Nearly Every Color Is Represented in This Cozy Delaware Home

Name: Kirsten Olson, partner, college-aged child, pets galore!
Location: Bellefonte — Wilmington, Delaware
Size: 2,000 square feet
Years lived in: 13 years, owned

Our family—my husband, college-aged child, and me—have lived in this house for 13 years, along with a constantly changing array of pets. (Right now it’s two dogs and four cats.) The house was built in 1910 and still retains much of its early 20th-century bungalow charm, like the beautiful unpainted wood trim and some of the original (drafty) windows. But it’s been improved upon over the years, with a wonderful bright, airy family room addition, and incredibly spacious closets built under the eaves. (We moved here from a city row house and I almost fainted when I saw the closets for the first time.)

Describe your home’s style in 5 words or less: Colorful vintage meets IKEA.

What is your favorite room and why? Right now, I am in love with our living room. It’s the first room you see when you enter our home, and after years of tweaks and adjustments, I finally think it’s perfect, thanks in large part to an incredible secondhand rug I found online and bought for a song. The rug pulls everything together perfectly, making the room a warm and cozy place that reflects our style, while retaining the original charms of our 110-year-old house.

If you could magically change something about your home, what would it be? My kitchen! The kitchen is functional, but the counters (blue Formica) and floors (patterned linoleum) must date back to a mid-’90s renovation. We’ve done a few updates—a gorgeous butcher-block island that my brother installed, and a fake subway tile backsplash that I put up a couple of years ago—but it really needs a refresh. Especially the floors. I hate the floors.

What’s the last thing you bought (or found!) for your home? An incredible secondhand rug that pulls our living room together beautifully. I must admit, I’ve gotten a little obsessed with Facebook Marketplace—I found this huge beautiful rug that someone was selling less than two miles away—and paid next to nothing for it. I also scored some adorable MCM side tables a couple of months ago.

Any advice for creating a home you love? It takes time. We’ve lived in our house for 13 years, and it is constantly evolving. I move furniture around with alarming frequency (just ask my family) and am always adding and sometimes subtracting furniture and art along the way. I rarely have a vision of where things will end up—just tweak and tweak and tweak until I’m happy—until I’m ready for the next change!

Thanks, Kirsten!

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