HOUSE TOUR | A Traditional Boston Home with Modern Charm | 4K

Hi, Homeworthy. I'm Erin. Welcome to my home in Massachusetts. Come on in. You're watching Homeworthy, where we believe every home has a story. My name is Erin Gates. I'm an interior designer and author, and I would like to welcome you to my home in Wellesley, Massachusetts. The story behind this house is that we needed more space after having a second baby during COVID. And so we were on the hunt for a new property that had a bigger yard and more space for our two kids. So we bought this house in 2020. We've been here almost five years and we just loved the grand proportions of the lower level living rooms. We loved the acre that we're on, which is hard to come by in this town. And we just love it here. So this house was built in 1865. I love an old house, but what was wonderful was that the guts of the house had already been renovated in the early 2000s. So it already had new windows and new roof, new systems, which was great. So I got to spend all my money on the interior and the renovations of the aesthetics instead of the fun, you know, the not fun things that you can't see like wiring. Um, and what we love the most about this design and this era of home are the almost 11 foot ceilings, the giant floor to ceiling windows and the grand staircase, the formal living room. It just had a really lovely, graceful feel about it. So we are entering in the formal living room and this room, uh, when we bought the house immediately, my husband said would be the Christmas room. He's obsessed with Christmas and he thought this would be the perfect space for a holiday party. The high ceilings were amazing and all of the windows. I knew immediately I wanted to color drench this room in that I wanted the millwork, the fireplace mantle and all the trim to be painted the same color. However, that took a few tests and tries before we got the right color. The color we ended up on in this room was Benjamin more Wales gray, which is a really beautiful, subtle blue that has a little bit of gray in it. It doesn't go baby blue. It took, I wasn't sure if I wanted green or blue in here, but that's what we ended up with. Um, over here, we have enough room for a piano and this is actually the piano that I grew up with, um, in my parents' home. So when we bought this house, they gifted us this piano, which my kids bang on and my husband attempts to play this window seat was existing, which we love. So we reupholstered the cushion and this is just a great little perch. And then this area, the only thing I did differently construction wise in this whole, in this part of the home was changing out the marble surround on the fireplace, which we got a, it's called, uh, it's called Breccia marble. It's got a purpley vein. I really loved it. It was a lucky remnant and I think it really makes a nice statement in the room. Um, we also changed out all the lighting. So this is all visual comfort. And then I knew I wanted two sofas facing each other and I wanted them to be super deep so we could really like pull our legs up and get cozy in here by the fire, which is wood burning. Um, so I had these sofas custom made and designed with Bjork studio in Atlanta, who I love working with. And this is a, definitely a high low mix in here. These are custom, this is CB2. So I love mixing high and low. This corner, I have this chair that I bought maybe 15 years ago that I reupholstered and has been in every house I think I've had. And it's just one of those classic, great antique finds that stay with you forever. And then this coffee table I actually had in my last house. It's a only studio table. It's no longer made unfortunately, but it's one of my favorite ways to introduce a little modern design into a pretty traditional room. On this side, I knew I wanted a very long skirted console and the way we did this was actually, it's Ikea shelves. We added legs too and then I had a custom skirt made. So we hide a lot of things underneath here, which is really helpful. This painting I had commissioned by Casey Hughes. I really love the movement and the modern element again in this room that is pretty traditional. Otherwise, I think it makes an unexpected little statement and this is just a mix I think in here of a lot of some new, some old, some high, some low. These little cocktail tables are from Pottery Barn. They're under $200. I think that's what makes this room successful is this high low mix. For these sofas, since they're so deep, I really wanted to have lumbar pillows, not just the typical square pillows. So we did this nice pair of lumbar pillows in a Jasper fabric and then added the square end pillows. Also a Jasper fabric, a favorite of mine. And I think mixing like the big floral with the kind of block print stripe smaller scale is a nice successful way of doing two organic patterns together. I found this rug on Etsy. It's