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Before and after: Interior designer revamps her Brookline Victorian
Instead of moving, Cecilia Casagrande tweaked the look and feel of her home. Here’s how she did it.
In 2014, Cecilia Casagrande, her husband, and their three boys moved from Jamaica Plain to a Victorian condo in Brookline.
It was near schools, meaning no more long car drives with three boys. “That was the goal at that time more than anything,” Casagrande said with a laugh. “I said to my husband, ‘I’m only living here for 10 years.’”
But when they moved in, she redecorated the home — and caught the design bug.
“I hired a designer as a consultant, [and] she opened my eyes wide open to the profession. I said, ‘I think I really love this’ … I decided to just go for it,” she said.
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In 2015, she opened Casagrande Studio, and today, the award-winning designer has been featured in publications such as Globe Magazine and House Beautiful.
So, in 2025, instead of moving, she used her natural instincts and a decade’s worth of hands-on experience to refresh her 1872 Victorian from its “more plain and outdated” modern scheme to a European-influenced maximalist style. She didn’t overhaul the house, but added touches like lighting, paint, new upholstery, and window treatments in each room.
We asked Casagrande how she hit refresh on her own home — and for some tips to redoing our own on a budget.
Living room
The last few years, I’ve gone to Paris Déco Off …, where all the European fabric wallpaper houses open their showrooms and present new season fabrics, wallpapers, textiles. I’ve been dying over them. So I decided to pick favorites and add them where I could. I updated the window treatments with a French brand called Nobilis. I updated all the pillows. I updated the chair with a beautiful fabric, also from Nobilis. I added Pierre Frey where I could.
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Kitchen
The whole room’s vibe changed with paint, new window treatments, and reupholstering the banquette and chairs. All the furniture is the same. Before, it had been very white and modern and wasn’t doing the wallpaper justice. I wanted it warmer and cozier; I wanted more rich color.
I painted all the trim in Brinjal [a dark, warm, muted purple] by Farrow & Ball. The ceiling is painted Calamine [pink like the lotion muted by gray] by Farrow & Ball. For the window treatments, I wanted something more interesting and maximalist, and we added new pillows.
Bedroom
We added a custom bed frame from O. Henry House, new lights, new window treatments, new paint, and new ceiling wallpaper that I helped design. I worked with a wallpaper designer, Susie Paisley of Newton Paisley, and we came up with this collaboration. It’s cherry blossoms, inspired by a trip to Japan. This is nondirectional, meaning it’s the same in any direction you stand, and it works on ceilings. Many wallpapers can’t go on the ceiling. I got art from Brimfield Antique Flea Markets. I also added an antique rug from Jaipur rugs.
Entryway
I added little tweaks: a vintage rug by Jaipur. I reupholstered the sofa, adding that fringe again. I repainted with a warmer color and a light blue on the ceiling. I repainted up the stairs, and those little tweaks — lots of art — just really warmed it up.
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Office
That’s where we plan all our trips, so we love the inspiration of travel on the wallpaper. I found this Pierre Frey old world maps wallpaper that I loved. That wallpaper was the inspiration to redo the room.
What are your tips for how people can refresh their homes in a budget-friendly way?
- The number one easiest and most cost-effective way to change the look of a room: paint.
- If you’re going to try wallpapering for the first time, try the ceiling — it’s only one wall. Don’t ever try it out on a feature wall.
- Reupholster good furniture, but check with your upholsterer to see if the pieces are worth reupholstering. Never reupholster fast furniture [nor do I recommend buying fast furniture].
- Go to estate sales or check Facebook Marketplace. If you’re looking at used sofas, don’t look at the condition of the sofa — look at the frame. You can always bring it to the upholsterer and have it redone.
- If you’re going to do one thing in the kitchen, spend the money on lighting. Lighting is the jewelry of the room, and it changes everything. After that, you can put in a more interesting faucet, more interesting hardware. Add wallpaper — there’s nothing wrong with kitchen wallpaper. Change the backsplash tile.
- Go for Roman shades; they’re less expensive than curtains.
- If you can only do one room in your house, do the living room. It’s your main room. It’ll bring you joy in the evenings and weekends.
- Number one for me: lighting. Pull out all these recessed lights, and put in a nice hanging large pendant or chandelier — something that’s more appealing to live in as a human, rather than these spotlights. Put in wall lamps, floor lamps, table lamps, sconces.
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