RAVELING IN EUROPE YEARS AGO WITH HER PARENTS,
decorator and blogger Amy Chalmers developed an eye
for antiques and a certain aesthetic that has stuck with
her. “I was exposed to beautiful old-world things as a
child,” she says. “That’s where it came from.”
“It” is a love of history and romance that guided her home
decorating and antiques business—and encouraged the
renovations of a few old houses. Then she met the ultimate
redecorating challenge. She married her husband, David, who
had just bought a Colonial-style prefab house situated on a small
lot outside of Boston.
At that point, she made an assumption: They’d move. “I played
a waiting game because I wanted an old house,” says Amy, who
created the blog, Maison Decor, to share her love of French and
European design. “I didn’t want to put down roots because
I couldn’t relate to the newness of it.” When it became clear the couple was in the
circa-2005 prefab home to stay, though, she took a different approach. “I would
countrify the house,” she says.
Fortunately for Amy, her hands-on parents also taught her about personalizing a place.
“My parents were always doing projects,” she says. “They had five kids and we were
always in the mix. They taught me how to repair window sashes and strip woodwork. My
mom taught me how to sew slipcovers. There’s really no project that we would shy away
from—except laying carpet. It’s less about talent than confidence level. It’s really being
naïve enough to think you can do anything and not fear that it has to come out perfectly.
I think perfectionism is overrated. It’s such a killjoy.”
On the inside, Amy’s first task was to upgrade the home’s light sources with vintage
lighting fixtures, one of her collecting obsessions. “It’s the easiest way to give a house
old-world style,” she says. Her first move was to pull out the builder fixtures on either
side of the fireplace and install artful antique sconces.
Then, with an eye for pairing fancy and rustic, she hung a blue opaline chandelier, her
most treasured antique, over a weathered trunk in the living room. “You can have old
painted wooden pieces, but then you need something with a little glimmer and sparkle,”
Amy says. “Or if you think your rooms are getting too girly or precious, just add a few
rustic pieces. If you do too much of either, the balance is off.”
Another key step was to paint the walls using soft colors of aquamarine, celery, and
white accented with touches of pretty pink to contrast the pale shades. “I use pink in
pillows or bouquets of flowers,” Amy says. “I try not to have it be too sweet.”
Amy describes those small fixes as “pretty doable,” but other projects took a bit moret
ABOVE LEFT Iron
planters and granite steps
are traditional European
elements. An old dinner bell
on the pilaster serves as a
reminder of Amy’s childhood.
ABOVE The smallest room in
the house, the prefab kitchen
had solid maple cabinets
and a laminate counter
before Amy gave them more
cachet by painting the wood
with chalk-finish paint and
installing marble countertops.
The tole chandelier and green
majolica collection sprinkle
in French flavor. The butcher-
block-topped island is the
“workhorse,” Amy says, for
cooking and serving.