Boston Home

A Beacon Hill Row House Untangles Its 19th-Century Knots

Three energetic boys, a centuries-old Boston row house, and a design team that made it all work.

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Living room with blue patterned wallpaper and a large abstract painting above a beige and white striped sectional sofa. The sofa has various throw pillows, including tiger print and green patterned ones. In front of the sofa is a glass coffee table with books and a flower arrangement. Two green patterned ottomans are placed in front of the coffee table. To the right, there is a blue and green geometric patterned armchair. A wooden side table with a white lamp and a small plant is next to the sofa by a window with beige Roman shades. The floor has a blue and white striped rug.

Photo by Liz Daly

This article is from the spring 2026 issue of Boston Home. Sign up here to receive a subscription.

In Beacon Hill, where brick row houses rise in narrow, elegant stacks, the challenge is rarely aesthetic—it’s architectural. Inside one such mid-1800s residence, interior designer Honey Collins, architects Monika Pauli and Juan Guillermo Uribe Rubio, and F.H. Perry Builder were met with a vertical sequence of reconstructed floors, unpredictable framing, and the kind of idiosyncrasies only a centuries-old home can offer. And because the home now belongs to a young family with three energetic boys, every intervention—from structural reinforcement to circulation to the most exuberant wallcoverings—needed to balance historic integrity with modern livability.

The deeper the design team dug into the renovation, the more surprises they uncovered. “The houses we work on have lived many lives,” Pauli, whose work has been based in Beacon Hill since the 1980s, says. Over the years, fires, tenement use, and piecemeal renovations had left behind a labyrinth of overlapping floor systems and irregular framing. A massive masonry chimney ran through all five levels, and nothing behind the walls followed a predictable logic. To achieve the open, welcoming first floor the family envisioned—one that connects the front dining room to the bright kitchen at the rear—Pauli & Uribe inserted steel columns and beams, reorganized mechanicals, and reconciled floor heights (for some unknown reason, floors had been built atop floors). “Every inch mattered,” Uribe Rubio says. “Some of the decisions were truly millimetric.”

Modern kitchen with a large blue island featuring a white marble countertop and four wooden bar stools with light cushions. The surrounding cabinetry is white with brass handles, and a stainless steel range hood is mounted above a stove with red knobs. Two spherical pendant lights with brass and navy accents hang above the island. The floor is light wood in a herringbone pattern, and a blue patterned rug is partially visible. The background includes windows with white and blue patterned Roman shades and a striped blue and white cushioned bench.

In the kitchen, a narrow sofa upholstered in Peter Dunham fabric was made by Partners in Design. The Urban Electric pendants incorporate a splash of Benjamin Moore’s “Symphony Blue,” the same shade that the island is painted. / Photo by Liz Daly

Mudroom with green built-in cubbies and bench, patterned wallpaper with colorful dots and lines, a framed geometric artwork featuring a yellow square, a blue scooter with a wicker basket, and a window with green trim and striped curtains.

The lower-level mudroom has millwork and trim painted a deep green Farrow & Ball shade; Ottoline wallpaper infuses a bit of whimsical flair. / Photo by Liz Daly

Yet the intent was never to strip the home of its past. “We always try to make updates feel as though they could have been there originally,” Pauli says. “Nothing should look like someone obliterated an old house.” That philosophy guided the redesign of the staircases, a critical component of any Beacon Hill home. The original basement stair was steep and winding, so the architects rebuilt it with a gentle curve, linking it visually to the widened main stair and creating a fluid sequence from the mudroom—where the family frequently enters—all the way to the top floor.

With the architectural bones clarified, Collins began to shape the interiors into something joyful, layered, and personal to the family. “They were incredibly trusting and wanted a lot of pattern and color,” she says. The first floor illustrates that confidence: The dining room features a sculptural Ironies chandelier, a commissioned artwork above the fireplace, and Schumacher tapestry chairs upholstered with faux-leather backs (“a must with little fingers,” Collins notes). Built-ins enhance storage without weighing down the room’s footprint.

Dining room with a round wooden table surrounded by six chairs, four upholstered in blue leather and two with a dark fabric featuring colorful geometric floral patterns. The walls are painted deep blue with white floral wallpaper in the center section, flanked by blue cabinetry. A large, modern white chandelier hangs above the table. The floor has a blue and white plaid rug, and a modern abstract painting is centered on the wallpapered wall above a blue fireplace mantel.

