St. Louis has architecture that other American cities would be envious of—the Craftsman bungalows of Webster Groves, the Queen Anne and Italianate homes of Lafayette Square, the grand brick colonials of Ladue and Clayton, the mid-century moderns tucked into the hills of Frontenac. Designing interiors for historic homes is one of the most satisfying challenges in this work. It’s also one of the most commonly botched. The two failure modes are mirror opposites: treating the house as a museum, frozen in its original period; or treating it as a blank canvas and destroying everything that makes it worth owning.

First: identify what’s original and what’s been added

Most St. Louis historic homes have been through multiple owners and multiple renovations. The first job is always triage: what is original and irreplaceable, what is a period addition that has become part of the home’s character, and what is later modification with no relationship to the home’s authentic identity?

Original elements to protect at nearly all cost: original millwork (baseboard, crown, door and window casings), original hardwood floors, original built-ins, original hardware, any original plasterwork or decorative ceilings. These are what make a historic home irreplaceable.

The millwork question

In pre-war St. Louis homes, the millwork is often the most valuable thing in the room. Wide baseboards, built-up crown molding, paneled doors with original hardware, deep window surrounds with interior sills wide enough to sit on—these create the proportional language of the interior. Everything else in the room should respond to them.

For painted millwork in historic homes, I almost always recommend a warm white—Farrow & Ball Pointing, Benjamin Moore White Dove, or Sherwin-Williams Alabaster—against a wall color with enough body to make the trim read as architectural. The millwork should frame the room. The color on the walls should fill it.

Bringing contemporary furniture into historic rooms

The principle I work from: contemporary furniture reads beautifully in historic rooms when the contemporary pieces are honest about their own time and the historic elements are allowed to anchor the space. A clean-lined linen sofa in a room with original crown molding creates productive tension—both elements are clearly of their moment, and they respect each other. A reproduction Victorian settee in the same room just creates confusion about whose house it is.

Antique and vintage pieces work beautifully for the same reason—they’re honest about their origin. A 1930s French armchair in a 1910 Craftsman reads as layered and collected. A brand-new reproduction of the same chair reads as costume.

Color in historic homes

Period-correct paint colors are often more saturated and complex than contemporary taste expects. The Victorians used deep, rich colors—forest greens, burgundies, golds, complex blues—and they were right to do so. A contemporary cool gray in a Victorian parlor flattens everything and makes the ornate millwork look stranded. You don’t have to paint your 1890 home in period-correct colors, but the principle that historic homes benefit from more color, more saturation, and more complexity than modern interiors generally holds.

The best St. Louis historic homes I’ve designed feel like they’ve always been exactly the way they are. That comes from listening to what the architecture is telling you, and then responding to it rather than overriding it.

Rachel Blindauer is an award-winning interior designer based in St. Louis with projects across the United States and internationally. Book a consultation at rachelblindauer.com.