An Amazing Open-Air House in Kenya

To balance the drama of the soaring, tent-like ceiling, the rugged materials, and the sweeping views, Kasler arranged the living room furniture along calm, classic lines. A neutral linen sofa and armchairs offset a striped ottoman, a bold Jim Thompson pillow, and beaded baskets from Nairobi. Artist Sue Fusco made the ostrich-egg chandelier.

This cozy gathering beside the living room's second fireplace features Verellen Eugenie linen sofas, a Victoria Hagan Cate slipper chair in Rogers & Goffigon's Mission Cloth, and leather Gunnison chairs from Hickory Chair. The nature patterns of pillows in a Chelsea Textiles crewel and a Rose Cumming cheetah print complement the geometric Kenyan Kuba cloth above the mantel. A Stark carpet softens the concrete floor. At left, Peter Beard prints hang behind a bronze hippo. Shelves display family mementos.

Sheba, an orphaned cheetah cub, snoozes on a Union Jack throw by Andrew Martin for Lee Jofa.

Across the dining table from a pair of East African Canvas Company leather director's chairs, an antique crewelwork bench evokes Kenya's British Colonial past.

Who needs a TV when you can lie in bed and watch hippos grazing, or monkeys monkeying about on the lawn? "It's magical," owner Suzie Fehsenfeld says. The framed textile above the Ashworth campaign desk—a Kasler design for Hickory Chair—is an African warrior's ceremonial dress. Carpet by Lyn Sterling Montagne.

In the master suite, armchairs in a vintage floral and an ottoman draped with an Indian throw "have an English feeling," Kasler says.

In the master bathroom, Kasler insisted on double sinks for owners, the Fehsenfelds, a transatlantic amenity she knew they would miss. She found the vivid rug in the crafts market at Karen, a Nairobi suburb named for Karen Blixen, a.k.a. Isak Dinesen, the author of Out of Africa. The vintage bathtub is from the same Nairobi firm that supplies the tubs for guest tents at Sirikoi. As in the bedrooms, windows have canvas shades and zippered screens to thwart mosquitoes.

More thatch overhangs the curvaceous, open-air shower-with-a-view.

A Raoul Textiles print, suzani embroidery, and a Helios Antelope carpet add pattern to a guest room. The bedside Mayfair steamer trunk from Restoration Hardware and the upholstered camp chair harken back to earlier generations of adventure travelers.

Roll-up canvas wardrobes tucked behind the headboard partition offer a safari-chic alternative to standard closets.

On an elegant high-armed settee upholstered in Great Plains Silk & Sexy, an Anna Trzebinski bag dangles beside a rustic window frame in salvaged juniper cedar from Kenya's Maralal Forest.

Sinewy columns cut from fallen trees at Maralal flank South of Market outdoor sofas. No glass or other barrier separates the porch from the living room.