Pittsburgh-based designer Colleen Simonds balances confident, modern gestures and classic architecture in a charming home in Salem, Massachusetts.

For Julia Lippman, moving into a new house with her husband, Mathew Eapen, and their two children, was a sort of homecoming. She had grown up on Chestnut Street, and her parents still lived nearby in her childhood home. The area is renowned for its large, early 19th-century Federal-style homes, and is the kind of neighborhood where everyone pretty much knows everyone. 

Colleen Simonds Makes a Couple’s Bold Design Dreams Come True

Forming Bold Style Choices

The couple reached out to interior designer Colleen Simonds after seeing her work on Instagram, in the Spring of 2020, right at the beginning of the pandemic. The two originally tasked her with a single space, the living room, but she eventually worked on most of their home. 

“They were up for bold ideas,” says Simonds. “They wanted bright color and really wanted the house to have some fresh energy. Nothing moody or dark.” Nearly all the rooms had originally been painted a sleepy pale yellow. Her first thought for the living area was to wallpaper the ceiling, and they gave her the green light. “I love the intensity of that color and pattern. I wouldn’t do it on all four walls—that would have been too much.” The evocative paper is Night of the Skylarks by Birger Kaipiainen. The result is that it draws attention to the height of the ceilings and to the beautiful molding.  

The large Oly Studio sofa was originally owned by Simonds. “I recovered it in Pindler lavender fabric and it was perfect for the space.” She also reupholstered the cushions on the vintage chairs in Pierre Frey fabric, giving them a contemporary twist. “This house doesn’t want to be a period piece.” 

Making Use of Patterns and Colors

Wallpaper was also used around the fireplace in the adjoining dining room. “It’s a nice size house and there are tall ceilings. That’s a lot of wall to fill. Wallpaper is the easiest way to get a big punch for a lowish lift.” She didn’t want to compete with the living room because you can see both rooms simultaneously. The paper was intense, but “when you walk in the front door and take in those two spaces together, it feels like one thought instead of two competing ideas.” 

Simonds painted most of the walls white, Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace, to create a foundation for the bolder touches. She also updated the outdated lighting throughout, replacing many of the fixtures with streamlined, modern examples, some from Urban Electric. 

Because the kitchen is a narrow galley, the dining room is used for everything from breakfast with the kids to a more formal dinners. The RH table serves all these purposes. The chairs were a vintage find, in a sort of drab brown, so Simonds had them lacquered at The Paint Shop in a really vibrant blue. They’re easy to clean, practically indestructible, and have no cushions to get dirty. She painted the trim throughout a really dark navy, Benjamin Moore Deep Royal, again to bring unity to the spaces. 

The More Unique the Better

For the butler’s pantry adjoining the kitchen, she suggested a cabinet color she thought the owners might not go for, the aptly name Arsenic from Farrow & Ball. “Most people would have run screaming—but they loved it.” The soapstone countertop was chosen to match those in the kitchen, and it with the intense cabinetry color is a pairing Simonds particularly likes.  

 The powder room was also papered in a not-delicate pattern from Wayne Pate through Studio Four, an outside-the-box choice for a tiny space. It had to work with everything on the first floor, with the other patterns and colors. “They didn’t need to match—in fact, they shouldn’t! But they needed to have the same intensity. You have to feel like you’re in the same house.”  

Outside, in the backyard, the freestanding cottage became offices for the couple, who are both lawyers now working remotely. Julia’s office is on the ground floor, and got a built-in desk and shelving, plus some cabinets and a throw rug to give it softness. Matt’s office is upstairs, with a barrel-vaulted ceiling, which Simonds covered in a nature-inspired paper, Fig Leaf by Peter Dunham. “It evokes such a happy feeling for me.” There are trees outside the window so it kind of feels like you’re connected to the outside. “And I imagine there probably aren’t that many other lawyers who have a super cool office with a wallpapered ceiling.” 

 Story by Stephen Treffinger
Photography by Emily Gilbert

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Before launching a home remodeling project, get to know yourself, says Katy Popple of Katy Popple Designs. Hone your style, take pictures of things you like, and get ready to say ”yes” or “no” to the many choices you’ll need to make to create your home vision.

