Charlestown Townhouse for This Old House

With only 1,500 square-feet of usable living space, this compact townhouse called for an open concept kitchen where we used period-appropriate materials in unexpected ways, such as a Carrera marble backsplash done in a hexagonal mosaic and traditional millwork finished in a pigmented stain to provide rich color in a way that’s engaging yet not overwhelming. Designed in 2014, this blue-and-brass kitchen was ahead of its time and a trendsetter – to this day it’s the most asked-about cabinet color we’ve ever used, and with good reason: the Old-World denim hue was created in a twelve-step custom process that took months of testing and samples to get exactly right.

For the rest of the house, we relied on classic antique pieces and art mixed in with treasures collected by our client from years of traveling around the world on work assignments. We shopped her existing home first and were able to reuse and repurpose many of her own items to give the home meaning and connection. Under the front stair, we were able to create a fun moment of surprise by using an unexpected Hermes orange on the wall that's revealed when opening a concealed door to the lower level. 

Upstairs in the guest bath, we added  a traditionally-inspired wainscotting made from strips of applied MDF, painted the walls a sunny egg-yolk yellow, and refinished the clawfoot tub using a rich dark grey paint on the exterior and feet dipped in bright polished nickel.