03/31/2026
In a home standing since 1762, every decision carries weight. Renovation is more than updating or maintenance, it becomes an act of remembrance.
In this Guilford, Connecticut project, each space was approached with a dual understanding, functionality for the family who inhabits it, but also as an intimate conversation with the past. Color, especially, is not a matter of trend but authenticity.
Grounded in a deep respect for early American interiors and the materials that defined them, we delved into the task of selecting our paints. Hues that belong to a bygone era, at once subtle and alive, long-settled, catching the light with the softened richness of aged paint, wrapping around corners, down corridors, winking with guile in darkened spaces.
In the kitchen, BM Golden Chalice was chosen, a rich yellow-green reflecting the warmth of historic ochres and earth-based pigments commonly found in 18th-century homes, tones that were both practical and luminous in spaces centered around daily work and gathering.
The powder room is enveloped in FB Tanner’s Brown, a color rooted in the tradition of natural umbers and tannin-rich dyes, deep, quietly refined and somehow, paired with a floral wallpaper and an amber furniture-form vanity, provocative.
The mudroom, utilizing BM Tate Olive, draws from the lineage of early American greens, colors originally derived from copper-based pigments and botanical sources, chosen for their durability and connection to the surrounding landscape.
Wood was left natural or mimicking natural oxidization, honoring the way finishes evolve over time rather than imposing an artificial uniformity.
Even the vanity reflects this philosophy, modeled after a primitive side table with porcelain bowl and pitcher, referencing a time when form followed ritual and necessity before modern plumbing.
Historical accuracy is not about strict imitation, it’s about understanding intent, material, and use. Each choice results in a home that doesn’t just look appropriate, it feels inevitable, as if every color, surface, and furnishing had been evolving over centuries, destined to continue to age for generations to come.
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