desire to move from the bustling city and to retreat to a slower pace of life, Bethany and Jamil left Brooklyn in 2020 in hopes of finding a smaller town and quieter life. A desire that inspired a business launched to document and share Bethany’s love of a rural and charming life. Arcadian Revival was born through the renovations to their new home. Jamil, a Brooklyn native, and Bethany, with rural roots in northeast Ohio, were ready to live a more intentional lifestyle closely connected with the outdoors. 

While raising their young children, Bethany left her fast-paced career in real estate and economic development to forge a path of her own. Anchored by values placed on sustainability, family, and community, Bethany launched Arcadian Revival - a sustainable design and lifestyle company that is inspired by her country upbringing, calling to cultivate community, and lead the effort to address the climate crisis. Jamil works in renewable energy. In fact, the two met when working in energy policy for the City of New York. Now, like many others, the Khans adjusted to the luxury of working from home. They are embracing their time together and connecting with the spaces where they spend their time. Mornings outside watering the garden, talking about the wildlife they see on their property: turkeys, owls, foxes, songbirds, and rumblings of the occasional neighborhood bear.

The interior of their home speaks to the attention given to design. A gut renovation of their kitchen was where Bethany began. With a timeless design and natural color palette, their kitchen speaks to the Greek Revival style that their decade-old home was built to embrace. This approach includes beadboard throughout the kitchen, quarter-sawn oak hardwood floors, transom windows, and a different stone countertop on their kitchen island than those on the perimeter counters, an example of the design aesthetic of evolving the space over generations. Molding details harc back to the antique general store counter that Bethany’s parents used as an island in their kitchen growing up, a home that has been in her family for five generations now. Ceramic tiles were hand-placed and selected from local Hudson Valley designer Anothony D’Argenzio of Zio and Sons’ collection from Clé Tile, a nod to embracing the local talent pool of the region.

Family heirlooms from Bethany’s family adorn the interiors, with books, artwork, and antiques including a more than one-hundred-year-old hoosier in their butler pantry, all handed down through the generations. Vintage rugs, vases, and other treasures from Jamil’s parents’ trips to Pakistan and India balance an intentional collection of globally-inspired pieces with that of midwestern Americana.