A Dutch Colonial in Haddonfield adorned with ‘color, art and flowers’ inside and out
After growing up on a treeless South Philadelphia street, “I’ve been seeking out green spaces ever after,” the homeowner says.
In early autumn, a sugar maple’s pink seed wings and yellow leaves brighten the front yard of this Haddonfield home. Green vines and ornamental red peppers cascade from tall planters on the porch steps. A crab apple tree shades the back deck overlooking beds of purple phlox, orange and yellow lantana, red roses, Black-eyed Susans, hydrangea and more.
As the growing season ebbs, homeowner Rosemary Trombetta will still be surrounded by flowers inside her home. Upstairs, white blossoms are scattered on gray wallpaper in the bedroom. A painting of red poppies hangs on the yellow bathroom wall. More floral prints are displayed in the stairwell and in the pale blue-green living room. A floor lamp has tulips painted on the shade by lighting designer Janna Ugone of Easthampton, Mass.
Flowers even adorn the switch plates.
The retired educator grew up on a tiny, treeless South Philadelphia street. “I’ve been seeking out green spaces ever after,” she said, and in decorating her 1929 house, she focused on “color, art and flowers.”
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Trombetta also has preserved features of the Arts and Crafts style, popular in the late 19th and early 20th century. The leaded-glass dining room chandelier she purchased online resembles the original light fixtures above the staircase and in the second-floor hall. The original window seat in the study provides extra storage.
She purchased the wood inlaid coffee table in the living room at the Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show. She covered “ugly” stone around the living room fireplace with an oak mantle constructed by Brian Shuster, who runs the wood shop at Rettinger Fireplace in Voorhees. He also built the oak entertainment center.
The floors upstairs are the original pine. Downstairs, oak flooring replaced the pine, which had been damaged.
Trombetta used a stencil designed by Harvey Ellis, an early-20th-century artist and architect, to put long-stemmed, stylized white flowers on the dining room walls. Like other Arts and Crafts designers, Ellis often used botanical motifs that Trombetta favors.
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It took imagination for Trombetta and her partner, Joe Naulty, to envision what the two-story Dutch Colonial could become when they first saw it 24 years ago.
“It was small and dark,” she said, “and the basement had taken on water from an overnight rainfall.”
The house with a scruffy front lawn had nothing to recommend it, Trombetta said, but “a low price, location, and a driveway that would fit two cars abreast.” Yet, after much discussion, they bought the house.
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The first step, Trombetta recalled, was getting rid of the heavy dust-filled drapes that covered the front windows — “Joe hated those drapes on first sight and out they went.”
The 1,700-square-foot dwelling has a surprising number of windows. The shutters, wooden blinds and shades that now cover them can be adjusted to provide a view of greenery surrounding the house. Upstairs, the couple kept one bedroom and converted the two others into a study and office. They also updated the bathroom.
Downstairs, they removed a wall dividing a sunroom and living room. They installed a full bathroom and renovated and expanded the kitchen, which features white cabinetry, stainless steel appliances, black-and-white granite counters, and a gray tile floor and backsplash.
“Joe’s love for cooking and family entertaining was one of the main reasons for the kitchen expansion,” Trombetta said.
The front yard was designed by Amazing Tree Landscape Artists in Franklinville, but the homeowners laid out the beds in back. The gravel and paving stones around the beds “were Joe’s idea,” Trombetta said.
The pair met at South Philadelphia High School where they both taught English, and were together for 35 years. Naulty died after a long illness in December of last year.
“Joe had innate good taste, and I never added something to the house or filled a flower vase without his advice,” Trombetta said. “He did so much so well.”
Trombetta, 76, plans to continue to garden and to care for her Haddonfield home.
“My neighbors are wonderful,” she said. “I am very happy here.”
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