Melissa Wood David Petty

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In the dining room a pink tree goes perfectly with the pink walls, a 1969 white laminate Saarinen dining table with tulip chairs, and an Angela Adams rug underneath it all. Modern meets traditional: Sleek red and white Christmas tree candles and a glittery red garland and wreath decorate the dining room mantlepiece, which still has its original nineteenth-century architectural details.

Near the entrance to downtown Newburyport, Mass., a red-brick federal overlooks the customary holiday touches adorning this historically seafaring town: Festive wreaths with big red bows hang on doors, candles light up windows, and strands of lights strung throughout the leafless trees create a postcard-worthy backdrop. It’s a typical Christmas scene in New England.

Well, not exactly. Homeowners Monica and Sean Welsh’s love of modern art and creative energy infuses their stately nineteenth-century home furnished with sleek contemporary and 1950s designer pieces mixed in with cutting-edge art. Although the home is anything but traditional, it made for an interesting stop on last year’s Maritime Society Holiday House Tour when visitors weren’t expecting to see a pink Christmas tree in a pink dining room as well as the other modern takes on the holidays that awaited them within. “When we did the house tour people were really surprised,” says Monica.

Monica, Sean, and their daughter Molly, 14, moved here from San Francisco five years ago when Sean took a position as creative director and partner at an advertising firm in Cambridge. Just before coming to New England they had been on the verge of purchasing an Eikler home—famous tract houses built in the 1950s that are being snatched up at premium prices now by collectors of mid-century designs. “We were really ready to move into a home with a flat roof and lots of glass,” says Monica, but the decision to move here instead allowed Monica, once a designer at a leading ad agency, Creative, to stay at home and raise Molly.

Though their home in Newburyport is a century older than an Eikler, it drew the couple because it provided a simple canvas to showcase their beloved designer pieces, including a white laminate Saarinen dining table in the shape of surfboard with tulip chairs from 1969 over an Angela Adams carpet in the dining room, which has pink walls. Monica said she painted the room three times to find just the right color. “We liked it because it wasn’t very ornate,” says Monica of the building’s design. “We loved that the ceilings were so high.”

Monica and Sean select their furnishings carefully, waiting to find just the right piece to add to their eclectic collection. In the kitchen, for example, is a 1954 Cyclone table by Isamu Noguchi, a 1948 Eames chair by Charles and Ray Eames, and on the wall a 1950 sunburst clock by George Nelson.

They’ve also mixed in modern, less expensive pieces such as in the living room where a 1998 Neo sectional by Niels Bendtsen joins a 2001 Rotor coffee table by Luciana Bertoncini. “We definitely live in this house. There’s teenagers here all the time with their feet up on the furniture, spilling drinks,” says Monica. “I wanted Molly to be able to bring her friends here and not feel like it’s a museum.”

Since the couple prefers clean, simple, uncluttered design, Monica says she had to keep adding more decorations to prepare for the holiday home tour. “I don’t usually put that much stuff out,” she says. “I had to keep going back for more decorations.” Along with the pink Christmas tree in the dining room, the home is also decorated with a white tree in the living room, which they found at Macy’s. Monica also turned her considerable creative energy into finding reasonably priced pieces, such as red Tord Boontje tabletop candleholders from Target, and making new decorations, including a wreath made from twist-ties that she spray-painted silver.

Although the home’s modern interior was a surprise for many of the visitors on the holiday tour, Monica says it is a growing trend in New England. As president of the Newburyport Art Association, Monica is trying to increase awareness of modern art and designs. To her delight, a deliveryman recently told her he was bringing more contemporary pieces to homes in the area. “I think people were surprised you could put modern furniture in an older house and it was still pretty comfortable,” she says.

Mark Your Calendar
Visit some of the most beautiful homes in the region this holiday season by taking the Newburyport Maritime Society Holiday House Tour. This tour invites you inside ten to twelve of Newburyport’s finest private homes, each bedecked for the holidays with greenery and festive decor. Held on December 8 and 9 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, contact the Newburyport Maritime Society at 978 462-8681, or visit themaritimesociety.org.