Interior designer Mindy Haber, a principal at Cummings Architecture and Interiors, was looking for a new home. This was her chance to put her creative stamp on a project for her own family, instead of for a client—“to use all the wallpapers and fabrics that I had been eyeing for a long time,” as she puts it.
The goal was to create a family home that would feel adamantly livable, but stylish and versatile enough for holiday entertaining. Her choice was an unassuming ranch house in Topsfield, Mass., that had seen better days. With her designer’s eye, she knew the structure provided just the right “blank slate” for her creativity.
“I think it scared the average homeowner away because it wasn’t in great shape and hadn’t been maintained in a long time,” she remembers. “So it would have been a hard sell for someone who wasn’t in the know, perhaps not in the industry.”
She saw right away that its high ceilings with dark-wood beams and unusual three-sided fireplace would make the basis for an inviting home with memorable character. And the neutrality of the ranch style gave her “a canvas to put my spin on,” providing latitude to combine a range of elements and ideas.
A team effort
She worked closely with architect Mat Cummings, also a principal at her firm, to add three bump-outs to increase floor space for the bedrooms, open up the interior layout, transform a part of the garage into a mudroom and laundry room, create vaulted ceilings in the master suite, and make other improvements.
Back-and-forth idea sharing between them helped develop and refine Haber’s vision for the space, shaping everything from the placement of the kitchen sink to the strategy for rehabilitating a dilapidated sunroom. It’s the same iterative creative process that defines the firm’s work for its clients.
“It became a team effort,” Haber says. “I had my own vision, but I relied a lot on the architects and my fellow interior designers. I bounced tons of ideas off them. Everyone pitched in.”
The result is an elegant yet comfortable three-bedroom home centered on a great room. A large kitchen island, which replaced a wall, and the commanding brick chimney serve to demarcate the kitchen, living, and dining spaces. French doors off the living room lead into a sunroom, which opens onto a backyard that abuts conservation land.
Designer as client
The décor is calm and soothing, built around neutral colors that are enlivened by contrasting patterns and a mix of materials and textures. Cool blues and rich browns tie the space together, with an occasional pop of color, such as in the statement chair in the sunroom, bringing in moments of boldness. Special details throughout add moments of surprise and delight, from the faceted glass doorknobs to the hidden bar in the space behind the refrigerator.
Throughout the process of dialing in all these details, Haber had to put herself in the role of the client, a position she isn’t used to.
“I’ve never had to ask myself those questions: What colors do I gravitate toward? What colors don’t make me happy?” she says. “I really wanted to make sure that I understood the process of the client. And now I can totally relate to how they go through it. And I’m really pleased because the space feels good.”
While her designer’s eye—and her cooperative team—helped her make good decisions, her professional’s knowledge of the breadth of resources available to her was a challenge. After all, like all her clients she was working within a budget.
“I know how many different fabrics, finishes, wood species, vanities and lights there are,” she says. “It was like, ‘Okay, I love it all, but I actually have to narrow it down and give myself fewer options.’”
The result is a handsome and comfortable home perfect for the daily life of her family yet ready to impress visitors and passersby.
“She didn’t purchase a beautiful ranch; she turned it into one,” says Cummings. “It shows that even if you have a simple, small ranch house, it could turn into something wonderful that anybody would be proud of living in.”