color from room to room and story to story. " The owner wanted a historically accurate interior, " says Johnson. " He didn't shy away from color and had a passion for collecting antiques and artwork. " Both client and designer embraced the implied story of the home's heyday: " As a West Coaster, Federal houses of this period were foreign to me originally, " says the owner. " But I researched the style and how Portsmouth evolved from a scrambling colony into a port city populated by wealthy merchants, their residences decorated with treasures from Europe and abroad. " His own antiques reinforce this storyline. " That was part of the process, imagining what type of house a merchant with worldly attitudes and belongings would have built for his family, " agrees Johnson. " The exterior is decidedly Federal, in keeping with neighboring buildings of the same time period. We took certain liberties with the interior, incorporating some of the client's leanings towards Georgian flourishes and detail. nhhomemagazine.com | January / February 2023 67http://www.nhhomemagazine.com