Cambridge, California Style: A Remodel in Boston by Barbara Bestor and Carter Design
Photography by and courtesy of Laure Joliet
In Cambridge, Massachusetts, there isn’t a name for the preferred Victorian house palette: exteriors in severe blacks, charcoals, and grays offset by front doors in wild lipstick shades. LA architect Barbara Bestor of Bestor Architecture knows and appreciates this Boston tradition—she herself grew up in Cambridge. Take a look at this project for her client, Doug Zell, the peripatetic cofounder of Intelligentsia Coffee.
The upgraded front door has stained glass sidelights in periwinkle blue.
The downstairs floor plan was largely preserved but every surface required attention.
Zell requested a fireplace and Bestor suggested instead a better-for-the-environment (and easier to install) Rais wood-burning stove.
The designers started from scratch in the kitchen, introducing custom Shaker-style cabinets and a center island topped with edge-grain maple butcher block.
One of the most used corners in the house is the breakfast nook.
Bestor used space from the dining room and an awkward existing bath to create a cabin-like powder room.
Bestor reconfigured the second floor and transformed a space barely big enough for a bed into this en suite bedroom.