Tour a Beautiful 160-Year-Old Home Filled With Pattern

Some people shy away from pattern. Not Gretchen Black, who was basically raised on it. “A lot of my childhood home was covered in wallpaper,” she says, “and we also had fun sofas, pillows, drapes, everything!” She grew up to be an interior designer and met her match with Jason, her custom builder husband. “He’s fond of wearing patterned bow ties with patterned shirts,” she says. After living in a series of new-construction homes, the couple dreamed of owning one with history. Two years ago, they bought this 1860s house in Glenview, Kentucky. It had been maintained, but the kitchen was tiny and the place was filled with dated colors, like crimson curtains in the living room and green-gold carpet in the entry. Jason opened up the kitchen, and Gretchen refreshed the entire house with mixed motifs in shades of blue. “A consistent color gives you more freedom to play with prints,” she says, “so I went pattern happy.” Here, Gretchen and Jason sit with Noah, 18, and Max, 13, on the front porch.

Not one to pass up an opportunity to use pattern, Gretchen added Chippendale-style railings to the porch, and fretwork to the front door. The couple kept the original Charleston green shutters and paint job intact. “There’s nothing more timeless than a white painted house,” says Gretchen of the Italianate design. “The wraparound porch was another big selling point.”

This spot is spring-like year-round with its painted wall mural featuring hydrangeas, peonies and lilies and bird-motif pillows (the fabric is by Schumacher). Joining the pattern party: a buffalo-check print on the bench, also in blue and white. Hudson, a goldendoodle, is the cutest neutral.

Gretchen put in 10-foot-tall drapes made with fabric by Trend for maximum impact. Like the entry, they feature botanicals and birds. “We call the house our nest!” she says. She chose an eclectic blend of pillows for the gray Arhaus sectional. Her theory of relativity: “Every stripe deserves a pretty floral.” Brass accents bridge the room’s modern and traditional elements.