Real Estate

Wild Wood

Purchased in 2000, the house underwent a massive renovation and now features a spacious kitchen with a unique poured-concrete counter.

There is also new decking and a gazebo with views of the tranquil wooded property and barn.

It also features a guest room on the first floor looking out on the backyard.

When bassist Chris Wood isn’t recording or touring as part of the progressive jazz trio Medeski Martin & Wood, he’s recording and touring with the Wood Brothers, a band he formed with his brother, Oliver.

So, it’s a wonder that Wood, 42, found the time to renovate the upstate Saugerties home he bought in the fall of 2000 with his wife, Sirkka.

“We moved up here, got married and Sirkka was pregnant all at the same time,” Wood says. “And we lived in the house during the five months of renovation. It was a challenge . . . the place had been a kind of rooming house, so everything had been closed off and separated into tiny, dark rooms.”

Not to mention decor that hadn’t been touched since the 1960s: shag carpeting, tongue-and-groove pine paneling, ugly wallpaper, ceiling “beams” that were actually made of styrofoam.

So what swayed them to buy the upstate home? “It was our rural fantasy,” Wood says of the 12 1/2-acre forested lot, which boasts vast green lawns, a rock wall, an original barn and a garden. “But it was also in a neighborhood. When the Realtor turned us down the street, it just felt right.”

The couple, who hail from Colorado (they were high-school sweethearts), and who had been living in Brooklyn’s Carroll Gardens since 1996, jumped at the chance to get back to the land — and to have a place to cook and entertain. They immediately threw themselves into the renovation.

“We quickly tore down the wallpaper and painted one of the bedrooms,” says Sirkka, who digs out a photo album showing the house before and during remodeling. Wood adds, “Then we got a big crowbar and started knocking down drywall. We pulled up the carpet; there were wood floors underneath. We filled a huge dumpster.”

Today, the two-story, 2,000-square-foot home (plus a finished basement that serves as Wood’s music studio/office) bears almost no resemblance to the ramshackle home the couple purchased. In the expansive, open kitchen/dining area and spacious living room, light streams in through the many large windows; double sliding-glass doors open onto a wide back deck overlooking the pastoral landscape.

Upstairs are two bedrooms — including one for their 10-year-old daughter, Nissa, and a full bathroom. Downstairs is a half-bathroom and a guest room that originally was going to be Wood’s studio.

“It’s totally soundproofed,” he says, “so it’s a great place to get a really good night’s sleep.”

Wood isn’t the only one in the family with musical talent. Sirkka plays the piano, and Nissa is skilled at both the trumpet and guitar. They’ll occasionally bang out tunes together in the living room, which is home to a 100-plus-year-old Steinway piano that Sirkka’s mother rescued from a Colorado saloon plus several of Wood’s instruments, including a 1920 German upright bass, a 1963 Fender precision bass and two refurbished guitars.

But the heart of the house is the kitchen/dining area, which was completely remodeled two years ago and features one of the couple’s favorite things: an enormous island.

“This is poured concrete that’s been polished by hand,” Wood says of the shiny gray slab atop a long stretch of cabinets. “The guy first had to create a frame for it because it was so heavy. It was also a real risk because we didn’t know what the color would be since dye had to be added to it.”

Running his hand along the counter, Wood explains, “It’s very organic, very wabi-sabi. That’s a Japanese term that means perfection because of its imperfection.”

As for their decorating style, it’s a mix of rustic, reclaimed wood pieces, sleek Scandinavian antiques, hand-me-downs and art from all over the world: West African masks, a wallboard from Papua New Guinea, an Afghan wedding shawl.

Out back, there’s the gazebo, one of Wood’s most cherished spots.

“I just relax in the hammock, listen to the birds and clear my mind,” he says. From there, he can look out at the barn (now mainly used for storage) and the fire pit — and across the expanse of green lawn dotted with fruit trees.

Wood also enjoys spending time in the garden, filled with row upon row of vegetables — asparagus, lettuce, root vegetables.

“We’ve got a lot of gardening, food-oriented friends here,” he says. “We have tons of potlucks. With such a big kitchen — including two sinks, one just to wash the veggies — everyone can cook at the same time.”

Wood admits that the garden is a bit overgrown and that there are a few home-improvement projects he’s been meaning to get to — “the mudroom still has the old windows; we haven’t done much of anything to it,” he says — but with his busy music career, it can be difficult.

He’s currently on tour through September supporting the recently released Wood Brothers’ record “Live, Vol. 1: Sky High” (the second, “Live, Vol. 2: Nail & Tooth,” comes out Aug. 28). Plus, the bassist doesn’t get much of a break before beginning a month-long tour with Medeski Martin & Wood in October in support of their live album, “Free Magic,” coming out Sept. 25.

Perhaps that’s why — even though the area of Saugerties and nearby Woodstock is known as a haven for musicians — Wood doesn’t have much interest in jamming out at his house.

“I’m performing all the time and touring a lot,” he says, “so at home, it’s really family-oriented time.”

Chris Wood’s

FAVORITE THINGS

* The big island kitchen

* The screened-in gazebo with a hammock

* The woodburning stove

* The view and natural light, especially through the sliding glass doors to the back deck

* The barn