House Tour: John Derian's Cape Cod Home

Filed under: Design, etc, House Tours, Architecture

The decoupage artist and retailer's Provincetown, Massachusetts home lets its history show.

Is it possible to have a crush on someone's house? If so, I must confess to being hopelessly in love with John Derian's homes. Ever since we had our first glimpse into Mr. Derian's interior world in a feature of his home in ELLE Decor in 2006, we've been admiring his style from afar.

Several years back, Derian expanded beyond his New York City apartment and purchased an 18th century home in Provincetown, Massachusetts. It hadn't been renovated in decades. While many would have gutted the old house, Derian left much of what he found unchanged, and it's a perfect backdrop for his timeless designs and eclectic collection of antique furnishings. We caught up with Derian and asked him to tell us a little about this handsome home.

The home features several sitting rooms, including this casual living space above. Derian says he believes the house was renovated in the 1830's, and the cabinet to the left of the fireplace was likely part of this renovation. The perfectly simple white wingback chair is one of Derian's own designs, the Butterfly Chair.

The living room is furnished with a pair of Derian's Cove Sofas (the corner of which can be seen above); they are adorned with John Robshaw's printed pillows. The rustic wooden stool is an item from Derian's shop. Of the old beams that have been cut and shaved to size, Derian says: "I use them everywhere -- outside too!"

The lines of the couch in this seating area echo the house's 18th century era; the Geranium Sofa is yet another of Derian's own designs.

Throughout the house, Derian kept some of the existing wallpapers that date from the 1930s and 40s despite their faded -- and sometimes crumbling -- condition. For example, in this upstairs hallway Derian chose to leave the actual wallpaper fragments hanging. "The wall paper is beautiful it also has an amazing patina on it the color yellow is perfect. I don't like new," says Derian of the decision to keep the paper. "The upstairs peeling walls seem to tell a story -- I couldn't resist." Paired with Derian's pitch perfect furnishing style, these antique papers don't look shabby, rather they create a unique backdrop for the home.

While Derian says he is drawn to furnishings from the 18th and 19th centuries, he gravitates toward texture, color and shape, not an object's lineage. Says Derian, "I am user-friendly and could not be worrying about something too fine." Though he admits there is one table in the house that he loves but thinks is too precious.

The beautiful bedspread above is by Jeanette Farrier, a former costume designer, who creates bedding and pillow covers from recycled cotton saris. A vintage paper lantern covers an existing overhead light.

In Derian's home, not even the bathrooms are left unfurnished. We love the way he uses an antique table to hold bath products in one bathroom and how a 19th century portrait hangs above the sink where you would expect a mirror in another. When asked about these surprising touches, he says to him it "seemed natural."

While the house may look like it hasn't been touch in nearly a century, Derian put a lot of work into the home. You'd never know it, but the house has all new plumbing and electric throughout. Derian says he couldn't have accomplished this balance of old and new without the help of someome who was sympathetic to his desire to preserve the house. "I was lucky to have a contractor like Deb Paine that was willing to let me leave a lot of the things the way they were," says Derian. And we're certainly glad he did -- the results are stunning.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments