Coolidge Corner Estate
Brookline Victorian
Modernizing a Brookline Classic
A young couple bought this home as a bastion of aesthetics, practicality and safety in which to grow their family–falling in love with the classic Victorian style and desiring to introduce a 2020 aesthetic to the home while paying homage to its classic roots. This family had previously worked with a separate architect for their home in NY and had found it unworkable having to coordinate multiple project aspects with their busy lifestyle. This led to their decision to work with a Design Build firm for this project.
The couple inherently entrusted NEDC to bring their design vision of a balanced modern and traditional aesthetic to life–they did not visit the home during construction. The project aim was to balance traditional Victorian and Modern while crafting a contemporary Boston family home. They were genuinely delighted and uplifted with the results.
Authentic Victorian, modernized tastefully
A question we often get: How do you modernize a home without upsetting its historical charm?
Modernization was achieved through the addition of color to the following classic spaces:
On the first-floor bathroom, a classic Victorian wallpaper was introduced–whimsical in design yet perfectly suited for a Victorian home. Complementing this is a classically styled toilet with a high-top tank and brass finishes, commonly seen in original British 1900s homes.
In the kitchen, a modern pop of green was introduced on the cabinets. This was integrated with a lovely marble-style quartz counter commonly found in Victorian Era homes.
Upstairs Bathrooms: designing this for the children, color was added liberally to embrace a modern feel–while restoring the original claw foot bathtub for a touch of classic.
In the primary bath, the vanity is a piece of antique furniture that was re-purposed to be their master vanity. Above this a lovely classic wallpaper aesthetic was added–combined with a clean glass shower enclosure for that touch of modern.
