Explore an Interior and Garden Designer’s Luxe Historic Home

Bethany Berk of Marchioness Home & Garden has spent years restoring her 115-year-old Massachusetts home. Come on in for a master class on how to style your antiques.

November 11, 2020

By: Lauren Oster

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Photo By: Molly Lo Photography

Interior and Garden Designer Bethany Berk

Californian by birth and a citizen of the world by inclination, Bethany Berk holds degrees in both interior design and European studies. She channels that expertise into Marchioness Home & Garden, a web-based company that offers the antiques she collects in her travels and the heirlooms-to-be she creates to complement them. Bethany and her husband have devoted themselves to restoring their 1905 home on the banks of the Charles River in Dover, Massachusetts, which is a wonderland of one-of-a-kind antiques.

Recognizing a Treasure

Bethany and her husband were living in Los Angeles when her husband flew to Boston for a job opportunity. His employers-to-be suggested he explore homes in Dover, a town settled in 1640. The rest, as they say, was history: after laying eyes on the estate they now call home, “He called me and said, ‘You’re going to love this place,’” Bethany recalls. “Soon after that I visited the home and he was right — I fell in love with it.”

Leveling Up

“The property was a popular recreational spot for Bostonians in the 1800s,” says Bethany. “This home took us to a whole new level in terms of our experience with renovations. Specialty contractors had to be called in for the slate roof, the chimneys, the copper work. The type of work needed took craftsmen with some old-world knowledge, special tools and skill. The work is time consuming and costly. But it’s rewarding in so many ways.”

Natural Ease

Bethany embellishes her spaces with the best of what’s branching and blooming on her property. “Fresh flowers and foliage add color, scent and life to a room. In spring and summer [use] fresh flowers and herbs from the garden, and in the fall cut branches from the trees and bring them inside,” she advises. Don’t be too precious or regimented about display: “Glass vases in multiple shapes and sizes make versatile containers. Use large-scale natural arrangements that can hold a found bird’s nest or pretty ornaments for a little whimsy and drama.”

Contemporary Edits

Bethany isn’t shy about supplementing storied pieces with reproductions that have the same feel; this magnificent map of London by mapmaker George Washington Bacon, for example, is from Restoration Hardware (find a map of Paris with a similar feel here). “It’s new and a nice fit for the English feeling of the paneled library,” she says. Bethany’s also willing to correct previous owners’ modifications. “The walnut paneling in the library had been painted over in white. It was painstakingly sanded by hand and then stained to bring out the natural, warm finish.”

Elements of Style

In her home library Bethany styles pieces like this 19th-century William and Mary secretary (complete with leaded glass, teardrop brass drawer pulls and hidden cubbies). “I like to hide little surprises inside [cubbies and drawers], like antique smoking pipes, magnifying glasses and daguerrotypes of the house from a hundred years ago.” The library's ambiance is also drawn from her husband’s hundreds of books. “When I arrange bookshelves I tend to pull the classic titles, the neutral covers and [editions with] gold embossed titles on the bindings,” she says.

Artful Bird Cage

Pieces like these antique French bird cages are favorites of Bethany's for tablescapes and wall hangings. “I’ve used many different types of arrangements in birdcages,” she says. “Change with the seasons and use branches with colorful leaves in the fall, dried herbs and flowers in the winter, fresh flowers such as tulips and roses in the spring, and perhaps some perky green ferns in the summer.”

Behind the Arrangement

It took Bethany at least six years to collect the riding and fishing accessories here, and she sourced the antlers from Norway. The bench beneath the wall display offers another useful lesson: it “came upholstered in the antique tapestry,” Bethany says. “Considering the value of the tapestry and its rustic look, I plan to leave it as is.” That happens to be an unusual decision. “Unless a piece is leather, it’s rare to not reupholster or at least slipcover an old chair or sofa,” she explains. “I prefer fresh fabric on a shapely camelback sofa or wing chairs.”

Cultivating Comfort

As seasoned stylists and amateur pillow-choppers know, arranging textiles to convey the ideal balance of coziness and elegance is something of an art. The just-so look of this silk and faux fur throw from Bethany’s current collection is no accident: “The casual draping takes a lot of finessing!” she says. “It can be folded neatly and placed over an arm of a chair or sofa, or it can be laid straight across the foot of a bed. For the casual draping I pick it up from the center of the throw, and then drape it over the arm, and then fuss around with the folds and the fur so it looks inviting.”

