LUCK Be a (Painted) Lady

To achieve ebullient British charm for their Victorian in Upstate New York, this family called on London designer Sarah Brown to import a riot of color and pattern— with results as transfixing as a Cotswolds cottage.

- KATHRYN O'SHEA-EVANS

When an equestrian family scooped up this 1886 painted lady Victorian in Saratoga Springs, NY, a horse-racing town, they wanted to design it in a style that's an established winner: the patterned, colorful interiors often found in Great Britain. “In a lively town with rich history, we knew we could have fun and take some risks,” homeowner Kathryn Sharp says. She and husband Justin Nicholson hired London designer Sarah Brown to assist.

“We asked Sarah and her team to design a home with bold, inviting colors, with a very British mix of antiques and layered fabrics,” Kathryn says. The layering is key to the aesthetic, Brown says, “to keep it from looking ‘designed.’”

That homey feeling was lacking when they first got their hands on the place. “All the walls were pale gray—I mean there was no color in it at all,” Brown recalls. “We got rid of the gray quite swiftly.” While colors in English homes can lean a bit muddy in undertone, here Brown went for happier hues that suit the summer season, with all paint colors from the historically inspired British brand Farrow & Ball.