IIT’S NOT OFTEN THAT JOHN BOURGEOIS HAS THE opportunity to work on one of his firm’s past projects twice. “Many of our clients are repeat clients, where we work on a different part of their home that we didn’t work on before or it’s their second or third home,” he says. “It’s rare, if ever, that we get to go back and work on a home we’ve already renovated or built.”
The home was first owned by a young family who enlisted Bourgeois and his mother, architectural designer Emily Bourgeois, to renovate the small 1940s home in Eastover. “We tore the home down to the foundation but kept the original footprint,” he says. “It allowed us to maximize the room proportion, so it felt inherently good when you walked in.” It wasn’t until years later, though, that Bourgeois got a call from longtime client and friend, Jane Caldwell, who had heard the home was on the market and that Bourgeois McGinn Builders had renovated it. “I wanted to stay in Eastover, but I wanted something smaller. I wanted to downsize,” Caldwell says. “My real estate agent knew this home had been on the market, and I was intrigued by several things: it was a smaller house, and the first floor had ten-foot ceilings. I was dying to see what it looked like. And when I heard John and Emily had worked on it, I immediately reached out.”
Not long after touring the home, Caldwell purchased the 2,600-square-foot cottage, knowing that, despite its recent renovation by Bourgeois McGinn, she would want to update and style the home to suit her eclectic and sophisticated style. “John and Emily have great design taste, so there truly wasn’t much to change,” she says. Adds Bourgeois, “Nothing mechanically from a builder standpoint needed to be changed, but from an aesthetic standpoint, there were changes that needed to be made to match Jane’s eye.”
To start, Caldwell wanted the existing kitchen made larger to accommodate more seating and dining space. Ironically, the layout Caldwell had in mind was the exact design Bourgeois drew up years ago for the previous homeowners, who opted instead for a different layout. Reworking the cabinetry and appliance layout opened up the galley-style kitchen to allow for a larger island, which perfectly accommodated Caldwell’s custom French bistro stools she had from her previous home. Aesthetically, though, she wanted a completely different look. “The kitchen was a little bit awkward,” says Caldwell of the finishes. “It had mix-matched granite countertops, and the fixtures were old.” Caesarstone counters were added to brighten the space, which has limited natural light. However, the original cabinetry, designed by Bourgeois McGinn, “was beautiful,” Caldwell says. A paint touch-up and new unlacquered brass hardware from Bird Decorative Hardware & Bath brought the kitchen to life.
Because the home was smaller than her previous one, Caldwell knew that every inch needed to be functional. The adjacent dining room lacked the storage she needed, so she tasked Bourgeois with designing a custom built-in China cabinet that was not only functional but also beautiful. “It’s literally filled to the brim!” laughs Caldwell. To soften the architectural detail of the new piece, Caldwell added a Phillip Jeffries grasscloth on the ceiling to complement the Peg Norriss for Schumacher Toile de Femmes wallpaper, a lyrical twist on a traditional toile pattern by fine artist Jackie Gendel. “It has images of women doing all these cool things, like riding horses, which I do with my girls, or shopping or archery, and I fell in love with it,” she says of the wallpaper. Caldwell’s eclectic style led her to add more modern pieces in the room, which features a Saarinen dining table, a chandelier by Bourgeois Boheme, and artwork by Scott Avett from SOCO Gallery. “I wanted to modernize the home, and I wanted it to be fun,” she says. “My artwork and the wallpaper here and the lighting and just having my girls chime in on the design of the rooms made this all really fun for me.”
Similarly, Caldwell desperately wanted to marry style and function in the living room, utilizing every nook intentionally. “There was a closet in the living room that the previous homeowners used as toy storage,” she says. “So I asked John if there was any way we could turn it into a home office.” Bourgeois accepted the challenge, transforming the one-time closet into a tiny jewel box of a home office. Though they were unable to add a window, Caldwell brightened the space with the addition of the Pierre Frey wallpaper, a red Moroccan side table from R. Runberg, and abstract art of a Coca-Cola can by Caldwell’s cousin. As well, Caldwell and Bourgeois replaced the office and adjacent living-room closet doors with split doors to allow the home office to function betterand give it more room, which created a more aesthetically pleasing sightline from the foyer to the back of the home.
The interior design of the living room was all Caldwell, who added her eclectic touch throughout. “Truly, it was a matter of paint and wallpaper,” Bourgeois says. “Once you have good design and room proportion, then it’s just a canvas for each homeowner. And Jane has great style and had that vision.” The living room is chock-full of Caldwell’s most favorite pieces from her previous home, including vintage Chinese Chippendale rattan bamboo chairs with Zak + Fox cushions and a nineteenth-century Indian Pichwai painting above the loveseat. The space above the sofa, though, was left blank until Caldwell could find the perfect piece. “I wanted to be careful about how I used art in this house because I wanted it to be really fun,” she explains. “Then, at Hidell Brooks, I saw this piece by Sarah Helser, who also did portraits of my girls in my old home. It really fits in with my whole chinoiserie vibe. The colors were just right. As soon as it was hung, I knew it was perfect.”
Now that the home is complete, in retrospect, both Caldwell and Bourgeois can say it was a fulfilling experience. “There’s definitely some nostalgia there from when we first designed this home,” Bourgeois says. “You think to yourself, ‘I hope everythingis as good in here as it was when we built it.’ And to come back and have that be true is rewarding.” ForCaldwell, the sentiment is similar. “I really can’t describe how happy this house makes me.”