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Henry’s childhood home had a blue
and white kitchen, a color pairing she
carried into her own home. Her large
collection of inherited and purchased
Danish Christmas plates inspired her to
paint the kitchen a rich Copenhagen blue.
“I chose the color to complement, never
to match, the color of the plates,” she says.
She mounted 28 plates just below the
ceiling moldings and stenciled a crosshatch bamboo pattern around them.
In the adjacent dining room, colors
are keyed from the sky of a painting hanging on one wall. For days, Henry climbed
up and down an 8-foot ladder applying
four coats of glaze to the paneling and
molding. The dusty-aqua walls provide
in the foyer, Henry’s collection of botanical
a backdrop for the rich tones of the ma-
prints (left) complements the striped silk
hogany furniture and Henry’s collection of
curtains. In the dining room (above), she
rose medallion pottery. For a playful note,
painted the chandelier the same color as the
walls to give the room “unity rather than
she purposely spattered the taffeta curtains
repetition.” with the wall paint for a marbled effect.
a healthy perspective on how things turn
out. “If rooms are just perfect,” she says,
“people are not comfortable, and they feel
worried that they are disturbing it.”
Renovating the kitchen was the first
challenge. To increase the square footage
and natural light, she and Bill enlisted
the help of architect and friend Philip
Dowds of Levi + Wong Design Associates
in Concord, Massachusetts, to design a
one-story windowed bay that was in keeping with three others original to the house.
The new niche now holds a table where
family and friends can keep her company
while she cooks.