Fortunately for Popple, a certified interior designer, her clients Joyce Fu and Chad Martin were decisive. “It’s a good tribute to my dad,” says Joyce, daughter of the late great orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine expert  Freddie Fu, who died in 2021. “My father strived for efficiency and getting things done quickly. Hopefully, I embody that with my life and with this project.” The project? Working with Popple on a whole-house update of a 1920s Tudor Revival in Point Breeze that Joyce and her husband never expected to purchase.

Joyce, with a law degree from Columbia University, and Chad, with a law degree from Pitt and a Master of Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon, were living and working in New York City with their children, now 14, 12, and 8 when they learned Joyce’s father was seriously ill. They decided to move back home to Pittsburgh to be close to her mother, Hilda. 

Serendipitously, they found a stunning, roomy 1920s-era home just across the street from Hilda in Point Breeze. “It was such a perfectly lovely home,” says Joyce. “We really loved the layout and wanted to keep its integrity. It just needed freshening up.”  

Designing From Afar

On the recommendation of an architect friend, Mary Barensfeld, they hired Popple to modernize and refurbish the entire interior. Popple, who worked at two architecture firms before starting her business, was not deterred by the project’s scope, but there was a challenge. They would have to manage design and construction remotely; Fu and Martin did not want to move until the Pittsburgh home was complete. 

Popple, who calls her style “classic, timeless, and bespoke,” began by getting to know the family, making it easier for her to cull options and offer appropriate choices. Working as a team that included Chad’s father, Jeff Martin, a general contractor, the huge project took only 10 months.

Incorporating Something Original and Something New

Popple retained the original floor plan, windows, wood trim, and radiators, balancing signature vintage elements with modern furnishings, light fixtures, and cabinetry. Wallpaper was removed and hardwood floor refinished, but the only structural changes were taking space from the master closet to create a laundry and adding a powder room to a bedroom. 

She uses white oak cabinetry with a clear stain throughout. Designed by Popple and made by Myers Custom Cabinets, cabinets vary from room to room, distinguishing spaces while providing cohesion. Benjamin Moore China White paint on the walls—“a perfect neutral that isn’t too cold,” Popple says, enhances the flow.

The Heart of Home Design

As for most families, the kitchen is the center of the home. It’s a gathering place where Joyce, who works for Major League Baseball’s international business operations, and Chad, an independent consultant, can wind down while the kids grab after-school snacks and do homework. Knowing they will be heavily use the kitchen, they chose materials that are “practically indestructible,” says Popple. Along with oak cabinets and contrasting black hardware, the inviting room features white quartz countertops and walls of Calacatta gold marble tile with warm bronze overtones. The dark floor with radiant heat is tough porcelain tile that looks like slate. 

Joyce likes the kitchen’s minimalism—there’s no clutter on the counters, because, unlike most New York apartments, there’s ample storage. “In New York, everyone stores things in their ovens,” Joyce explains. Having space to spare  “was really such a hilarious joy to them,” Popple adds.

Much of the furniture is “mid-century modern inspired, a combination of Room & Board and West Elm,” Popple says. Surprising pops of color like the wallpaper in the butler’s pantry, the blue chair seats in the dining room, and the couple’s art collection add whimsy and personality to the overall neutral scheme. [The color] “suggests, oh, they don’t take themselves too seriously.” Popple says. 

Dr. Fu saw the plans for the house but passed before it was completed. Happily, Hilda Fu can count on having her family as neighbors for years, if they’re like most Popple clients. “The question of resale never comes up,” Popple says. “They have particular aesthetics and don’t concern themselves about what prospective buyers might think. These are people’s forever homes.” 

Appliances Sourced from Don’s Appliances 

36″ Thermador Masterpiece Pedestal Star Gas Cooktop
30″ Thermador Professional Combination Wall Oven and Speed Oven
30″ Thermador Refrigeration Column and 18″ Freezer Column
36″ Thermador Ventilation Insert and Blower
Thermador Dishwasher with Cabinet Panel Front

Interested in an inside look at another home design project? Check out our article on a Family-Friendly Contemporary Kitchen Remodel.

