Since 01940 last covered Main Street Homes, quite a bit has happened. Not only did it create its new studio, the Carriage House, and brought on a new partner, but it also added new services to its lineup. The team is expanding their sights and looking toward the future as their business grows.
MSH is a Lynnfield-based interior design firm focused primarily on home design, though it occasionally does commercial spaces as well.
“It’s not all your ‘traditional beautiful homes,'” said Emily Field, co-founder. “We really have done some pretty cool stuff.”
From recreating an Irish pub in someone’s pool-house to designing and remodeling MSH’s own studio into a dual-purpose workspace and example of its work, the company has a host of projects in its portfolio.
The new studio, the Carriage House, is right on Main Street in Lynnfield. It has become an integral part of MSH’s process, storing all materials and samples in a clean and organized way — as one would expect from professional interior designers.
As Nancy Rich said, “Now we can say, ‘No, you come to our studio,’ where before, where else could we have done this and have it make so much sense on so many different levels?”
Field met Rich in 2007 when she contacted Rich about moving to Lynnfield. Rich was working as a realtor then, and the two struck up a fast friendship when Field bought the house right next door to Rich. Over time, the two discussed interior design, and one day they “just jumped into it organically,” said Rich. At first, they took on one client, and things grew from there.
Last year, the duo became a trio when they brought in Laura Healey as a third partner. Healey previously had her own home design firm. She started off with nurseries and children’s rooms and moved up to full-blown home interiors. She met Field, and they became friends, with Field acting as a sort of mentor as Healey grew her business. Eventually it just made sense to bring her into the MSH fold.
As Field described it, “Since Laura came on board, we’ve had this kind of reinvigorated energy. … We’ve really tried to bring our company to the next level over the past year.”
Gone are the days of purely focusing on full-service “soup to nuts” design services — though of course they still do that, too. Now they have expanded their offerings to include “studio hours,” flexible “design concierge,” and new construction and renovation consultations.
MSH’s new studio hours are exactly what it says on the tin: hourly appointments that anyone can sign-up for in order to get professional interior design advice without needing to contract the firm for a whole project.
Imagine a client has a certain piece of furniture, Field said, maybe “a sofa that they owned or purchased; they could come in here and pay by the hour, and we can help you pick out a wallpaper or a drape that coordinates. Then we could order it, but they handle the execution of everything.”
While a client of this service wouldn’t get the coordinated help of all three women, it’s an affordable way to pick their brains and make use of their expertise.
Design Concierge is one step up, still flexible but more hands off than the “soup-to-nuts” offering, perfect for a hands-on client who needs some help. With this plan, MSH would provide a custom floor plan, including a revision if needed, and a curated sourcing list for the client to order from. This service is also perfect even for those outside of the Boston area since it can be done fully remote, though of course customers can still opt to visit the Carriage House for an in-person meeting.
The new construction and renovation design offering goes even beyond the full-service design offering by partnering with homeowners and builders to “ensure your new build or renovation is cohesive, functional, and beautifully executed from start to finish.” That means picking fixtures, consulting on layouts, and all manner of other design input that they do best.
Field, Rich, and Healey each bring something a little different to the table. Rich has a strong construction planning and project management background, and Field has always had a flair for the creative. Healey really expanded their reach, bringing in a new aesthetic. All three have a great eye for design, of course, but each woman has her own strengths that come together.
As Rich said, “We each have a little bit of a different role within Main Street Home. We kind of know what our strengths and our weaknesses are, and we let each other kind of flourish in that… It’s nice to know that you have someone else to work off of and grow with.”
On the topic of that Irish pub, to hear Emily tell it: “It was the husband that was driving that ship, too. This is what he wanted, and it was very specific… But we also needed to make it functional for a pool house, right? So like, you can’t have real leather chairs with a wet butt on it. You know? So it was like trying to bridge that gap.”
The pictures tell the success story of that project.
According to Field, “Going forward, I think we’re really trying to be a bigger presence in this market, partnering with the right brands and trying to get in the right publications, so we really can broaden our reach and watch this grow.”
