The Second Time Around

After they finished renovating their Salem home, Roberta and Sean O'Connor fell in love with the house next door.

(Photograph by Eric Roth) After they finished renovating their Salem home, Roberta and Sean O'Connor fell in love with the house next door.

Roberta O'Connor is addicted to the thrill of remodeling broken-down buildings. So in 2004, when she and her contractor husband Sean, 38, finished renovating their first home, a duplex in Salem's historic McIntire District, they couldn't stop from roving for the next project. "Our fingers start to itch when we see exposed two-by-fours," says Roberta O'Connor, 35, who punctuates most sentences with a likable grin.

As it turned out, the couple didn't have to look far; their next project was right next door. When their neighbor overheard the two on their front stoop discussing (well, some might call it arguing) over whether to stay or go, he offered to take them on a tour of his home, where he had raised five children and worked as an obstetrician/gynecologist for more than 40 years. After months of delicate negotiations, Sean and Roberta moved in 2005, with then 2-year-old daughter Maya in tow.

The O'Connors took on renovating the massive 1838 Federal-style brick home with gusto. Trims and moldings were lovingly restored and repainted, the puny, old-fashioned kitchen was expanded and updated, and they ripped out the doctor's half-dozen examining rooms on the first floor. By the time now 1-year-old Ben was on the way, the project was nearly complete.

"I didn't want a very traditional interior, because while it would go with the neighborhood, that's just not us," says Roberta O'Connor. "But we also had a lot of leftover college furniture, mixed with a few good pieces, and those didn't fit in, either."

Translation: O'Connor hit a snag decorating what she saw as a stuff y old house. Looking at her new home, a voice inside told her to break the rules. "The best way to freshen this antique is to inject a little Brasilia spirit," she thought.

Born in Brazil, O'Connor spent her childhood traveling the globe with her father, an international soccer coach, and her artist mother. From her teen years in the Middle East to vacations in Russia and China, O'Connor cultivated a worldly design sensibility. So to outfit her new Salem home, she scooped up mid-century-modern furniture that caught her eye during trips to Brazil and then raided the family's remarkable souvenir collection (authentic babushka dolls and Kuwaiti carpets, anyone?) for accessories.

In the generously proportioned living room, heavy crown molding shares space with pieces by some of Brazil's top modernist designers, like Sergio Rodriguez, and more current buys from Pottery Barn and West Elm. Chinese cinnabar vases culled during a family trip to Beijing when she was 12 top a fireplace mantel festooned with relief of garlands. A sculpture by her mother is artfully arranged next to a print by Brazil's Emiliano Di Cavalcanti on top of a white-lacquer bar; an Alexander Calder print from the Museum of Modern Art hangs on the wall above.

"It was a learning curve, there are a few things - two chairs I can think of - that just didn't work," says O'Connor. "But the process was so much fun."

The mix is so appealing, O'Connor felt compelled to introduce the jacaranda and caviuna wood furniture of her hometown of Rio de Janeiro to her adopted city of Salem. After shopping antiques dealers in Rio and fine-tuning just the right mix of textiles and accessories from contemporary American designers like Jonathan Adler and Thomas Paul, this summer she opened Cabin Fever on Essex Street. It's a darling boutique that promises good-quality designs at modest prices, with the opportunity to purchase more expensive pieces, such as fuzzy upholstered teak chairs by Sao Paulo's highly sought-after Giuseppe Scapinelli.

Brazil is "a tropical climate, so the pieces are less upholstered, which really brings out the richness of the wood," says O'Connor. She says she can always tell a Brazilian piece from a Danish one; the South American style is more relaxed and open. And often, their profiles bring to O'Connor's mind the famous graphic sidewalks of sunny Ipanema and Copacabana beach - even on the chilliest New England days.

Molly Jane Quinn is associate editor of Design New England magazine. Send comments to designing@globe.com.