colonial revival

Products of the Week

Cast-iron, nickel-trimmed Victorian cookstoves with the convenience of the 21st century.

Victoria + Albert Baths is a British brand with a worldwide reputation for creating beautiful freestanding tubs and basins.

Wallcoverings & Wallpaper

We're Bradbury & Bradbury Art Wallpapers; We specialize in 19th and 20th century wallpapers, reproducing historic patterns and also reinterpreting them with alternate colorings to offer our clients as many choices as possible.

Pergolas create an axis toward a pond in the rear garden. (Photo: Bill Ticineto)

House Tours

The sensitive addition of new architectural elements added character to a mid-1920s house of uncertain origin and pedigree. Inside and out, it’s now a Colonial Revival showplace, better than the original.

Furnishings: This reproduction chair is the only Revival piece in this typical room. The rest is a mix; note the Moorish table and a Victorian side chair reupholstered in chintz. (All illustrations based on interior views after actual period photographs annotated by William Seale.)

Old-House Tips, Restoration Stories, & More

The timeless approach to decorating that’s also known as Traditional.

The new kitchen is in a big old room that was, improbably, long used as a garage. It’s 21' square and includes a fireplace, now restored. “We made the fireplace part of the kitchen, creating a sitting area with a couple of wing chairs,” Larry Stanley says. The old floorboards had been irreparably stained and damaged, so the floors are new. Salvaged sections of old flooring have new life as the built-in cabinet in a corner next to the fireplace. The room is simply furnished with mid-19th-century cabinets inspired by Shaker design. “We chose cherry for the cabinets because it would age to the same color as the beautiful old beams, which are chestnut treated with tung oil,” Larry explains. Natural granite countertops with a soft, honed finish complete the look.

House Styles

The large center-hall Georgian was built as an inn. After removing 1940s accretions and reconfiguring rooms for residential use, the current owners decorated it in fine Colonial Revival tradition.

Interiors & Decorative Accessories

A collection of red-and-white vintage kitchenware provided the inspiration for this luscious retro kitchen.

Lilacs in bloom at the Shelburne Museum in Vermont.

Old House Gardens & Exteriors

Roses climbing the arbor, brick paths through the perennials, and a sundial: Americana.

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Historic Neighborhoods

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Historic Paints & Finishes

A graceful foyer has the hallmarks of Colonial Revival style.

House Styles

The right roof is more than icing on the cake when it comes to architecture.

Boxwood outlines beds in a geometric arrangement featuring urns and statuary.

Old House Gardens & Exteriors

Roses climbing the arbor, brick paths through the perennials, and a sundial: Americana.

A richly colored Federal house in Newport, Rhode Island, has a contrasting scheme is in patriotic blue and red.

Old House Gardens & Exteriors

Paint colors of the past suggest combinations for early period and Colonial Revival houses today.

“Litchfield is peaceful and a great place to write," says resident Florence de Dampierre. "Yet it’s close to New York and full of interesting people...the perfect combination of calm and social interaction.”

Historic Neighborhoods

This idyllic town in northwest Connecticut boasts plenty of well-preserved old houses.

House Styles

The master bedroom illustrates the owner’s love of color; she acted as interior designer during restoration of the house.

House Tours

Authentic details of this house in Haverford, Pennsylvania, include the graceful staircase. The tall-case clock was made by Daniel Christ of Kutztown ca. 1790.

House Tours

The master bedroom expresses the owner’s aesthetic with a scheme that veers away from American colonial starkness and toward the Baroque style of late 17th-century and early 18th-century Europe.

Interiors & Decorative Accessories

A welcome characteristic of Hapgood houses in Mountain Lakes, New Jersey, is the open floor plan featuring large, well-proportioned living spaces radiating from a broad entry hall.

Interiors & Decorative Accessories

A grand Georgian Revival house has its roots in Virginia’s 18th-century James River plantations.

Historic Neighborhoods

Salvaged casement windows, butcher-block countertops, and an antique sink lend a sunny air to the tiny kitchen.

Old-House Kitchens

With Arts & Crafts massing and Colonial details, Model F was one of Albert Wood’s six basic designs for Ford Homes.

Historic Neighborhoods

The house has an old-fashioned elegance, with great proportions and plenty of light. The 1940s Duncan Phyfe-style dining table and chairs belonged to grandparents.

House Tours

Historic Neighborhoods

A dirt path is flanked by beds at the 1752 Joseph Webb House in Connecticut.

Old House Gardens & Exteriors

Colonial gardens, like those found in Williamsburg, VA, were uncomplicated, practical, and nostalgic. Take a look at 200 years in the garden and learn how to create your own.