a vintage and it was very affordable, which is, it's a great place to find affordable vintage rugs. I didn't really know what to do with this back portion of the room. We have these great arch built-ins that were original to the house and I was going to do a game table, but then this was like during COVID times when we were decorating and we needed multiple work from home areas. So I ended up adding a desk and a really comfortable chair. My husband does work from home quite a bit, so this is a great spot for that. And actually my son does his homework here sometimes. So I think it's a nice way to utilize kind of an awkward space behind a sofa in a room like this. The bookcases are kind of where I keep all my like family mementos, a lot of books, a lot of like, we've collected a lot of these rocks on trips to the beach. I also have my picture with Oprah that I will cherish until I die. So it's just a nice place to collect things that I don't necessarily want to show off in a big way, but tell a story of our family and you know, our life. This little corner near the entry is a real interesting mix of, a beautiful charcoal sketch on linen that I had in my old house, a painting done by my grandmother a really long time ago that I put here. These are from like Dillard's I think. And this table was a $50 Facebook marketplace find, but this is a good representation of how you can mix lots of different things from different parts of your life and different price points in a really successful way. When approaching this home, I wanted to respect the architecture and the era of the home, but introduce some more modern streamlined pieces into it at the same time. So it felt like a really nice warm mix of traditional and modern design. I wanted to have some color, but a base of neutrals and I really wanted it to feel luxe but livable. So I have two little kids. We have a dog. We live in every room in this house and I wanted it to be something I was proud to invite people over to have cocktails or dinner, but also feel comfortable enough to kick up my feet with my kids and really relax. Okay. We are entering the foyer. This is the formal entry to the home. This has, this is a gigantic staircase I wanted to just cover with a simple wool sisal carpet, added some prints that I scored at Brimfield one year that I framed and added some new lighting. This is still minimal. I'm actually thinking about wallpapering this whole stairwell now. So stay tuned and see if I decide to do that and it's open to our formal dining room. This is the formal dining room of the home. This was one of the rooms I was most excited about to decorate. This mural wallpaper was the very first thing I picked for this house. It's from mural sources and I just immediately knew this is what I wanted in this room. So this was an easy room to decorate actually. We replaced the lighting. These are all visual comfort fixtures and the table is actually a design, a custom design of mine with Houston and company out of Maine. I've made a bunch of tables with them. I wanted this one to feel like a French antique, but really streamlined and I couldn't find one, an actual antique that was going to work in this room dimension wise. So I made it instead and you can buy it now on their website. The chairs I found on cherish, they were an amazing deal and I reupholstered them in a velvet on the front and a little pattern on the back and they have held up very well and were a great deal. The little China hutch was original. I did absolutely nothing to it, just filled it with great plates. Um, this mirror I love of love. It's from Mecox gardens and it's exactly what I was envisioning for this room. The buffet is an antique also found on Facebook marketplace or Etsy. I can't remember, but was maybe $200, which was fantastic. Um, the rug is actually from my collection with Momeni. So I've rotated a few of my rugs out in here. Um, I did get a puppy who ruined my last rug, but I'm very excited about this new release that we have added in here for drapes. I did a gray faux wool, um, that they're just, they drape so beautifully and we added this geometric trim and then in this little, um, bump out bay window bump out, I wasn't quite sure when I, what I wanted here. So I went with an antique side table and two boucle chairs from CB2, which adds again, a little unexpected modern touch, um, which I'm kind of craving in each room. And some little pillows we had made from another favorite Jasper fabric. This is one of my table settings. I have a few different sets of China. Now that I have a formal dining room, I really love having dinner parties. Um, this one is a real mix of some formal gold, uh, edged China, some of this lettuce wear that I love collecting. Um, and these are antique blue opaline glasses that I got maybe in 2005 that I have held onto cause I think they're so interesting and they add such a nice