she recalls. Salter agreed. Soon, the house was
theirs.
Although the home was the right size and
in the right location, the interior, says Holleran, “was all beat up.” There had been an ill-conceived renovation in the 1970s that left the
place with a depressing, dated vibe. “We knew
the house had so much potential,” says Holleran, but the priorities were practical: insulation and new mechanicals. “We spent all our
money on the un-sexy things,” she says. They
did repaint and replace carpets, but that’s as
far as their budget would extend. They were
willing to bide their time until they could
undertake a complete interior overhaul.
Flash forward seven years. The couple had
saved money for the update, but logistics pre-
vented them from moving ahead. “We’d been
ready for a while,” says Holleran, “but with the
four kids, we were always stumped about where
we’d live during the renovation.” That changed
when the couple learned that their immediate
neighbors were leaving the country for a year-
long sabbatical. It was kismet. Now the family
could simply move next door to let the work on
their house begin in earnest.
With the help of Dee Elms of Elms Interior Design in Boston, they stuck to the one-year time frame and completed the renovation and moved back home before their neighbors returned.
Space planning was the first order of business. “There isn’t a ton of extra space to work
with,” says Elms, “so we had to be really intentional with the design.” The project involved
a complete kitchen overhaul, the expansion of
the second-floor bathroom, the remaking of the
children’s bathroom on the third floor, where a
new dormer was also installed, and refurbishing the living room and bedrooms.
in the dining area, Elms
removed a brick wall and
replaced it with an arrangement
of built-ins that provide storage
for every family member. She
also designed both the
expansive farmhouse-style table
and the impressive light fixture,
which was fabricated by Bone
Simple Design.
