West Meets East … in the Best Possible Way

By Maria La Piana 

Photography by Michael J. Lee

It happens all the time. A couple purchases a second home in Boston, knowing full well it needs work. They hire a simpatico designer to get the job done, in this case, Michael Carter, of Carter & Company Interior Design in Boston. Carter was charged with restoring charm to the badly remodeled brownstone, but there was a glitch: The couple lives on the West Coast. The designer did due diligence and flew out to visit, asked a lot of questions, absorbed the couple’s aesthetic, which was apparent in their lovely California residence, and set to work. Among his challenges (executed superbly, by the way): mix antiques with modern artwork, bring “a sense of Old World back in,” and infuse the home with a combination of sophistication and New England coziness. Check, check, check. Oh, and the house, in accordance with the wife’s dedication to animal rights, had to be completely animal-friendly. That meant no leather, ivory or “products that involved possible animal exploitation or abuse.” The designer, an animal lover himself, says that was “perhaps the best restriction” he ever encountered. And yet, it clearly didn’t restrict his talents at all; see stunning photos of this extraordinary project in the November-December issue of New England Home.