Bold paint, plus even bolder wallpaper, transform a humdrum house in Cambridge

Erin James was flummoxed by the column in the middle of her living area, uninspired by her home’s simple grey walls, and shorter on time. “I couldn’t fairly figure out how to embellish all-around the column,” she suggests. The new Cambridge property owner, who was performing on her doctoral dissertation when she and her partner, Jasper Snoek, moved in, resolved to delegate. The result? Extremely useful furnishings strategies in jewel-toned rooms replete with pattern and heat, compliments of designer Cecilia Casagrande.

It was Casagrande’s maximalist model that captivated James and prompted her to employ the designer to increase her signature glance in the course of the household. “Erin desired the residence to appear gorgeous and provide her pleasure,” Casagrande states. “Color, pattern, and texture were being priorities.”

Examining the long, open up living house, Casagrande recommended that they develop a welcoming seating arrangement centered all-around the hearth, with a looking at nook and a activity desk close by. They anchored the scheme with an olive inexperienced sofa that James noticed on the web at Arhaus. “The price was proper and the color seems to be wonderful with [Erin’s] purple hair,” Casagrande suggests.

Homeowner Erin James, her son, and her dog in the nursery. The glider is upholstered in performance tweed by Perennials. — Property owner Erin James, her son, and her pet in the nursery. The glider is upholstered in performance tweed by Perennials.SEAN LITCHFIELD

From there, Casagrande introduced in vintage items. Initially have been the swivel chairs from Boomerangs in Jamaica Basic that she reupholstered with lush environmentally friendly mohair and Designers Guild floral velvet. The luxe botanical sample of the velvet, reminiscent of Dutch nonetheless life paintings, nods to Snoek’s Dutch heritage. “It’s an high-priced material, but we only necessary it on the back again facet, due to the fact that’s what you see when you enter the household,” Casagrande says.

Future arrived a pair of chairs with a grandiose silhouette that Casagrande scooped up at an estate sale and re-lined in burgundy velvet. The primary upholstery was so awful, she claims, that she did not even present the chairs to James for dread of scaring her. But James experienced religion. “Just shock me,” she advised the designer. The chairs, which sit in entrance of a trio of windows beside constructed-ins, are the great perch for browsing James’ selection of international cookbooks. They also impressed the aubergine partitions.

Shade and pattern make their way into the consume-in-kitchen area, the place Casagrande established an accent wall with a Cole & Son wallpaper picturing classical urns festooned with animals from Africa. “Erin and her partner have traveled the planet,” Casagrande claims. “I wanted their property to stand for their appreciate of all cultures.”

The wall is a lively backdrop for the sedate RH eating desk and chairs and easy brass chandelier. Unable to resist the inclination to layer, however, Casagrande also hung a canvas from Jules Location with an summary explosion of blooms. Freshly upholstered vintage chairs subtly dress up every close of the desk, and a sofa included in a massive-scale geometric print is positioned subsequent to the back door. “The patterns perform with each other because they’re a mix of organic and graphic in the same coloration palette,” Casagrande clarifies.

Wallpaper and classic chairs make their way upstairs, way too. Snoek so admired the rosy-hued toile wallpaper in James’ office environment that he questioned Casagrande for wallpaper in his have. She included a single wall with a quirky Cole & Son paper showcasing flying devices — a perform on his profession as a pc scientist in the machine discovering industry. She also painted his previous, defeat-up desk blue, and re-covered a chair procured on Facebook Marketplace in a strie velvet.

James proclaims the main bed room even cozier than the dwelling home. Casagrande painted it a deep environmentally friendly that James suggests looks velvety at night. Due to the fact the few was upgrading to a king mattress — in response to James’ pregnancy and their two bed-hog puppies — Casagrande developed an upholstered bed in a striped fabric by Kit Kemp, whose New York Metropolis hotel she had just lately frequented.

When it came time to style the nursery, James known as Casagrande back. They selected a entertaining but somewhat significant dinosaur toile wallpaper by Property of Hackney, confident it will stand the check of time. Snoek was so enamored with the seem that he previewed the space for his colleagues by way of Zoom. All-around the very same time, James, in celebration of earning her doctorate, splurged on wallpapering the stairs with a Timorous Beasties treescape showing owls, squirrels, and these types of. “I see new aspects all the time,” James states of the design.

Casagrande is however glowing from the working experience of operating with a customer whose flavor is fully aligned with her individual. “I brought her goodies from just about every shopping for trip,” the designer states. “She cherished them each individual time.”