pop of color into this room. Um, and the silverware, gold flatware I picked up also on Etsy. Um, and it's really just a lovely faux bamboo style that I use for formal dinners. These are really cute rechargeable pookie lamps. I love using these, um, instead of candles. Sometimes it's just like a softer, soft light and no risk of, you know, burning anything down. So because this room has a very strong green theme, I have been collecting green patterned China and some of it is antique. These are Heron from my mother-in-law. Um, the lettuce wear again, these, I cannot remember where I bought, but I absolutely, Lily of the Valley is one of my favorite flowers. So I, when I saw these, I jumped on it. Um, and then like, this is from H and M. This was an antique score for like 40 bucks. Um, it's truly a mix of all different types and price points of, China that I love to mix and match. The best compliment someone could give me about my home is that it feels like a home and that it doesn't feel like a showroom or like a kind of space that you don't feel comfortable really relaxing in. I think homes that are layered and tell a story and put people at ease are the best kind of homes in between the dining room and the kitchen. We have this great little bar. Um, this was a bar when we moved in, but it had a sink, which we didn't need. And so we instead installed a wine fridge. Um, and instead of upper cabinets, I changed them to these kind of floating shelves that have great led strip lighting underneath. We wanted this to feel like a downtown cool bar. So we did a antique mirrored backsplash, a walnut counter, this really, really fun, um, tortoise feathery wallpaper on the ceiling that everybody comments on whenever they come in. Um, and this is just a really fun space. We love entertaining. We love mixing drinks. I get to collect all different kinds of glassware. Um, and it's just, it's just a good time. My favorite cocktail is a cosmopolitan and these little glasses are absolutely adorable. They have little stars etched on them. They look vintage, but they're not. So I use these all the time. Um, I also have some cute, these are vintage. Somebody gifted me for my birthday with a bottle of champagne and it's just, that's a really great housewarming gift. FYI. It's hard to choose. My favorite room in the house. I have a few, but I would have to say my new kitchen, which we just finished two years ago, which is really kind of my dream kitchen is the heart of the home. Certainly with two kids and, and family. Um, but it's also a room that I still walk in and be like, I can't believe this is my kitchen. Here we are in my new kitchen. We just finished this gut renovation about two years ago. Um, this we worked really hard on nailing because it's a little bit of a tricky space. There are one, two, three, four, five cased openings in the kitchen, which leaves very little wall space for cabinets. So we made sure to utilize all the vertical space we have in here. Um, taking the cabinets up to the ceiling, which are 10 and a half feet. My favorite thing in this kitchen is my, uh, La Cornue induction range. Um, I got this from Williams Sonoma and it is amazing. It is greener and safer for the home, but also absolutely stunning. And this was the jumping off point for the entire kitchen. Um, the other thing I really wanted to have in this kitchen was a full slab backsplash with, uh, a strong veined marble and I hemmed and hawed over this decision quite some time. Um, and ended up with this great marble that mixes some warm tones and some gray tones and did this little curved backsplash, which I love. Um, the hood was custom made, um, in Florida and unfortunately I hung a wreath on it with suction cups and now I have to figure out how to get those marks out of my hood. One thing I really wanted in this kitchen was a pot rail and I knew I wanted to have copper pots on them, but these are looking pots because they do not work on induction ranges. So this is what we lovingly call items that, uh, are more for looks than function. So don't try to use copper on induction. The walls I wanted to add texture to, but this is a kitchen so you have to be, you know, reasonable. This is a vinyl grass cloth from Philip Jeffries. Um, the Island we did in a stained Walnut, a few shades darker than our floors. I really love how this came out, especially the countertop with the OG edge, the giant Shaw's sink, which hides a lot of dirty dishes that I can't get to in the morning. And this is a brass faucet from California faucets. Um, in here we have kind of our everyday dishware, some more, uh, non everyday dishware in the glass cabinetry. And this is kind of the workhorse area of the kitchen. Um, and then what's interesting in here, this decision was to split the freezer and fridge, um, flanking into the Butler's pantry, which was the only way I could really fit the size fridge and