Design house: A historic 1935 Tudor-style home, designed by Amber Brown Matlack

Amber Brown Matlack has built her design career around creating interiors for hotels, restaurants, corporate offices and residential projects.

Her experience landed her a position as Director of Design for a worldwide hotel company, JHM Hotels, where she brought her talent to projects associated with Hyatt, Hilton, Marriott, Taj India, and Starwood brands. Today as owner of Brown Interiors, Amber brings expertise in the hospitality industry and vast knowledge of large-scale interior design projects.

Brown Interiors extensive experience spans the globe to bring each client a unique approach with individual attention to exceed their expectations.

We talk to Amber Brown Matlack about the design project.

THE PROPERTY

This historic 1935 Tudor-style home that was completely renovated, including all new plumbing, electrical and HVAC. The renovations included the addition of a master suite bathroom and wardrobes, upstairs bedrooms, and laundry room.

The house was originally a three bedroom, one bath house and is now a four bedroom, three bath house with a mudroom, open kitchen and dining room, and a formal living room. The owners wanted to make the home functional for their family but still maintain the homes original character and charm.

KITCHEN / DINING ROOM

The former kitchen was a small galley kitchen with a breakfast nook. We removed the wall dividing the original kitchen and dining spaces and blew out the previous low ceilings to transform what is now the open kitchen and dining space. The addition of built in appliances that blend with their surroundings and use of texture and color give this kitchen a true wow factor.

FORMAL LIVING ROOM

This living room was the only room to remain mostly intact during the project. We wanted to maintain the original coved ceiling combined with a tray in this space. All windows are also original to the home and were restored to complete function again after being painted closed and covered with storm windows. The addition of the modern sconces and a marble surround fireplace was the modern touch to this otherwise traditional Tudor-style living room.

MUDROOM

This space was originally a bedroom that was partially taken to increase the original main bedroom and to create this back entrance/mudroom space.

We added a two-part stacked trim detail to the ceilings rather than a traditional crown moulding detail. The floors are three types of honed marble cut and laid to create this pattern. The walls, cabinets and ceiling were all painted in a gloss/lacquered finish to create warmth and richness to this small space.

CHILD'S ROOM

This room was originally used as a bedroom or a study that connected to downstairs basement. We moved the basement entrance back to its original location off the kitchen and added a walk-in closet. The room has all original windows. We wallpapered the ceiling for added detail and interest.

POWDER ROOM

This was previously the only bathroom in the house. We kept its original location but expanded it to include the toilet being under the stairs in its own niche of the room.

MAIN BEDROOM

In the main bedroom we added a full wall of built ins to include the TV, additional storage, and function to this space. The windows are original in this space as well. The walls are an off white grasscloth. The idea was to create a casual yet serene room and was to be built around the clients art featured above the bed.

BATHROOM

This entire space was an addition to the house. The original home had an old sliding door that went out onto a deck. We knocked out the entire wall and added this 400 sq.ft space to include a wardrobe style closet space, toilet room, his-and-hers vanities, a freestanding tub and walk-in shower.

Photography/ Emily Hart

Interior design/ Amber Brown Matlack, Brown Interiors