October 29, 2025
By Jamie Marshall
Photographs by Rikki Snyder
Interior designer Jennifer Hunter had long dreamed of buying an antique house in Washington, after she and her husband, Bradley, first visited the area ten years ago. They started searching in earnest when they married, but nothing ever felt right. So, the designer did the only sensible thing:“I decided to buy a piece of land, and build from scratch.”
Working with a blank slate gave Hunter the freedom to design her dream home. For the Albert Hadley alum, that meant combining a classic style with a fresh, youthful punch. “We are a young family, and I wanted it to be cheerful,” she says.
The 4,000-square foot Greek Revival, which was finished in 2023, sits on 2 acres of land within walking distance of the village. For Hunter, there is no greater compliment than when someone tells her the house looks as if it has always been there. “I love it when people don’t know it’s a new home,” she says.
Behind the traditional facade is a space that exudes joy. Hunter’s clever use of patterns, colors, and textures juxtaposes beautifully with the period details: crown and dog ear moldings, for instance, and the reclaimed wooden beams in the kitchen. The effect is both whimsical and playful, while still maintaining a tie to the home’s traditional roots.
The front entry hall sets the tone, where an Albert Hadley wallpaper, “Happy,” in a custom colorway by Zina Studios, serves as a backdrop for a commissioned collage series of flowers by Denise Fielder for Paste. “The artwork is an instant conversation starter,” says Hunter.
The living room’s eggplant-drenched walls (Farrow & Ball’s Pelt) are at once classic and unexpected. The designer kept the moldings and ceiling white, to lighten the space. As a nod to the founding father, she had Fielder do the portrait of George Washington above the mantle. “It was the first piece I commissioned, even before we broke ground,” she says. A pair of Christopher Spitzmiller table lamps is topped with shades hand painted by the same artist. “I gave her my palette and told her, ‘do what you want!’”
For the dining room, Hunter drew inspiration from the Garden Room at Washington’s Mayflower Inn. “I love that room so much, so I thought, what if we put a twist on that motif?” The lighting fixture in antique mercury glass is a focal point.
The dining chairs are dressed in denim and a whimsical block print. “It’s a fun nod to the country,” she says. “Literal but not too literal.”
If the front of the house has a formal tone, the back of the house has a looser, more lived-in feel. In the family room, the colors are softer and the club chairs are upholstered in washed linen, with little skirts like “your grandma’s might have.” To play down the open floor plan (“not my favorite,” Hunter says) she created a break between the two rooms by adding different ceiling heights, and wooden beams and posts to delineate a separate space for the kitchen.
Even the primary bath was a source of creative fun. The floor is meant to evoke a tartan rug, so she hand laid 3-by3-inch gray, white, and black tiles to achieve her desired effect.
For Hunter, the home has served a dual purpose: It’s the family home of her dreams, and—oddly—it’s also been a design incubator, of sorts. “I think it’s hard to convince a client to do many of these things,” she says. “Being able to execute them in my own home has given my clients the guts to do it in theirs. I was happy to be a guinea pig!”
