When interior designer and author Erin Gates purchased her Wellesley, Massachusetts, home in 2020, she inherited more than 150 years of history. Built in 1865—16 years before Wellesley was officially incorporated as a town—the French Second Empire-style house came with nearly 11-foot ceilings, floor-to-ceiling windows, and a grand staircase, among other beautiful historic elements. Fortunately, its previous owners had already tackled the less glamorous renovations, leaving Gates free to focus on the fun part: the interiors.
Rather than erase the home’s 19th-century character, Gates leaned into it, pairing antique finds and traditional architectural details with contemporary furnishings, unexpected color, and a few practical upgrades for her young family. “It just had a really lovely, graceful feel about it,” Gates explains. “My new book is called Elements of Timeless Style, and it was born actually from me buying this house and my editor thinking the renovation would be a good story to tell. It documents everything I did to my own home, including mistakes that were made and the things that were successful,” she adds.
Wellesley, Massachusetts, was first settled in 1630 as part of Dedham and officially incorporated as an independent town in April 1881. Just 16 years earlier, this home was built. “When approaching this home, I wanted to respect the architecture and the era of the home, but introduce some more modern, streamlined pieces into it at the same time,” Gates says. “It felt like a really nice, warm mix of traditional and modern design.” And those design choices for the interiors only enhanced the history of the home rather than providing a stark contrast.
Fewer purchases are more exciting than the first one you make for a new home, and for Gates, that purchase was the Mural Sources in the dining room. Of course, everything in here is new, including the custom table that Gates designed with Huston & Company to look like a French antique, but the goal for this room was for it to look like an older, collected space. Each piece, from the vintage chairs to the crystal chandelier, was a deliberate choice to give the room that antique feel without the typical issues that come with antique pieces.
They say, “When you know, you know,” and Erin Gates knew this home would be hers the moment she saw the living room. What really sealed the deal, though, was how her husband envisioned them using the grand space. “When we bought the house, the first thing my husband said was that this would be the Christmas room,” Gates says through a laugh. “He’s obsessed with Christmas, and he thought this would be the perfect space for a holiday party.”
She’s not wrong. The massive ceilings and the abundance of windows that maximize the views of a classic Massachusetts white Christmas make for a very festive holiday. Plus, the piano just behind the seating area doesn’t hurt. Gates actually grew up with it in her childhood home, and when she moved into this one, her parents offered it to her as a housewarming gift.
As for Gates’ vision for the room? She knew immediately that she wanted to color-drench it. “It took a few tests before we got the right color, and the one we ended up with was Benjamin Moore’s Wales Gray, which is a really beautiful, subtle blue that has a little bit of gray in it.”
Though Gates and her family moved into this home nearly six years ago, the completed kitchen came three years later. Now that it’s finally done, Gates admits it’s one of her favorite rooms in the house. “This is really my dream kitchen. It is the heart of the home, certainly with two kids and family, but it’s also a room that I still walk in and say, ‘I can’t believe this is my kitchen,'” Gates admits. As beautiful as it is, though, it was not without its challenges. For starters, there are five case openings, which didn’t leave Gates with much room for wall storage. “We made sure to utilize all the vertical space we have, taking the cabinets up to the ceiling, which is 10.5 feet,” Gates says.
The two standout features in the kitchen just so happen to be Gates’ favorite things in here: the induction range and the full slab backsplash with a strongly veined marble. “One thing I really wanted in this kitchen was a pot rail, and I knew I wanted to have copper pots on them, but these are ‘looking pots’ because they do not work on an induction range,” she warns. “So this is what we lovingly call items that are more for looks than function. So don’t try to use copper on induction.”
There are plenty of common areas in this house, but Gates says that her family spends most of their time in the family room, which sits just off the kitchen. “One of the reasons I love this house so much was the abundance of natural light in this room,” she explains. Secondly, the cozy fireplace makes it an easy place to hang out. That said, the fireplace is not original to the house. “Actually, this was a half wall with a really ugly electric fireplace that I knocked down and replaced with a full built-in and gas range, which I am glad I did—even though there were some people who thought it was a crazy idea.” Well, the joke is on them!
This room is also a slight but deliberate departure from some of the other rooms, which have a more obvious use of color and pattern than this one does. “I wanted to have some color, but a base of neutrals to make it feel luxe but livable,” Gates insists. “I wanted it to be something I was proud to invite people into for cocktails or dinner, but also feel comfortable enough to kick up my feet with my kids and dog, and really relax.”
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