A Charming Boston Apartment Full of “New England Style”

Name: Christine
Location: Boston, Massachusetts

This is the apartment my husband and I shared for two years in Boston’s Beacon Hill neighborhood. I am a DC-based interior designer. In 2014 my husband was accepted to graduate school in Boston, so we sold our DC house, either Craigslisted or put most of our furniture in storage, and moved to Boston for two years. We chose to rent this apartment because of its amazing architectural details – built in 1855, it featured incredible millwork, bowed windows, a delft tile fireplace, high ceilings. At 1,100 square feet, it was a very spacious one bedroom!

We did not own furniture that was the right scale for the living room, so we were very fortunate that my husband’s mother, who is an interior designer, lent us her gorgeous George Smith English roll arm sofa and club chairs. We furnished the apartment primarily with IKEA pieces, flea market finds, and furniture passed down to us from my husband’s grandmother.

We spent lots of time scouring antique shops in nearby towns such as Brimfield and Essex, MA, and found that by doing this we were able to achieve a traditional New England style that felt warm, lived in, and appropriate. As renters we weren’t able to change the paint colors, and weren’t willing to invest in window treatments for the uniquely sized windows, so I think I’m most proud of the fact that we worked with what we had, and I think our furnishings managed to distract from unattractive blinds and drab white paint!

Thanks, Christine!

• Interested in sharing your home with Apartment Therapy? Contact the editors through our House Tour & House Call Submission Form.