en plein air: Bigner often opens the studio’s wall of doors for a quasi alfresco space. She replaced the French doors with high-end, vinyl-clad versions that are also super low-maintenance: they’re waterproof, don’t rot, and can be easily hosed off.
Home Again: When homeowner Eda Bramsen Bigner first visited the Colonial-style single house with its gabled roof, dormers, and rows of windows overlooking a cobblestoned stretch of Chalmers Street, the early-19th-century building evoked memories of her childhood home in Copenhagen. “You know, you always somehow try to find the things that made you happy when you were a child—for the rest of your life, you’re looking for that,” she muses.
Bigner and her shelter pup, Charlie, in the parlor
Once belonging to her grandmother, this mid-18th-century peasant-style Louis XVI cabinet was gifted to Bigner by her parents on her 18th birthday. It looks right at home positioned next to a painting of the North Jutland farm where her grandmother grew up.
Paneled wood doors allow the space to be at turns intimate and airy.
Beloved collections of china are on display in the dining room. Bigner added ticking to the chairs to balance their elegant shape with a more casual, inviting vibe.
Library Chic: The wealth of windows first captured Bigner’s heart. She later designed custom bookshelves to cover the sealed double doors in the parlor but left the transom exposed to provide even more light.
A tableau of blue-and-white pottery, silver, a painting by local abstract expressionist Eva Carter, and Bigner’s own sketches tops an antique bureau.
First Blush: This mirror is one of the first things Bigner purchased for the house; she liked how its height complemented the ceilings.
Through the Looking glass: In the light-filled upstairs den, a mirror antiqued by Bob Hines of R Squared Mirror Glass takes pride of place above the original marble mantel.
Creative Haven: The retired landscape architect and land planner updated the copper-roofed outbuilding into her artist studio, where she spends hours drawing and enjoying the view of her courtyard garden.
Read the story, a favorite from our archives, to tour the 19th-century single house
