This article originally appeared in the December 2013 issue of ELLE DECOR. For more stories from our archive, subscribe to ELLE DECOR All Access.When Amy Mellen set out in search of a weekend house 15 years ago, what she wanted was a place to see and be seenby crickets, sparrows, coyotes, and frogs, as well as by a few dear friends.To Mellen, already a rising star in the design world at the time, weekends were a chance to recharge her creative batteries. And for that, nothing worked as powerfully as time spent outdoors, which meant that a quiet corner of Dutchess County, in upstate New York, was a better setting for her downtime than, say, the ber-social Hamptons.I love, love, love being outside, she says. I take inspiration constantly from things I see in nature.William WaldronThe living room cabinet is from Crate & Barrel, and the lamp was found at a flea market; Mellen had the rug made in the Philippines, and the pine floors are original. Today Mellen is the creative director for Calvin Klein Home; as such, she oversees nine different product categories encompassing everything from teacups to sofas. Yet she still trades in her leather pumps for Blundstone work boots every Friday evening before heading north to the cottage that captured her heart.She remembers the first time she saw it: The Realtor and I drove up the drivewayits really long and goes over a stream, and all the trees were weighed down with snow. It was so tucked back; we were like, This has to be a mistake. Inside, the owners had left a fire going in the fireplace. I fell in love with the place immediately.William WaldronIn the kitchen, the antique walnut table is American, and the chairs and stool are by Calvin Klein Home; the cabinets are custom made, the refrigerator is by KitchenAid, the oven is by GE, and the dishwasher is by Bosch. She also fell for the sellers themselves, an older couple who had lived in the house since it was first built as a fishing cabin in the 1960s, and had painstakingly cared for it ever since. They had records for everything: how much theyd paid, every repair, every warranty. And all the tools in the shed were meticulously labeled: potato hoe, garden hoe. When they moved out, they left her a canoe, a lawn mower, and a sense of reverence for the spirit of the place.William WaldronVintage chairs from R. T. Facts surround the dining table, which was made from a cherry tree on the property; the light fixture is by Restoration Hardware, the rugs are Moroccan, and the flooring is slate.I told them, Ill never touch anything, says Mellen. And for a long time, she kept her word. But Mellens creativity, it turns out, is not just a contemplative or reactive practice. She creates. Constantly. Gradually she began making the house her own, installing windows in the back rooms and painting the walls, which were paneled in dark, knotty pine. She planted a garden and, because she longed for a new porch, got out a shovel and dug the foundation for it herself, then used the rocks shed unearthed to make a stone wall.And when a cherry tree started encroaching on the house and had to be cut down, she had the wood milled and used it to make her dining room table. An ash tree, meanwhile, became paneling for the bathroom walls.William WaldronA circa-1760 trestle table that belonged to Mellens parents holds a flea--market lamp and an alphabet drawing she made in high school.Finally, two years ago, she undertook a major renovation. Even then, her motivation was practical as much as it was aesthetic. There was frost on the bedroom windows in the wintertime, she says. It wasnt energy efficient. And if you took a bath, you ran out of hot water.She built a studio onto the garage, and outfitted it with a potters wheel and supplies to paint and dye fabrics. The kitchen, meanwhile, needed a deeper rethinking. The cabinets had scallop edges, she says. Plus it was small, and I love to cook. I entertain a lot. Indeed, Mellen is known for exotic meals inspired by her frequent travels. My friends joke that I could make food from any country just from whats in my pantry, she says.The influence of her international travels is evident beyond the pantry as well. All over the house are objects and furnishings Mellen acquired abroad, including rugs from Morocco, copper faucets from Italy, a set of nesting tables from England (made of elm, theyre incredibly fragrant, she says), and a mirrored panel from India. Interspersed throughout are numerous pieces from the Calvin Klein Home collections, which, despite the companys reputation for austere minimalism, blend happily into the eclectic, rustic mix. Our furniture is modern, but not superhard-edged modern, says Mellen. The materials and finishes make it warm.William WaldronThe bed and linens in the primary bedroom are by Calvin Klein Home, the nesting tables are from Margaret Howell, the desktop was made from wood found in the shed, and the chair is a flea-market find; the rug is by Moore & Giles, and the walls are painted in Benjamin Moore Aura in Sterling. One of my philosophies at Calvin Klein is: You cant really expect someone to go out and buy all brand-new matching furniture, she continues. Everyone has heirlooms or meaningful pieces with journeys and stories behind them. You want to be able to mix them with what is new and modern.The materials and finishes make it warm."At Mellens house, that mix is constantly changing in small and subtle ways. Im always making little vignettes out of things I find, she says. Last weekend, I found a dead beetle and set it on top of a rock. Ill have that next to a birds nest that blew out of a tree, and a feather that I found in the yard.Tour this Cozy Upstate New York CabinCreating keeps her happy; it always has. When I was little, I had a dollhouse I made myself, she says. And I loved decorating it. I was always working on it. Then my parents bought me a really swanky new dollhouse, and it wasnt as fun.Collecting, building, designing, inventing, and playing in the woods: All the stuff that kids do, she says. I just made a career out of it. This story originally appeared in the December 2013 issue of ELLE DECOR. SUBSCRIBE