How much wood is too much? It’s a legitimate question in traditional decorating, since the charm of so many older homes lies in their wood details. Introduce wood floors and furniture, and, well, it can be a lot. Nina Farmer knows this. She turned to color — saturated blues, olives and burgundies — to balance the preponderance of wood in this 1904 Arts and Crafts home near Boston, which is all the fresher for it. Still, her favorite pieces here are a pair of rosewood Illum Wikkelsø chairs from Morentz, in the Netherlands. “In addition, the wood vessel on the coffee table is a sentimental favorite,” she admits. “The artist is my father.”
“This room brings together objects from all over the globe and several different time periods. It’s important to curate the right mix in order to create an interesting story and sense of visual tension.”
Design philosophy?
“The spaces that we surround ourselves with have a direct correlation to how we feel and how productive and creative we can be. In order to function at our highest level, we need to be around architecture and objects that we find stimulating and harmonious.”
