Getting The Details Right In The Park House

When it comes to a historic house, getting the beautiful home details right makes all the difference. Here, I walk you through our decisions on our doors, woodwork and tilework.

More Inside The Design: The Park House

Doors and Trim

If you’ve ever owned a historic home, or even been in one, you probably noticed that the doors are a lot heavier. That’s because traditionally doors were made of a solid wooden core—very strong, and very heavy. (I mentioned this a little bit in our previous video about Zooey’s office.)

You’ve also probably noticed that historic homes often have a lot of ornate woodwork, ceiling details, and intricate trim work. In the Park House, we worked with Woodgrain to recreate the original feel of the home when it came to our doors and trim.

We replaced all the doors and added the beautiful baseboards, casings, and crown moldings we felt this home deserved. We built up the crown molding using several different pieces in order to create a finished look.

It’s amazing how much more elevated a space feels when you get the trim work just right. Case in point: our entryway. I love the look of applied panels, which you can achieve by applying a trim or molding on the surface of your wall. Once you paint it all the same color, it gives a space a really elegant and upscale feel.

We took it a step further, because I wanted some depth to the panels. We built out a grid with flat stock from the walls, then lined all of the boxes with a corner trim molding to give it the beautiful contour. Then every single area was caulked, filled, and painted to give it a seamless look. I absolutely love our front entryway, and all the woodwork throughout the entire house.

Tile

The tile store is like my candy store: I am obsessed with creating dramatic, showstopping features out of tile. This time, I had a little help: Zooey picked most of the tile in the house, and she did an incredible job.

Tilebar, who I got all the tile from, has the greatest showroom of all time. If you’re ever bored, you should go: it’s a fun date night. We’ve used their tile in our shows, so I was familiar with their work, which is top-notch.

the kitchen in zooey and jonathan's new house

Some more tile tips:

Choose a tile that fits your home’s history and era. For us, it was really important that we pay an homage to the architect, Gerard Colcord. We chose materials that felt luxurious but classic. There are a lot of brass fixtures and mixed metals throughout the home, so we had fun including some of that.
Consider what mood and feel you want to create. For us, we went with white marble because it’s calming and isn’t going to go out of style.
You can create drama and texture through patterns, not just color.
Nothing is better than seeing your designs in person, so look online for photos that you like, and then do what we did: go to a showroom, lay out your inspirations, and get the tiles to match.

Ready to see more? Check out our Inside The Design: Park House series on YouTube!