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a lucky little house
Interior designer Rachel Reider rescues a 1900s homestead and
infuses it with her distinctive “soft modern” style
Written by JENNIFER BLECHER
Photography by SAM GRAY
If houses could talk, rachel reider’s would say “thank you.” located on a quiet street in the West Roxbury section of Boston, the circa 1900 home, inhab- ited by one family for three generations, had fallen into disrepair. But to Reider, who owns the Boston design firm Rachel Reider Interiors, the house had potential. “The architectural details were beautifully intact — the stained-glass windows, the moldings, the woodwork, and the high ceilings,”
says Reider. “My husband and I were looking for something that needed updating,
something we could make our own and put our mark on. When we saw this, we immediately fell in love.”
Which is a good thing, because enduring the six-month renovation that followed
required great devotion. Not only were there cosmetic fixes to make, but the crowded
and awkward floor plan also had to be addressed — many tiny rooms with only one
small bathroom for the entire 1,900-square-foot three-story house. Three rooms were
combined into one to form an enlarged kitchen, and a nonfunctioning chimney was
removed, creating space enough for a first-floor powder room. Upstairs, the old bathroom became a walk-in closet and a bedroom was converted into a new master bath.
Electricians and plumbers attended to the more technical work, but because their