freezer I wanted. And I actually ended up loving the look of having it split. I feel like you don't see it that often. The backsplash tile in here is a really affordable subway, um, from Bedrosians. I use it quite a bit. It looks like Zaliz, but it's not, um, these counter stools. I have used these so many times in my work because they are literally the perfect counterstool. Um, they are by Lawson Fenning out in California and I covered them in a green faux leather, which is wipeable and indestructible to my children. And through here is our new Butler's pantry. This used to be my mudroom. And when we did our kitchen renovation, we enclosed a side porch to create a mudroom and gave some dedicated space for Butler's pantry. We needed this for food storage, a second sink, second dishwasher and wall oven and microwave. So this really is, has kind of everything that we use on a day to day basis. Um, this is a coffee bar with retractable doors that hides the machines when not in use. Um, this countertop actually is reused from an earlier iteration of a facelift in my kitchen. Um, it's actually a granite looks like soapstone. I really love it. Um, and these brass mesh grills on these doors are one of my favorite things. I think they really elevate the space, make it feel special, but also conceal the absolute mess that is behind here. Um, so this is a really useful room for us, especially given that we don't have as much cabinetry and wall space in the kitchen proper. Um, this room kind of made up for it with how useful it is and how much we can store in here. I've owned my own design firm for 18 years now. Um, but I've always been interested in the arts, but not necessarily interior design. However, I was raised by an architectural designer father and come from multi-generational fashion family. So my great grandparents ran a women's department store, my grandparents, and then my parents worked there as well. So the intersection of architecture and in fashion kind of led me to a career in interior design, which is kind of a nice mix of both. I certainly had jobs that made no sense in that path. Getting there. I was an insurance broker. I worked at an art gallery. I worked at a private school. So it wasn't a linear path. But once I started my blog in 2007, um, things just started rolling consistently and I started getting clients and then cut to 18 years later. And, um, I have a design firm. I have licensed collections of products and just had my third book come out. So the new book is called elements of timeless style and it was born actually from me buying this house and my editor thinking the renovation of this house would be a good story to tell. So, um, it is a document of, you know, everything I did to my own home, the process, how it went, mistakes that were made, things that were successful. But it also is eight other homes that we've designed all different styles of homes that I think are longterm residences. They're not flips. They're not, um, homes that people plan on selling anytime soon. They're really places where people dug into the design and committed. And I think that's something that people are doing more and more these days. And now we're in the space. We spend all of our time, which is the family room, which is right off the kitchen. One of the reasons I love this house so much was the abundance of natural light in this room. Um, originally actually, this was a half wall with a really ugly electric fireplace that I knocked down and replaced with a full built-in and gas range, which I really am glad I did, even though there were some people who thought it was a crazy idea. Um, this holds like all my kids crafts and games, which is reality of life with kids. This mantle I actually found on Etsy. It's cast stone. And of course there's a TV, but the frame TV means that you can have a TV above your fireplace and it doesn't have to be completely ugly in here. We also did a kind of more modern coffee table from room and board. This is a great mohair chair from maiden home. So those are retail options. And then I have two side tables that are antiques passed down to me from my parents. Um, and a big custom sectional that is upholstered in a perennials outdoor fabric, which still stains, but much less so than some other options. I did some custom pillows in here and a fun checker print and then a floral stripe again from Jasper. Um, and this is just like where we spend tons and tons of time. I have had this bunny Williams brushstroke lamp for years. I have brought it with me everywhere. It's one of my favorites. I think it's a total classic. Absolutely love the scale, the detail. It's just, it's a, it's a favorite. Our bookshelves. Um, I backed with a grass cloth to give a little dimension and depth and texture. To these rather tall white lower pieces, um, filled with books, antiques. I just picked this up in New York and little, you