By Jen Kent
We've mentioned before how lucky we are to collaborate with like-minded designers — individuals who truly value craftsmanship, charm, and all things vintage. And so, when we saw that Annie Blair of Blair House Design was (very carefully!) flipping a home just minutes from our showroom, we knew we had to connect with Annie, and cross our fingers that she'd be on board. Spoiler alert: She was! And so the collaboration began to take shape.
The project, which Annie named The Chatham House, is a bit of a departure from her usual style. She's typically drawn to midcentury modern homes, but The Chatham House is anything but. Instead, it's a 1950s Cape Cod bursting with historic charm and traditional details. Annie purchased the home last summer, and has spent much of the last year renovating it from top to bottom — all while preserving the historic details (original windows! ceiling beams! pecky cypress!) we, as designers and vintage devotees, all love and cherish.
It soon became apparent that the most natural fit for our collaboration was to include our brass hardware in the kitchen. Like many spaces, the kitchen was extensively renovated, and now features new countertops, lighting, appliances and custom cabinetry. Annie visited our showroom and brought samples of both the painted cabinetry (a creamy taupe) and the wood-stained cabinetry (a rich, dark stain). We decided on a mix of bin pulls and knobs — each in the unlacquered brass finish, which will gracefully patina over time. Buy once, buy well, we say.
The hardware was installed just before the sale of the home, and we love how well it complements Annie's vision. We asked Annie to share a bit more about the home and where she drew inspiration. Read on to hear her thoughts, scroll for more photos of the space, and shop our full collection of brass hardware here.
A Conversation with Annie Blair
CHD: Can you tell us a bit about what inspired the design of The Chatham House? And its name?
ANNIE: Yes! The house was built in the 1950s, and it's a Cape Cod-style house with nooks, dormers and stone cladding. Being so close to Lake Michigan, I leaned into the coastal vibes of a Cape Cod-style house. Also, the stone cladding and original wooden beams reminded me of an English cottage, so I tried to blend the two, while also making it feel modern and fresh. One of my favorite ways to get inspired for designs is through travel, so my husband, Nick, and I went to Cape Cod for the weekend when we first bought the house. We checked out different dormer styles for the addition, as well as paint schemes and materials for the house. One of our favorite coastal towns in Cape Cod was Chatham, and it's also the name of my grandmother's alma mater (Chatham College), so we decided to name it Chatham! Since the house is on the same street as our own house, we knew we needed a name to refer to it rather than calling it by our same street name.
CHD: What value do you see in finishes like unlacquered brass? And why were this finish — and the hardware you chose specifically — selected?
ANNIE: Unlacquered brass feels timeless and classy! I love the warmth of it, and the fact that it patinas over time. It fits so well with the character of the house, and it was great that the hardware came in different sizes and shapes. I also wanted to mix metals to give the kitchen a collected-over-time feel, rather than brand new, and the warmth of the polished nickel brings out the warmth of the unlacquered brass hardware. The combination of the polished nickel with the unlacquered brass screams class, and I'm here for that!
CHD: What's next for Blair House Design? Anything big (or small!) on the horizon?
ANNIE: Yes! We have a new project house on the horizon! We found an off-market property in a fantastic location that needs a lot of love and a second-floor addition. It will be our biggest project yet, and it might be so big that we turn it into our house! That's saying a lot because we LOVE our current house, so time will tell what we end up doing. Regardless, I'm really excited about the potential of this house. It was also built in the 1950s and has some great character, including more pecky cypress, but it's more of a blank slate than Chatham. Stay tuned on my Instagram to find out more!
Inside The Chatham House Kitchen
