visit
the idea for the drawer pulls — meat hooks,
with the hook cleaved off — on the kitchen desk
(above) came from James Beard’s kitchen, which
Henry saw in House & Garden. The palette, right
down to dishware (top right) and table linens,
mimics that of the kitchen in her childhood home.
“Blue and white is a way of life,” says Henry,
adding with a smile, “It’s also a sickness.”
Years after the kitchen project,
the Henrys decided to open up the living room. They again called on Dowds,
whose design for a large bay was executed
by Sage Builders of Newton. Their new bay functions as a small conservatory, a sunny corner where
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the couple gravitates to read and relax.
“The conservatory is conserving us,” says
Henry. Although readily acknowledging
she prefers painting flowers to growing
them, she did add a few undemanding
umbrella bamboo trees and orchids to the
light-filled nook.
Treasured family pieces mix with
Henry’s own designs. Among her creations:
a custom music cabinet that complements
her grandfather’s mirror hanging above it,
a storage cabinet behind the sofa, a pair of
decoupage lamps, and, from Henry’s line
of reproduction prints, a series of birds.
Her mother’s Lawson sofa re-covered in
green velvet and 1930s slipper chairs are
right at home on the green Asmara carpet that seems to float on the floor, which
Henry has painted a warm grassy green.
“I called my business Aquarelle,
which in French means ‘watercolors,’”
says Henry, who sells her line of prints
and decoupage lamps through Webster &
Company at the Boston Design Center. “I
am a watercolorist at heart and soul, and
whatever I create will have a light and airy
feel to it.”
