Colloquial Home

Colloquial Home

Storied interiors for your story.

Colloquial Homes are art and soul-ful, uncommon, and grounded in a specific place and time. Colloquial Home can help with full-service interiors and renovations, achieving impact with integrity. We work by:

  • balancing stewardship of your historic home with your needs.

  • building character for all homes, historical or not.

  • sourcing vintage and antiques, refinishing and reupholstering.

About the designer:
Erin Gengo

Erin Gengo is the daughter of a carpenter and an interior designer, but it took her forty years and the death of both parents to decide to choose this path for herself. Erin's design philosophy is that intentionality and beauty imbues a space with meaning and joy. Erin creates homes that tell stories, inspire endlessly, and urge contemplation.

    • Historical renovations and remodels

    • Kitchen and bath design

    • Vintage and antique sourcing and reupholstery

    • Space planning and design

    • Consults

  • My interiors are influenced by the geography of their location and by the historical era of their architecture, though I am not dogmatic about this and love to place something unexpected in an otherwise serious space. I have a strong reverence for craft and my interiors reflect that through many vintage, antique, and handmade selections. Old objects have soul and their own stories, and they are almost always so much more interesting than something new. This is not to say I don’t like new, but when a space is all new furnishings I seek to bring depth to it and the quickest way to do this is through old things. 

  • The best design outcomes reflect a collaborative process so I strive to bring my clients along for the ride. I do insist my clients not be present for installation days so that we do have a fun reveal, but very little should be a surprise as ultimately approval will have already been reached by us, together. 

    I also am interested in building a relationship with my clients, so install is not the end.  The time after installation is finished, when clients are living with and in my design is the ultimate test, so I seek longer term feedback as well. 

  • Absolutely!

  • I find inspiration everywhere. The architecture of the town I grew up in has always inspired me (it is a veritable museum of architecture styles). Godwin cottage is one of my favorite homes from the town; I have great memories of attending parties in that house. 

    Travel is always inspirational, but you don’t need to get on a plane to be inspired. I frequently find myself doing research on the set design in films and tv shows I'm watching. I recently fell down into this world-making rabbit hole watching Killers of the Flower Moon. This is a great article about the design of that film.

  • I am a mom and wife, an adventurer, an angler, a writer, and a community volunteer.