Story by Susan Fleming Morgans / Photography by Erin Kelly 

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“We broke the rules,” Michael Violante says, smiling. He means the process he and Paul Rochford customarily use when working with clients on a remodel or full-home redesign. The design team, who for 17 years have headed up V&R Interiors in Santa Fe and have been life partners just as long, and married for 10 years, had good reason for diverging from their usual approach when it came to their own home.

Designing for the Toughest Client… Themselves

With clients, they begin with carefully chosen rugs to define the overall color palette. Echoes of these hues are then highlighted in each room to establish an individual aesthetic that also feels connected to the whole. Yet with their own most recent home they started differently. “We had antiques that needed to fit, a couple of special pieces that are quite large and that we’re not willing to let go of,” Violante says. Once these were in place, he and Rochford were ready to dive into the design.

The home is the product of the couple’s strong desire to live with broader vistas. Their previous downtown Santa Fe home looked out into lovely, intimate gardens, but the designers were ready to expand their views. In 2020 they found the perfect property. A little over an acre, it has unobstructed views of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains to the east and overlooks downtown, yet it is nonetheless a three-minute drive to V&R’s offices and showroom near the Plaza.

A Little Love and Care

The existing house, however, required a hefty dose of vision to see its potential. Built in 1966 and minimally remodeled later by a house-flipping investor, it had zero curb appeal, no landscaping, and little charm. It was basically a three-bedroom, two-bath box. It needed a complete gut renovation, which eventually included adding a primary bedroom and en suite bath, creating two primary suites with a private back portal for each, and a home gym in the third bedroom.

Violante and Rochford worked closely with architect David Cofrances and local builder Michael Hernandez of Tierra del Sol. “We’re lucky, we know all the great subs and how good collaboration works,” Rochford says. Aside from the house itself, the project added courtyard walls and extensive landscaping by Linda Rice of Native Bloom Landscaping. Two fountains attract birds, which the designers enjoy watching every morning. “We call it the bird beach party,” Rochford says.

Crafting an Atmosphere 

The home’s overall color palette suggests a relaxed seaside vibe as well: white, cream, and sand, or as Violante puts it, “like a Northern California beach house mixed with some Scandinavian.” Light-colored, wide-plank French oak floors pull the home together, punctuated by only three rugs, two Navajo and one a neutral cream. “We kept everything earthy and soft,” Violante says, adding that after 17 years, “We’re pretty in sync, so the decisions were quick.”

When it came to fabrics, there was no decision required. Everything had to be performance fabrics, highly practical and easy to clean. The designers often eat while sitting on the sofa as their two dogs, Maxwell and Russell, sit with them, waiting for treats. “We planned everything for the dogs and us,” Rochford says. “We live in this house.” And while the renovation expanded the square footage from 2,300 to 2,700 square feet, all of it is used. “For us that’s important, to know there’s no wasted space,” Rochford says.

The designers say they continue to be reminded daily of their good fortune in living where they do. “We see the seasonal cycles, the garden, the sky, mountains, stars,” Violante says. Adds Rochford, “We have really busy schedules, and we find ourselves not taking this house for granted, which hasn’t always been the case in houses we’ve lived in. We appreciate it every day.”

Story by Gussie Fauntleroy / Photography by Wendy McEahern

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When a stone countertop arrived broken, photographer Erin Kelly turned the bad news into design brilliance for her kitchen.

We have all been there. A long-awaited element arrives to complete a renovation… and it’s broken. Not to mention, beyond repair. In spite of their disappointment, photographer Erin Kelly and her illustrator husband found a silver lining in this broken stone countertop. They picked up the pieces and eventually installed them as sculptural elements in their sensuously neutral kitchen. The fragments subtly reflect light. They cast delicious shadows. And they suggest an embrace of imperfection that could help each of us when faced with dashed expectations and unfortunate circumstances.

To learn more about unique ways to build your home design around your own aesthetic, check out our array of home design articles. Here you can find tips to turn any part of your home (kitchen, mantle, bar cart, outdoor picnic table, or even staircase) into a masterpiece that’ll astound your friends and family. Plus, find out about the latest design trends based on color and texture to feel like a professional designer when the paint swatches come out.

Story by Keith Recker / Photography by Erin Kelly

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