Designer Lucy O’Brien, founder and principal designer of Tartan & Toile, weaves 18th- and 19th-century narratives into her home designs, mingling historical elements and classical forms with eclectic style, writes Yelena Moroz-Albert for House Beautiful.
She is drawn to a home that is a century or more old because there is “an inherent charm that can’t be recreated.”
“We will always work to salvage and preserve what was well-made and restore rather than demolish,” said the Swarthmore resident.
Tartan & Toile is a kind of yin and yang of home interior design that can weave modern, traditional, dark, and light into a project.
Stripes, by the way, go with everything.
Coziness is important, but so is a sense of wonder, as if a room’s interior is depicted in museum paintings, she said.
O’Brien found her style when she renovated her first home, a Victorian fixer-upper.
“When I couldn’t find someone to articulate what I was envisioning for my first home, I set out to create it myself,” she said.
The next thing she knew, friends were asking for design advice.
“It is always better to be the best version of yourself rather than a second-rate version of someone else,” O’Brien said of her design philosophy.
Find out more about Lucy O’Brien in House Beautiful.
