When Pamela Bayer's husband, Ralph, accepted a job in Hudson, Bayer was obliged to say "Goodbye, Manhattan!" and relocate to a 100-year-old apple farm in Summit County. Not content to simply make do, Bayer opted to transform the dilapidated barn house into a showcase for her interior design firm.

"My husband wanted to burn the house down when he saw it," Bayer said.

"I said, 'No, no, no - I can make it really nice.' "

An eight-month renovation has produced a stunning live-work space that gives Bayer's clients the chance to surround themselves with potential design elements and finishes such as tumbled marble, Chinese slate and stainless-steel tile.

A short walk from the main house is Bayer's office. Before renovation, it was a three-stall horse barn. Like the main house it is sheathed in barn-red wood siding and capped with a tin roof.