Artistic License

The leafy neighborhood in the Boston suburb of Chestnut Hill boasted an array of fine old homes. Brick Georgians stood side-by-side with grand Tudor-style houses on its tree-lined streets. One house, however, a hybrid modern Colonial, possessed little of the charm of its historic neighbors. In fact, when interior designer Manuel de Santaren went to see the house shortly after his clients bought it, he says, “It was a late-1970s builder’s special.”

That turned out to be good news. The very lack of charm—walls bare of crown moldings, windows with no decorative detailing—gave de Santaren and the new homeowners a sense of being liberated. “We had the freedom to go in any direction we wanted,” he explains. And that is precisely what they did.

“I liked the house because it was so simple and modern,” the wife says. “I just looked at the walls and I knew Manuel could change it into exactly what I wanted.”

“It was a perfect blank canvas,” adds de Santaren, who has been friendly with the homeowner and her husband since meeting her some twenty years ago.

An avid art collector, the homeowner wanted her new house to feature her contemporary art and photography collection. De Santaren shares his client’s passion and keen eye for art. He’s also a collector of contemporary works and is a member of the photography committee of New York City’s Guggenheim Museum. In fact, he helped add to his client’s art collection, searching for pieces during his travels to the renowned Art Basel fair in Switzerland, the Venice Biennale and a host of New York City galleries. “Besides being her interior designer, I’m her curator,” he says.

At the start of the project, de Santaren gutted a series of small rooms on the first floor, leaving 2,800 square feet for a reconfigured floor plan that includes ample wall space for art, and spacious, comfortable rooms.

The airy, light-filled entry foyer sets a theatrical tone for the rest of the house. “It was a bold step to carve out this gallery-like entrance,” says de Santaren of the double-height space whose furnishings include a glass-top table with a gleaming chrome X-brace base. On the floor, a vinyl carpet with a wool border, designed by de Santaren to bring texture to the space, reflects the owner’s preference for an idiosyncratic and irreverent mix of classic and contemporary.

The entry offers a glimpse into the rooms that follow, including the dining room, where a Vik Muniz photograph of Marilyn Monroe is strategically hung to be seen immediately upon entering the house. The dramatic dining room wears a luxurious coat of paint the shade of eggplant. The homeowner wanted to be able to seat as few as eight and as many as twenty people, but no one liked the idea of a single long table. “Let’s have two tables, and be unorthodox in how we use them,” says de Santaren, recalling his idea.

The homeowner readily embraced the unconventional approach. As it turns out, she had seen it done before. “When I was little, my grandma took me to her friend’s house where there were two dining tables. I always thought it was exquisite,” she says.

Other childhood memories dictated the homeowner’s decisions, too. “I didn’t want my mother’s living room,” she says emphatically. “I could never go into the living room where I grew up. Here, I want my kids and their friends to feel free to go into this room.” With its Maxalto sectional sofa, leather chairs and a vivid John Gibson painting punctuating the wall above the fireplace, it is, no doubt, different from her mother’s, as well as a comfortable space for her three sons in their teens and twenties to congregate with their friends.

Light fills the living room, courtesy of a twenty-six-foot-long wall of glass doors. For privacy, de Santaran designed curtains made of lightweight handkerchief linen that let light filter into the space even when they are pulled shut. The curtains, with their wide horizontal bands in quiet tones of cream, khaki and mushroom, form a dialogue with the de Santaren–designed carpet, which has its own subtle bands of color.

In the family room, de Santaren opted for a look he calls “dark and moody.” The intimate, cozy room wears the same shade of eggplant found in the dining room, an excellent backdrop for a diverse photography collection that includes work by Abe Morell, Cindy Sherman and Kiki Smith. Comfort is key here; a sofa covered in deep-brown chenille is where the husband comes to relax. “I kick my feet up, and watch the Sunday football game with my sons,” he says.

The husband is the cook in the family, and the kitchen fulfills his every dream. He selected the appliances, testing the Thermador stove he purchased it. He likens it to a Ferrari, with its fancy griddle, grill and speed of cooking. The large center island offers ample room for multiple cooks in the kitchen. “When friends come over to cook no one is tripping over anyone; even with several people there is room for all of us,” he says.

His wife, working with de Santaren, picked the cabinets, the countertops of gray Cardosa stone and the shimmering glass tile backsplash in a peaceful shade of sage green.

Ultimately, the house is distinctive yet simple, modern yet luxurious, a showcase for the couple’s collection of fine art but, just as important, a comfortable family home. For de Santaren’s longtime friend and client, the process—and the result—were a complete success. “The end result is exactly what I wanted,” she says. “I love this house; I’ll never move."

Interior Design: Manuel de Santaren