The Detail: Showcase Closets

Because Gregory and Marilyn didn’t want to keep their treasures hidden in a drawer, or collecting dust on an open shelf where they could get broken, they incorporated an attractive solution throughout the inn: showcase closets. In the dining room, Gregory cut the center wood panel out of the door of a closet that had served as a phone booth (years before telephones were installed in the guestrooms). He inserted a piece of beveled glass into the door, and then installed decorative lighting in the closet space to create a night-light effect. He put in glass shelves, arranged the family’s fun collection of salt and pepper shakers, and, voilà, a colorful shadowbox.

Across the dining room is another display case in an old coat closet, where Gregory installed leaded glass doors above and drawers below. These shelves, holding pre-Columbian and original sculpture, create a mini-museum of curiosities. And in the family kitchen, an old dumbwaiter became a display cabinet for their Dedham pottery creche set and glassware collection, including cranberry glass, Queen Lace crystal, and Czech cut glass. It brightens the whole room.