Houzz TV: A New England Farmhouse Explodes With Color
Creativity and color burst from every corner in this unique 18th-century Massachusetts home for an artist and her family
Rikki Snyder
December 16, 2018
Houzz Contributor. Professional photographer and stylist specializing in food, products, still life and interiors. Contributing home tour photographer and writer for Houzz.
Houzz Contributor. Professional photographer and stylist specializing in food, products,... More
Kristin Nicholas and Mark Duprey’s 1751 home was a blank canvas, painted in simple whites and pastels, but Nicholas has spent the past 14 years layering on brushstrokes in vivid colors. A working artist known for her knit, crochet and stitchery designs, Nicholas has made their home a true reflection of her talent and spirit. “There isn’t a room left that’s how we found it,” she says.
Watch: See more of this home and family on Houzz TV now
Watch: See more of this home and family on Houzz TV now
Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here: Kristin Nicholas and Mark Duprey, their daughter, Julia
Location: Franklin County, Massachusetts
Size: 3,500 square feet (325 square meters); two bedrooms, two bathrooms
That’s interesting: The couple tends to more than 300 sheep.
Nicholas color washed and dragged the walls in the main living area in a mottled chartreuse and gold. The vintage desk is home to old photographs, a blue antique typewriter that belonged to her father and other meaningful pieces.
Who lives here: Kristin Nicholas and Mark Duprey, their daughter, Julia
Location: Franklin County, Massachusetts
Size: 3,500 square feet (325 square meters); two bedrooms, two bathrooms
That’s interesting: The couple tends to more than 300 sheep.
Nicholas color washed and dragged the walls in the main living area in a mottled chartreuse and gold. The vintage desk is home to old photographs, a blue antique typewriter that belonged to her father and other meaningful pieces.
A 1920s sideboard once belonging to Nicholas’ great-aunt got new life with a bright coat of red. Nicholas does oil and gouache painting, paints pottery, is a published illustrator and author, and has now taken up mosaics.
See more of Kristin Nicholas’ art
Sideboard paint: Satin Impervo, Benjamin Moore
See more of Kristin Nicholas’ art
Sideboard paint: Satin Impervo, Benjamin Moore
In the living room library, the homeowner created her own wallpaper by cutting shapes out of FedEx boxes, layering the shapes on top of each other and hand painting each shape.
A large wooden chest makes a perfect ottoman for this reading nook.
Nicholas painted the stairwell in the living room with a blue flower pattern.
Video: Create Your Own Mural Wall With Easy DIY Stencils and Stamps
Video: Create Your Own Mural Wall With Easy DIY Stencils and Stamps
Another hand-painted treatment adorns the wall opposite the library couch.
The couple kept the original wood surround in the library. The mantel is home to family photos and other meaningful pieces.
Additional black and white photographs of the couple’s families are found throughout the dining room as great reminders of their farming history.
One of Nicholas’ free-form murals adorns the dining room walls. Its chickens, birds, flowers, leaves, guinea hens and peacocks offer a tribute to the animal-friendly home. Below the chair rail, a plaid pattern designed with painter’s tape contrasts the playful forms above.
“Most of the year, the dining room serves as a shipping and storeroom for our various businesses, but once a year at Thanksgiving it serves as a great basis for a family celebration,” Nicholas says.
“Most of the year, the dining room serves as a shipping and storeroom for our various businesses, but once a year at Thanksgiving it serves as a great basis for a family celebration,” Nicholas says.
“I love my set of 1920s Jacobean revival dining room furniture that came from my great-aunt Jennie in New Jersey. It was an ugly oak-color wood when I moved it here, but I washed it with a thin layer of black oil paint,” Nicholas says. “It isn’t exactly current fashion, but neither are we. It is chunky and sturdy and fits our home’s decoration perfectly.”
A long hallway between the living room and the kitchen holds a plush window seat sandwiched between two built-in bookshelves. It’s the perfect spot for resting and reading without being too excluded from the rest of the home.
A blue and white patterned blanket and some of Nicholas’ hand-crafted pillows adorn the cushioned seat. Her original artwork hangs under the wall lamps.
A blue and white patterned blanket and some of Nicholas’ hand-crafted pillows adorn the cushioned seat. Her original artwork hangs under the wall lamps.
A large stool sits in a closet across the hall, decorated with a collection of framed photos and drawings.
Watch: See more of this home and family on Houzz TV now
Watch: See more of this home and family on Houzz TV now
This Hoosier cabinet from Nicholas’ German immigrant grandmother, Frieda, was made by G.I. Sellers in Indiana in the early 1920s. Nicholas painted it bright orange and hung a piece of antique folk embroidery in place of a broken rolltop cover.
“It was in her American kitchen her entire adult life and has a flour bin with a sifter,” Nicholas says. “I keep all my baking supplies in it and love that connection with my grandmother.”
“It was in her American kitchen her entire adult life and has a flour bin with a sifter,” Nicholas says. “I keep all my baking supplies in it and love that connection with my grandmother.”
