Betsy Sweeny Bridges History and Design

Betsy Sweeny is an architectural historian by day, and an "old home" blogger by night. Her passion is to connect her technical background to a common audience, so that more people feel empowered to take on historic preservation projects and design spaces that are beautiful and beneficial to their community. Sweeny inspires people to live locally, get their hands dirty, and develop their own vision of community.

Honoring History

Sweeny’s goal is to bridge the gap between design and historic preservation. Preservation gives a set of guidelines or rules, which can often prove challenging to design within, especially for someone unfamiliar with the history of the building type they are working in. Sweeny combines her historical knowledge with the aesthetic to design spaces that honor history, while being beautiful in the modern era.

Sweeny has a unique ability to read a space and determine what the design should be, based upon the character defining features of that structure. Her designs seamlessly integrate into the architectural integrity of their space.   

Sweeny, who describes her design aesthetic as artful, bold, and historically sensitive, finds her greatest inspiration in the buildings themselves. She believes that if you sit in a space and really observe all the parts that make it whole, you will derive inspiration for the decor.

The Project: The McLain House Kitchen

Every building has features it was built around, and if you take the time to identify them, it will guide you toward a much more honest, authentic design. The McLain house was built in Wheeling, West Virgina in 1892 and has had many owners, survived wars and multiple pandemics, and much more.  

As an architectural designer, Sweeny is extremely knowledgeable when it comes to every single phase of the renovation process. When she purchased the home in 2019, she began by rehabbing the exterior brick and approached it one room at a time from there. 

When it came to the kitchen, arguably the most important room in the house, she turned to Build with Ferguson for a collaboration, and the results are gorgeous. 

Sweeny began with the cabinetry and appliances, and the kitchen presented some constraints. Sweeny wanted to maintain the perfectly good, salvaged cabinets and avoid relocating the plumbing. For the oven, there was just one wall that would allow for an easy exterior vent. One of Sweeny’s goals was to be able to prepare a dinner for 20 people in her kitchen, so the oven in particular was something she was not willing to compromise on.

Having been in love with the Café line from GE for a long time, Sweeny chose these appliances for her kitchen space. One of her favorite touches is the brushed bronze hardware. The Café line has that vintage look that blends perfectly with the historical context of the home. The French Door Refrigerator has coordinating brushed bronze hardware as well.

Hands-On Approach

The cabinetry was another project in and of itself. With totally flat panel drawers on her cabinetry, and because Sweeny had several different profiles of panels happening across various historic pieces, she chose a shaker door with a simple bevel. Sweeny decided on cup pulls for drawers, cabinet pulls and latches for hardware.

The hardware was the most important feature for Sweeny—to make sure it felt appropriate in the space. Some pieces would be on the new cabinetry, while others replaced what was missing from the originals, so picking something that worked seamlessly was a challenge. 

When Sweeny started designing the kitchen, she knew she wanted to incorporate as much brass as possible, for a couple of reasons. Typically, when she installs new hardware in the house, she prefers to go with unfinished brass because it is historically appropriate and patinas over time.  

Here, she had a couple of metal tones in the kitchen that were non-negotiable because they were extant (which Sweeny notes “is a fancy way of saying they already existed in the house and were historic, and therefore important” to her). 

When searching for new hardware and finishes, Sweeny’s rule of thumb is to choose quality of metal over matching.

So, when it came to finding cup pulls for the new cabinets, she focused first on form, and then on finish. There were only three extant cup pulls in the kitchen, so finding something that closely matched their shape was important.

Finding the Right Finish

Enter Build with Ferguson! For the kitchen cabinetry, Sweeny went with two different finishes from Top Knobs. For the latches, she chose a two-inch cabinet latch in German Bronze. She chose this finish because she loved this latch, however it did not come in unfinished brass. But Sweeny reasoned that, because her old latches have long lost their brass plating, the German Bronze finish would match perfectly with the other latches in the space. 

When it came to the cup pulls, Sweeny went with a shade called Honey Bronze. This was a little bit of a risk, but the shade so closely matched her appliance hardware that once they were installed Sweeny fell instantly in love. “They are gold enough to look like brass, but soft enough to have that slightly bronzy look that my appliances also have. They also feel really good in the hand.” Sweeny said.

Final Fixtures

Once that was decided, Sweeny moved on to lighting and faucet elements. She was looking for a traditional-with-a-hint-of-industrial chandelier and found one similar to this mixed-metal fixture by Hinkley.

A perfectly placed pot filler like this one from Signature Hardware over the range adds another metal tone to the design.

Sweeny agonized over wallpaper choices for the kitchen space, wanting something that would incorporate all the warm tones from the hardware, the cream of the trim, and the ceiling. The way the rich purple tones complement the wood and bring the space together had Sweeny and her mother hanging wallpaper in no time!  

Working with Ferguson

Sweeny is a pro at restoration, rehab and design — which means she usually has a vision for what she wants and knows it when she sees it. She says that this is one of the things that she appreciates about Build with Ferguson; She can find exactly what suits her needs and tastes because “they carry so many different brands.” 

She also appreciates the fact that sales associates are very helpful if she needs them as well as the ease of using the Project Tool.

The Project Tool is also a great place to compare, contrast, and get some perspective on a project, Sweeny says.

Reveal the Story in Your Home

In Sweeny's kitchen, history and design converge to achieve a perfect balance of elegance and functionality. Her meticulous approach serves as an inspiration, urging us all to uncover the stories within our spaces and design with a profound respect for the past. To see more images of the McLain House Project, visit Betsy Sweeny’s Instagram @betsysweeny and visit her website at BetsySweeny.com. Shop the products from this space and create your own project here!