Carrie Oesmann recalls completing a school career project when she was in fifth grade. The subject she reported on, based on the theme “what you want to be when you grow up,” stuck with her for years. She was finally able to pursue her “dream” profession—interior design—after gaining success as a graphic artist with a degree from Rutgers University's Mason Gross School of the Arts. Today, she operates her own company, Bailiwick Interior Design, and is a proactive member of the American Society of Interior Designers. She also holds a certification with the National Kitchen and Bath Association and an official accreditation from the National Council for Interior Design. Her bailiwick as an interior designer—hence her company's name—is that she gets inside of her clients' heads. “I give a concrete definition of their dreams,” she says, “creating something that is a functional and beautiful interpretation of their goals for a space.”
Clients are often cautious about undertaking a large-scale interior design project, and moreover, having faith in Oesmann's design insincts. But, she has a distinct proclivity as a designer to finish strong with any concept. When Oesmann and her husband, John, became infatuated with a historic Bethlehem home at 114 East Broad Street, it was unclear whether or not she could uphold and demonstrate this reputed bailiwick to herself, her husband, her “new” home and the Lehigh Valley community. After uprooting their lives in New Jersey, where they had lived for over 17 years and where Bailiwick Interior Design was founded, Carrie and John knew that this home must also serve another purpose: Bailiwick's interior design studio and showroom, or as Carrie calls it, her “think tank.”
A Labor of Love
“We originally were looking for a residential property within walking distance of Main Street,” Carrie says. “One day I saw this property and thought ‘Why not?'” It was a conscious decision to create what they couldn't find elsewhere—a decision that turned into an impassioned renovation endeavor. The couple knew it was time for a change of pace: “My husband started working from home, and we were ready for a new adventure, a change of scenery and an active lifestyle—and boy did we get it,” says Carrie. Discovering an unexpected property that could be reappropriated into both her design studio and a fitting home was an “added bonus,” she says. It only took them seven months, three realtors and five failed bids until they finally claimed their humble abode on East Broad Street.
Built in 1850, this timeworn Bethlehem building has housed a hodgepodge of people and served several different functions. It began as a private residence and remained so for many years. At one point, army recruiters occupied the property, using it as a commercial enlisting center. Eventually, the building's office spaces were leased out to accountants and attorneys.
Fast-forward to early 2014—Carrie's keen eye saw the potential to transform a derelict office setting into an alluring home featuring her finest design work. The 4,694-square-foot building has three floors, comprised mainly of rooms that the Oesmanns could easily repurpose, like the first-floor waiting room/receptionist area, second-floor office spaces, the third-floor multipurpose rooms with lavish windows and the partially finished basement for storage.
The overall charm of the heritage property was one of its foremost selling points, but the trick was to keep the character and the period of the house while creating both a suitable home and an extraordinary design studio. As an outdated commercial building, it inevitably presented challenges—especially to a seasoned interior designer with elaborate objectives. “We did not want to purchase a property if we couldn't achieve our end goal; we did our homework,” Carrie says. Rezoning the property as both a commercial and residential space meant converting interior floor plans and reengineering the exterior grading to include a patio, garage and driveway in order to acquire a mixed-use permit. Carrie says, “One of the biggest issues we had to tackle was that the town required us to have two parking spots on our property in order to be [considered] mixed use.” Having neither direct alley access nor the advantages of a corner lot made this zoning challenge considerably more convoluted. The existing structure inside the home also posed a few complications, but Carrie was up for the challenge.
While honoring the character of the home's historic features, the couple dove right into renovations and demolition work. “We had multiple projects going on simultaneously,” Carrie says.
The entire kitchen and each of the four bathrooms were refurbished with new tile and finishes, electrical wiring, plumbing alterations and new lighting designs.
She and John faced a major holdup when they attempted to remove the vinyl wallpaper. They had to re-sheetrock a sizeable portion of the house—about 50 quarter-inch sheets' worth. Carrie says, “The plaster just disintegrated.” To make matters even more trying, the couple realized there were fragmented dropped ceilings throughout most of the building. “We had to demo every acoustic tile ceiling because there were so many holes,” she says.
Fortunately, there were numerous antiquated elements in the home that the Oesmanns were able to repurpose into their design scheme: American chestnut trim contouring the rooms, hand-carved posts and railings accenting the central staircase, original gas fireplaces and chandeliers making vintage statements, beautiful forced-air heating grates representing the home's charisma and—one of Carrie's most cherished components—“wonderful, old-growth pine floors underneath all of the layers of commercial carpet.” One of John's favorite original features is the lime-plastered cistern underneath the kitchen floor, which he hopes to transform into an old-fashioned wine cellar.
Despite this exhausting “labor of love,” in Carrie's words, the couple felt rewarded by the different skills they were able to learn. Contractors and laborers were hired to assist with large projects and various tasks. Still, when it came down to it, they both took on substantial renovation duties that were entirely new to them. For instance, Carrie boasts, “I can proudly say I personally refinished almost every bit of trim and molding myself.”
Show Time
Carrie and John's mission—to create a unique home environment that could demonstrate to clients real-world examples of good, sensible design concepts—gradually became actualized in the last few months of 2014. With key structural changes checked off their detailed renovation schedule, Carrie began putting her plans for the interior in action. She focused on expressing her and John's own personalities in their freshly transformed home, a design objective Carrie explains as “integrating the many aspects of color, pattern, texture, balance as well as the most important part of any interior design project—lighting.” She attests, “After all, what good is a beautiful design if you can't see it?” The crystal chandelier in the first-floor powder room exemplifies this emphasis on lighting, which, combined with the contrast of the original exposed brick wall, is one of Carrie's favorite rooms.
Since she was still operating her interior design business while putting the finishing touches on the new home, an end date was agreed on in order to give the couple some “closure and sanity,” says Carrie. The Oesmanns welcomed visitors to their home for an open house party in December 2014. Onlookers perused a home inspired by a variety of dark and warm wood accents, from ceiling beams to old pieces of furniture in Carrie and John's collection, but with juxtaposed contemporary designs and fixtures, like stainless steel appliances, patterned carpets, slate gray wall coloring and subtle hints of green, yellow and red. Funnily enough, her most-prized decoration, which she actively sought out, is a reproduction etching of an original 1891 Bethlehem Fair poster, ultimately discovered at the Bethlehem Public Library.
The revamping of their historic Bethlehem home gleaned admiration throughout Northampton County and the greater Lehigh Valley, and in 2015, it was chosen as one of nine "Rooms to View" in the Bethlehem Historic Museum and Sites' 23rd annual House Tour. “It was such an affirmation of the transformation of our property,” says Carrie. More than 300 people attended the June 2015 showing, excitedly surveying the remodeled interior of the Oesmann's teal brick house. To their indulgence, the couple and their home received sincere praise. Yet, according to Carrie, they were most thankful for the opportunity to show off their “hard work, blood, sweat and tears to others who appreciate a good renovation saga.”
To hesitant home renovators, the Oesmanns have one piece of advice: “It's never too late to set goals and challenge yourself.” Before buying the historic East Broad Street home, Carrie admits that she questioned her own sanity, even as a multi-certified interior designer. Now, she says they're gratified and proud to be among the Valley's cast of thousands “who work so hard to preserve the rich history that is found in Bethlehem and its architecture.” It was an enormous undertaking, but she and John did it together—and, she jokes, “we're still married.”