The couple gutted three rooms on the first floor and transformed them into one large kitchen. The original kitchen was in the basement.
An old wooden table matches the original rustic wood floors, where Phoebe the dog makes herself comfortable. A black iron electrified oil lamp sourced from an antiques store hangs over the table. The corner cabinet houses Nicholas’ hand-painted ceramics.
An old wooden table matches the original rustic wood floors, where Phoebe the dog makes herself comfortable. A black iron electrified oil lamp sourced from an antiques store hangs over the table. The corner cabinet houses Nicholas’ hand-painted ceramics.
The kitchen is designed to mimic a British-style country kitchen, with local Ashfield schist stone countertops and milk-painted cabinetry. A slotted drainboard is carved into the stone.
A maple counter made by one of Nicholas’ friends tops the island. “The lights are all old,” she says. “Over the island is a wacky iron lamp with an opalescent glass shade that I carried home from England shortly after we bought our house. The walls are filled with pottery — some old, some new, some I made myself. It is the nerve center of the house. I cook a lot and develop recipes for our sheep-farm website. Our kitchen functions really well as a space for our family and farm.”
A maple counter made by one of Nicholas’ friends tops the island. “The lights are all old,” she says. “Over the island is a wacky iron lamp with an opalescent glass shade that I carried home from England shortly after we bought our house. The walls are filled with pottery — some old, some new, some I made myself. It is the nerve center of the house. I cook a lot and develop recipes for our sheep-farm website. Our kitchen functions really well as a space for our family and farm.”
Nicholas made the lampshades and bases as well as some of the pottery in the house. “I’ve painted a lot of the lampshades in the house and had the lamp bases assembled out of antique lamp parts that I collected from flea markets over the years. I love how the light shines through the shades — they look a lot like stained glass,” she says.
Two years ago the couple built an upstairs addition, which now serves as an informal dining room and seating area. The high ceilings and painted wood walls make for a bright, airy and inviting space.
Paper lanterns hang from a wood beam in front of a gallery wall filled with original artwork by Nicholas and daughter Julia. A collection of painted chairs is gathered around the table.
Paper lanterns hang from a wood beam in front of a gallery wall filled with original artwork by Nicholas and daughter Julia. A collection of painted chairs is gathered around the table.
A colorful seating area with wicker furniture sits across from the dining area, adding to the indoor-porch feel of this space. Plenty of windows make the space seem even larger than it is.
More of Nicholas’ handmade lamps and colorful pillows keeps the upstairs area bright and inviting. The family loves this addition to their home and spends a lot of time relaxing here.
More of Nicholas’ handmade lamps and colorful pillows keeps the upstairs area bright and inviting. The family loves this addition to their home and spends a lot of time relaxing here.
One of the family kittens, Delilah, plays with the linen on one of Nicholas’ chairs.
Nicholas works and teaches knitting and stitching in her downstairs studio. White walls make way for the colorful tiled floor and chairs.
A pink-orange wall is an appropriate backdrop for another piece of Nicholas’ art. Original wooden beams balance the saturated color.
This upstairs bathroom is one of two bathrooms the couple renovated when they moved in. A claw-foot tub sits on a wooden platform surrounded by beadboard, bright yellow walls and individual decorative tiles.
Nicholas and Duprey knew this house was the one for them as soon as they saw it. “Mark called me at work and I insisted on seeing the place first, so we drove up to the house the next day, and before I got out of the truck, I said, ‘OK, we can buy it.’”
On the exterior, the couple replaced the dilapidated cedar roof, an outdated 1970s gambrel dormer addition, and added a mudroom.
“Our area is steeped in history, but unfortunately there is not much known about our house,” says Nicholas. “All our deeds state the year built as 1751. It was no doubt built as a farmhouse by one of the founders of our little town. Supposedly the stagecoach used to pass our house!”
On the exterior, the couple replaced the dilapidated cedar roof, an outdated 1970s gambrel dormer addition, and added a mudroom.
“Our area is steeped in history, but unfortunately there is not much known about our house,” says Nicholas. “All our deeds state the year built as 1751. It was no doubt built as a farmhouse by one of the founders of our little town. Supposedly the stagecoach used to pass our house!”
A grape arbor provides fruit and natural shade over the stone patio in back. The rock walkway wraps around to the front of the house, passing by a second, smaller patio area.
The couple added this section of the house two years ago.
The backyard is home to a large garden and a fenced-in area for the sheep.
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Watch: See more of this home and family on Houzz TV now
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I LOVE your home, but most of all I LOVE your attitude! Color is my life, too. But I am not so talented as you. I love doing jigsaw puzzles and I mount them when I finish assembling them. They hang or are propped up all over my house. They're not your oil paintings, but they bring me joy, so in that we are alike. Thank you for sharing your home and your philisophy.
Kristen, I saved this story when it came out years ago. It continues to give me a happy lift. Covid shut-ins? .....just crank up this video and you'll be fine. :-) Thank you so much for sharing your home.
I see this article is about a decade old. I wonder if she still has that boring old black-and-white dog, or if she every got around to doing it up in neon colors.