know, picture frames and collected things, shells from the beach. And also you can see all three of my books lined up together. So I really wanted in this family room to have a informal place to eat dinners when it's just the four of us or have quick breakfast for the kids and not have not eat at the counter or in the dining room. So we created this little space within the family room, which has this great custom banquette made by Bjork Studio in a cravat faux leather. Um, this table is faux marble. I bought, I believe on Amazon because I don't want to have to care about what my kids do to this table. And yet then I bought two how to marry a millionaire chairs from Peter Dunham, which are amazing. And I love them to death. So these add a little bit of texture and a little bit of a modern flair. And the artwork is a photograph of Nantucket by Lauren Martilla. And I absolutely love the tones in this piece. It kind of was the jumping off point for the palette in this room. Um, and we sell this print exclusively on our website, Gates and Co. This is my teeny tiny powder room. Um, which when we moved in, we replaced the floor with a checkerboard marble pattern, a new, um, pedestal sink, painted all of the woodwork Farrow and ball green smoke and added this, um, paper from Sandberg, Raphael. I'm sure you're familiar with it. I think everyone uses it, but it's great for a reason. Um, and then I repurposed this great little Casey Hughes piece that I had in my old house and here, and it just worked perfectly. So I just love the overall kind of like bold wallpaper, tiny room vibe. I both love and loathe designing my own home. It's very difficult process for someone who, um, sees a lot of options come through her office every single day and loves change and loves new things. So this house will be a continued, um, process for me. This is my mud room. This was originally a porch. And when we did our kitchen renovation, we enclosed this because we needed much more storage with our kids. I really wanted cubbies and I needed a place for everything. So we did these custom built in cubbies with a little window seat, which is where my dog sits every day and waits for us to come home. Um, everybody's got their little space for everything, backpacks, coats, off season stuff in these cabinets up here with a little pie hole cutouts, um, and baskets for shoes. The floor is a faux brick, so it's super durable. Um, the wallpaper is another Jasper, Michael Smith. And we had a custom memo board made so we can keep schedules and photos and kids' artwork, um, handy in here. And welcome to our brand new patio that we just finished Amir like month and a half ago. So I haven't shown this yet. Um, we really wanted to create a livable, wonderful outdoor space for our family and friends to gather. So we worked with a great contractor to do this, um, blue stone patio fire pit and half wall off of our barn garage. Um, we wanted to have a dedicated dining space here. This table expands to fit more people. And this is kind of a sneak peek of my new holiday collection with, with Casa techs. Um, so we set the table for you just to show off how you can make an outdoor space look a little more formal and dress it up. Um, and then down here we have this awesome stack stone gas fire pit, which my kids try to roast s'mores every night at. We decided to do a new sectional sofa down here from front gate. It's a really, really weather resistant added some throw pillows that kind of play off our hydrangeas that are turning blush right now, which I love. Um, and this round coffee table that's a smidge more modern and clean also from front gate. Same with the chairs front gate. This is a new collection they have that I love. I love mixing stripes and then solids in outdoor. And I also love mixing wood and woven wicker. Um, and then we have some chases over here for lounging and just enjoying our kids playing in the yard. What gives a home a soul and makes it come alive, I think are collected items that tell a story. So not feeling like you walk into a house and everything is perfect and matches exactly and is brand new. I think mixing things from your family, antiques, new things, original art, things you've bought on your travels. Um, and things that really reflect who you are as a person and not trying to present an image to the world of a certain type of person. Um, I think those are the most successful interiors and the most interesting. When people walk into my home, I want them to feel at ease, um, comfortable, but also like there's a little air of elegance happening here. The word home means to me wherever my family is and wherever we can feel safe and comfortable and relaxed together. Thanks for coming by for my tour with Homeworthy. And I really hope I'll see you guys again soon. Thanks for watching. Be sure to go to homeworthy.com for exclusive content, shopping guides, and so much more.