When the owners of this Kenilworth cottage reached out, they were living in a home with genuine character – good bones, a distinctive history – but decades of deferred updates had left it feeling stuck. They knew the potential was there – they just needed someone to help them find it.
They wanted a home that felt personal without being precious. One that honored the quirks of an older house while making room for the way they actually live – color, warmth, a little playfulness, nothing too serious.
The design problem that made this project interesting was the tension between preservation and reinvention. How do you bring a historic home into the present without flattening what made it worth saving in the first place?
Full Renovation • Primary Residence
The Pear House
The Work
We worked through the kitchen, mudroom, powder room, and main bathroom – and solved a longstanding awkwardness on the main floor where two front doors created confusion and wasted space.
The kitchen set the tone for everything that followed. The floors were in rough shape – the contractor had to reinforce and level the joists before we could do anything – but once that was sorted, we laid a blue concrete tile in a double herringbone pattern that became the anchor of the whole design. New stained wood cabinetry, vintage brass hardware, a textured blue tile backsplash, and a blue-and-white checked cafe curtains came together in a space that feels considered from every angle.
Just off the kitchen, the mudroom became its own moment. A vibrant bird-patterned wallpaper plays against the herringbone floor, and those same greens and blues carry through into the powder bath – giving each room its own personality while keeping the whole main floor feeling like one continuous thought.
One of the most satisfying moves in the project was the decision to remove one of the two front doors and turn the awkward entry zone into a small office nook. We repeated the checked café curtains here and added a vintage-inspired pendant – turning what had been a problem corner into one of the clients’ favorite spots in the house. The curtains doing double duty wasn’t accidental – it’s the kind of detail that makes a home feel authored rather than assembled.
Upstairs, the main bathroom was fully reimagined: expanded to include a walk-in shower with a teal hexagon tile floor, subway walls, and a coordinating teal stripe that gives it a vintage-meets-modern feel. Marble casing adds elegance, and a custom walnut vanity with marble countertop and ample lighting maximizes both storage and warmth. To honor one owner’s Dutch heritage, we chose a tulip wallpaper – balancing it with a more graphic custom Roman shade in the same color family so it feels fresh, not overly sweet. Mid-century hardware finishes the look, pulling the entire design together.
SUSAN S.
"One of the best decisions we made after downsizing and purchasing a home in Asheville was to retain the services of Jennifer Smith Design. She was able to modernize our kitchen, adding more storage and utility, without compromising its charm — and has a great eye for color and textures. We highly recommend Jennifer Smith Design to anyone lucky enough to live in her Asheville service area."
