At Home in Colonial Williamsburg with Anthony Baratta

You are in one of the historic homes here in Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia. Yes. But this is very much your home too, I mean your designer residence. Right. So you totally transformed this, it's amazing. Well thank you, thank you. It is quite an honor being a designer in residence at Colonial Williamsburg and one of the exciting things is I have a front row seat at this incredible Colonial American Dream. So one of the goals of this house is that, yes, it is my home so it's saturated with color because I love color. It feels very you. It's even though there's like a fife and drum core outside. Right, right. And there's people in historic costumes that are passing us when we were coming here. Yes. As soon as I came in I was like this is Tony's place. Yes. I could see all the signatures in your design palette. I think one of the interesting parts about the project is that it's not a historical restoration and it's not a show house. So it's really my home and how I want to live in it. It has my collections of art, folk art and antiques. You know I've used a lot of different periods of furnishings here because it's all me. So that's how we started this project. Was this house beige and white? It didn't have all this. I mean these are historically based colors from the Williamsburg collection by Benjamin Moore. They look so modern. When I first came to the house every piece of woodwork was painted a beige color. I said I'll be happy to live in this house but I have to add color. So what's amazing is Benjamin Moore stepped up to the plate with this incredible collection of color. But my goal was to make it modern and relevant with the inspiration from 18th century interiors from Colonial Williamsburg. Because the one thing that people don't understand is that there was a lot of bright color. You go into some of the period houses and the color is arrestingly beautiful and bright. The uniforms are spectacular. They're beautifully colored. All of the interiors just so surprising. The museums and the folk art so colorful. So that's what I'm incorporating into this house for my interpretation of life at Colonial Williamsburg. In my entry foyer I did a great decorating trip that was completely inspired by Colonial houses. I painted the baseboard in a Benjamin Moore color called Mopboard Black because the mop would hit against the board when they were cleaning the house. But it acts as if to push the walls out slightly and add this punctuation mark. And it's super great with the spiker floor cloth. That's a reproduction of an 18th century original. In the living room there's no better place to see this palette that I developed for the house which is a Colonial interpretation of a primary palette. So the settee is done in this beautiful goldenrod yellow. The winter is done in this very rich red felt. And this pretty Victorian settee is in the most beautiful, beautiful blue quilted fabric. And how about here? Is this a blue or a green? It's a green and it's called Goodwin Green, of course Benjamin Moore. And I used it as almost like a background color. It's this really rich spruce. Now can I just say that you, of all people, kind of has made Americana sort of sexy. It is very glamorous and a little bit sexy in here. I love, I never thought I would say this about these kinds of rugs, but the oversized scale of it. And also, is that a Victorian chair? That's a Victorian chair from my own collection. And I've always been known for incorporating Victorian furniture into my homes. Okay, but I'm talking about the combination of the surprise of how you did the oversized pattern on it. Yes, yes. That looks very fresh and modern. Yeah, we try to make it modern. And I almost like the idea that it's a big canvas for pattern. Hey Tony, what are these? These are incredible. Those are ship dioramas from my own collection. If there's anything I'm known for is my use of nautical decor in my interiors. So while doing this house, I was like, why not? Yeah, and I like that it's more is more here. You have the, this is dioramas. But then you also have paintings. This is obviously a completely different date than these over here, which look very quite old. But they all work together. In the dining room, I paired Lafayette blue with damask gold. And one of the wonderful parts about this house is that I get to do things that I wouldn't normally do for a client's house. And here I'm painting the woodwork gold. It's such a departure for me, but I absolutely love it. Tony, I'm obsessed with these. What are these, playing cards? There's four of them. I love them. Are these new? They're from the Williamsburg print collection. Oh, so they're new? They're new, yes. Okay, and then how about this? I love this painting. It's vintage, and the scale is super in this room. Come and see the bedrooms. In the guest room, I used Custis salmon. And one of the things, because the house is done for me, it's not very feminine. So here was my chance to use this beautiful, luscious pink color. And it adds this feminine quality to the house. We're in the master bedroom now. And I'm always asked about what is done on the wainscot. It's actually- Wallpaper? Not wallpaper. It's not wallpaper. It's decorative painting by this great local company. And I think they did a great job. They did. They did, and it's inspired by another 18th century house, not in Williamsburg. But that's what made you, kind of, gave me the inspiration to do it here. You know, I wanted to do something special in this room, and a little different from the rest of the house. It does feel different in here. Yes, yes. It feels very worldly. I love all the knots, all the oil paintings of horses, of portraits. But then, I'm looking at your bed, and you've got this great combination of patterns, kind of something very traditional, right? Yes, yes, yes. Which you're very known for, I know that you love that. But then, like, what's this? Is this- That was a quilt that was purchased online from India. And it was very inexpensive, $45, if you can imagine. But, you know, what I think is interesting is this colorway pulls, and is reminiscent of that goldenrod that you used downstairs, which is historical. See, am I getting it right? You're getting it, you're getting it. Okay, thank you. And then, question, what is this amazing headboard-like piece? That I call a Corona, and it's made with antique hinges. But the real star of the show here is my bed that was purchased from the Gord Vidal estate. You're kidding me. No, and I bought it in California. One of the cool things about the house is that I have this big collection of furniture in warehouses, and I was able to pick the pieces that I would not normally use in a house to do this house. For yourself, all the pieces that you use up. This happens to be a room that I spend an enormous amount of time in, especially in the wintertime, because the fireplace is fantastic, and it's so warm and cozy here. I could spend half the day here easily. You know what I am remarking on is for a very old house, how high the ceilings are. Yes. And the width, the proportion, everything is so balanced in here. Isn't it unbelievable? It busts the myth of tiny, tiny little rooms, it's not at all. And I was told that this house was based on what a London townhouse would have been. Really? Yeah, and you kind of get that feeling. You do. Yes, yes. I was just in London, and I'm feeling that kind of vibe here. Yes. Well, Mr. Palmer would be proud, and I like the fact that you're now taking it, and 100 years from now, someone's going to talk about Mr. Baratta and what he did here. I love that. And how he reinterpreted, and the next person's going to take what you did, and that's going to inspire them and take it to the future. I hope they don't repaint it. Okay, what size is this? Colonial size. Very nice. Very Gucci. This is awesome! Don't miss another video visit. Click on the orange Q to subscribe, and have quintessence virtually delivered from our doorstep to yours.