The dining room fireplace becomes a focal point thanks to a lively Lisa Fine floral-patterned wallcovering. Millwork is painted in Farrow & Ball’s “Stiffkey Blue.” The custom plaid rug was made by Landry & Arcari; artwork is by Catherine Booker Jones. / Photo by Liz Daly

In the kitchen—a crisp, bright space—Pauli & Uribe’s architectural precision meets Collins’s palette. The Palmer Industries–legged island is painted in a vivid blue, and polished-nickel Urban Electric pendants dangle above. The nearly 10-foot ceilings on this level grant a sense of expansiveness uncommon in Beacon Hill’s narrow townhouses.

On the second floor, the family room becomes a celebration of color and proportion. Wrapped in vivid blue Katie Ridder wallpaper, the space mixes indoor-outdoor fabrics, a game table, and Collins’s instinct for balancing multiple patterns. “Proportion and scale are everything,” she says. “It could have gone really wrong, but it didn’t—it reflects who they are. This isn’t a formula-driven process. I never want someone to say, ‘This looks just like my house.’ It should reflect the people who live there.” The exuberance continues in the powder rooms: a tiny bath papered in coral Pierre Frey with custom-painted sconces, and another coated in Schumacher lemons, a favorite of the homeowner.

Bathroom vanity with a gray marble countertop and an oval white sink. Above the sink is a large rectangular mirror with a decorative white frame. The walls are covered in a vibrant floral wallpaper featuring red flowers and blue stems. Two wall-mounted light fixtures with beige lampshades flank the mirror. A silver towel ring holds a white hand towel, and a small glass vase with a bouquet of flowers sits on the countertop. A window with blue trim and a beige curtain is reflected in the mirror.

The powder room off the kitchen packs quite a punch for a small space with a floating marble sink and a Pierre Frey wallcovering. / Photo by Liz Daly

Children's bedroom with airplane-themed wallpaper featuring various colorful planes. The room has a red wooden bed with white and patterned pillows, a bedside table with a lamp and books, and a blue dresser. A teddy bear sits on a toy airplane on the floor, and another stuffed animal is on the bed. The window has a beige Roman shade with red trim. The carpet is striped in neutral tones.

Primary colors abound in the boys’ bedrooms. In this one, a twin bed by the Beautiful Bed Company is painted red and pairs well with the navy faux-linen dresser. The wallpaper is from Studio Ditte. / Photo by Liz Daly

A cozy bedroom corner featuring a wooden bed with a mustard yellow blanket and light blue throw, adorned with white and patterned pillows. Next to the bed is a cream-colored three-drawer nightstand with a white ceramic lamp with a pleated shade and a small vase of colorful flowers. The wall behind has a light blue wallpaper with a subtle tree pattern. Cream curtains with blue vertical stripes frame a window, and a light blue carpet covers the floor, partially overlaid by a yellow and blue patterned rug. A wooden bench with a cushioned seat sits at the foot of the bed.

Intended to be a serene oasis for the parents of three boys, the primary suite exudes calm with a pale blue backdrop. / Photo by Liz Daly

The third-floor primary bedroom, where walls are sheathed with a soothing Quadrille pattern, offers a tranquil environment. Pauli & Uribe reconfigured the adjoining spaces to create a bath with a larger shower, a tucked-away water closet, and an expanded dressing room. The couple’s three boys claim the top floor, each bedroom shaped with its own wallpaper theme—planes, construction vehicles, sailboats—unified by a scheme of primary colors.

Throughout the project, Collins, the architects, and the builder worked as a seamless unit. “It takes a team to accomplish something like this,” Pauli says. The resulting home honors its Beacon Hill roots while embracing a vibrant, contemporary sensibility—historic in architecture, modern in spirit, and wholly alive with the family who now fills it.

A cozy living room corner featuring a floral-patterned armchair with blue, green, and yellow designs. Next to the chair is a small round side table holding a few books and a dish. Behind the chair is a white built-in bookshelf filled with books, decorative bowls, plants, and framed art. The room has blue patterned wallpaper on one wall, a white fireplace mantel, and a blue and green striped rug on the wooden floor. A table covered with a green and blue plaid cloth and a vase with branches and yellow flowers is partially visible on the left. Cream-colored curtains frame a window beside the bookshelf.

Built-in shelves flank the living room fireplace. A jubilant Katie Ridder wallcovering pairs with the armchair’s Tulu upholstery fabric, patterned in blue, green, and yellow. / Photo by Liz Daly

Architect Pauli & Uribe Architects
Builder F.H. Perry Builder
Interior Designer Honey Collins Interiors

First published in the print edition of Boston Home’s Spring 2026 issue, with the headline “In Concert.” 

Boston Home Spring 2026

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