World History

This cozy space features motifs that recur throughout Bethany’s home. Above the mantel, a Black Forest frame shares space with a 19th-century carved oak panel depicting a French family crest. The unfussy arrangement on the heavy wood table features her husband’s books supporting an embossed sterling silver bowl, two pairs of English brass candlesticks and a flowering branch.

Once-Bedraggled Beauty

The showstopping pendant in Bethany’s dining room is one of her favorite finds. “It’s the real deal! I found this very old chandelier in Los Angeles in a random store that was going out of business,” she says. “It was hanging from the rafters in sorry shape. I took it to an antique lighting and repair shop and had it restored. It wasn’t easy to match the old crystals, but fortunately it only needed a few. It cleaned up nicely.”

Taking a Seat (Elsewhere)

"Yes, that’s a love seat with the dining table," Bethany says. "One thing I love to show with antiques is how they can be used in different rooms. [That] love seat could be used at the dining table, at the foot of a bed, in a sitting room or under a window for a window seat. If you get creative you can make the most of these pieces."

Learning to Hunt

Want to develop a knack for navigating antique flea markets like Brimfield (a massive, tri-annual gathering in Massachusetts)? Bethany recommends a combination of planning and improvisation. “Practically speaking, get the maps and pay attention to the opening times for the different shows. Also it’s easier if you’re looking for something in particular — it helps to narrow the search. Other than that, just dive in. You’ll meet vendors and fellow antiquers who exchange information and guide you, and that will give you something to go on and keep you from feeling too lost. But keep in mind that it’s an adventure!”

Handcrafted Accents

The shapely chair and frame in the nook at the foot of the staircase both feature woodwork from the Black Forest, a mountainous part of southwestern Germany. “Black Forest woodwork is hand-carved in dark wood and of woodland motifs such as oak leaves, acorns, branches and woodland animals,” Bethany says. “Common Black Forest items are side chairs, frames and boxes.”

Faux Bois, Fresh Blooms

The staircase spirals up past botanical prints and plates, as well as an impressively maximalist array of seasonal flowers in glass vases. A midcentury French chandelier composed of “branches” echoes the flora surrounding it and adds a bit of sparkle without visual weight, thanks to its delicate silhouette.

Biding Her Time

“I’ve learned to go with the flow," says Bethany of her antiquing strategy. "Things cycle in and out of season, one season there’s a plethora of French needlework, and then for the next two seasons I won’t see any, but Gustavian furnishings [a style that originated in Sweden in the late 18th century] will be plentiful and then that will disappear, and tapestries will appear ... and on and on it goes ... I’ve learned to be patient and trust that whatever I’m looking for will eventually come around. I’ve collected enough now to curate for Marchioness from my own stock.”

See More Photos: Timelessly On-Trend: 10 Hallmarks of Gustavian Furniture

Continental Chic

The 19th-century French Trumeau mirror in Bethany’s dressing room is flanked by Bagues sconces and Paris porcelain vases. “These mirrors were part of the paneling from old French homes and apartments that have been dismantled,” Bethany says. “They were placed over fireplaces, and in dressing rooms and bathrooms.” In the 21st century, she notes, they’re right at home in family, dining and garden rooms as well.

Whimsical Wallpaper

Removing and reinstalling antique wallpaper would be a fiendishly difficult, time-consuming proposition. Deconstructing an antique book of prints to create your own indoor rose garden, on the other hand, is a beginner-friendly project that takes about six hours (and looks spectacular, as Bethany’s powder room demonstrates). Find the full tutorial for her transformation here.

Collected Cool

If you’re new to antiquing, whimsical decorative pieces like these snuff boxes are ideal for tucking on tabletops or in cabinets. “They look lovely as a collection or as singles mixed in with other curiosities,” Bethany says.

Seasonal Bliss

Despite the warmth of the California sun she left behind, Bethany couldn’t be happier to cozy up before the hearth at her Massachusetts home — and she knows how lucky she is to do so. “Apple orchards, pumpkin patches, horseback riding, kayaking on the river and fall foliage … there is no prettier place to be than New England in the fall,” she says.