By Sarah Stebbins
Photos by Erin Little
From our December 2024 issue
When Judy Minaudo was growing up in suburban Cleveland in the ’60s, her grandmother’s house was one of the grooviest spots around. At Christmastime, a futuristic aluminum tree bedecked with pink and turquoise ornaments stood in the living room, illuminated by a rotating color wheel that bathed the metallic spectacle in primary shades. “It was really magical because it was so different from my parents’ home,” Minaudo says. “She had an aqua leather couch — we were like, wow, Grandma.” Now, vintage aluminum trees and tabletops laden with candy-colored glass ornaments grace Minaudo’s 1751 Kennebunk Saltbox during the holidays. And walls and woodwork in splashy colors and patterns dazzle year-round. Minaudo moved across the street from her daughter and her family in 2022, and her grandsons ping-pong between the two houses. This time of year, they delight in Minaudo’s glittery décor and the stockings she fills in their bedroom. “I still don’t have a color wheel,” Minaudo says. But with this much seasonal sparkle, who needs special effects?
Dining Room
With help from her daughter, Tiffany Mizzell, Minaudo leaned in to bold woodwork shades (such as Cook’s Blue by Farrow & Ball) that nod to the colorful trim often seen in Colonial interiors, and wallpaper patterns, like this Thibault toile. But cosmetic enhancements are as meddlesome as Minaudo is willing to get. “You will not see one wall taken down because that’s not what you’re supposed to do in these historic homes,” she says. Shiny Brite finials and ornaments from the ’20s and ’30s decorate the pedestal table and antique chandelier (pictured at top).
Exterior
The James Hubbard House, on historic Summer Street, was built by a carpenter who commanded a local battalion in the Revolutionary War. After he died in battle, his home and estate (including “bed shirts,” “porridge pots,” and “wiggs”) passed to his son and, later, his grandson. Minaudo fell for the house when it was for sale in 2021 but was too late to make an offer. When it went on the market again a year later, she was living with Mizzell and wandered over to make her case to the owners. “My thing was, the boys have to be able to walk to my house,” she says.
Guest Room
A vintage Etsy quilt inspired the Sawtooth Star–patterned wallpaper and pillow by York’s Sara Fitz in Minaudo’s favorite pink-and-red palette. Behr’s Cornflower on the woodwork packs a near-complementary punch. The Sheraton-style bed is from Ethan Allen and Minaudo purchased the print on a trip to St. Lucia with Mizzell. To facilitate aging in a home built when the average life expectancy was a mere 28 years, Minaudo turned a former dining room on the first floor into her bedroom and designated the two second-floor bedrooms for guests.
Living Room
Minaudo was a holiday traditionalist until about 28 years ago, when she began displaying aluminum trees and retro ornaments that reminded her of her grandmother. Her collection of mostly vintage Shiny Brite ornaments (shown here on the tree and in vintage bowls by Fenton Glass, founded in her native Ohio) numbers in the hundreds. “Some of them look like they’re falling apart, they have dents, peeling paint, but they’re beautiful,” she says.
Fireplace
Minaudo’s grandsons, Herman, 11, and Oliver, 8, stay over once a week in a nautical-themed bedroom she and Mizzell designed. The fireplace, rendered in Benjamin Moore’s Hale Navy, hosts a seafaring folk-art Santa by woodcarver Greg Wassil and stockings the boys open on Christmas Eve, per her family’s tradition. “I think because there were six of us kids and we went to midnight mass, my parents couldn’t get everything ready in one night,” she says. “Somehow, the boys have never questioned, and Tiffany never questioned, ‘Why did Santa come twice?’”
Kids’ Room
Every year, Minaudo and her grandsons cut down a fresh tree for their bedroom, which features a striped Norwall Wallcoverings print, an antique Jenny Lind spool bed, and Sara Fitz lobster- and buoy-patterned linens. Other traditions are still in flux. “Mom wants all the holidays,” Mizzell says with a laugh. “But I would like to host some too.” However things shake out this year, Minaudo plans to be at Mizzell’s house bright and early on Christmas morning, in her bathrobe.
