- © 2024 Annapolis Home Magazine
- All Rights Reserved
By Walinda P. West
Photography by Robert Radifera | Styling by Charlotte Safavi
Tucked away on the Eastern Shore is a meandering gravel road leading to Boxwood Hill, a six-acre oasis along the Choptank River. Owned by interior designer Jamie Merida and his husband Vincent Bochin, the grounds are animated by a profusion of meticulously manicured boxwoods, cherry blossoms, showy dogwoods, and flowering rhododendrons.
Owner of Easton-based Jamie Merida Interiors, Bountiful Home, and his own line of furnishings for Chelsea House, Merida spotted the house in a real estate advertisement in a local newspaper in 2005. The ad included a picture of the house and a description of its waterfront location. “I called my agent, and we drove out here. When we turned on the driveway, I said, ‘If there is a house for this price at the end of this driveway, I’m done. I don’t even need to go in,’ ” Merida says. That day, Merida was sold on the land and sold on the property.
Although Boxwood Hill dates back to the 1960s, if someone were to say it was built in the 1800s, it would be believable. If one had to label the style of the home’s architecture, it might best be described as a Tidewater Colonial—a style that takes its cues and sensibilities from the classical, symmetrical, stately brick exterior of the Georgian period.
Lore has it that the original builder, who made his living building period installations for the Smithsonian Museum, purchased the land and built the house as a hobby with a nod to 1800s architecture—and personally fired the bricks used for the house in a kiln on the property.
Merida believes that in an effort to remain true to the period, the house was built without central heat and relied on its six fireplaces to provide warmth. Two decades later, a social secretary for a Maryland governor purchased the residence and updated it to 1980s standards, installing heating and air conditioning systems. The owner also transformed the outdoor gardens to befit a governor’s residence, complete with a beautiful gazebo that remains today. It was the house and grounds that appealed to Merida.
To put his personal touch on the property, Merida knew the home’s one-and-a-half bathrooms would be insufficient, so he and Bochin added additional bathrooms, updated the home’s kitchen, and added a family room with ample windows. In 2020, when the pandemic put the world on lockdown, Merida and Bochin updated the outdoor space, creating peaceful vignettes that offered the couple additional living spaces as a change of scenery.
The house itself occupies 3,200 square feet, with the couple making use of every inch of the space. Merida and his team of designers have built a reputation for extraordinary designs with clients up and down the East Coast. Many projects have been published in prestigious magazines and speak to a coastal or beachy aesthetic. However, when it comes to the couple’s own style, there’s not a crab or oyster in sight. Their style is decidedly understated, with paint, wallpaper, and furnishings taking a backseat to the stars of the show: art and antiques.
“I don’t think of my own house as decorated,” Merida says. “We do a lot of houses where people want things decorated and very coordinated. They are beautiful, but they are not for me. Mine is all about the stuff. It’s curated, and it’s about ‘things’ to me. I try to make wallpaper and paint play second fiddle. You don’t see crazy bright colors. It’s really about the art for me.”
The couple’s home reflects decades of acquisitions and the artful eye of its owners. No room has been overlooked when it comes to their collection. All the pieces of museum-quality art—including prints by Picasso—have been inherited or purchased and then tastefully curated. In fact, their home has become something rare: a private, personal gallery where art coexists with daily life. Merida has been told that his grandfather lived in West Africa in the 1930s and 1940s, where he collected prized African artifacts, including masks and figures. Those pieces were handed down and now occupy places of honor throughout the home. Merida’s parents, both artists, were art dealers, and Merida himself was an antiques dealer in Easton in the early 2000s. The collection includes 19th- and 20th-century African masks, an 18th-century chinoiserie chest, 19th-century Russian demi-lune tables, antique rice holders from Thailand, and early works from Picasso. “The pieces all work together, and they make me happy,” Merida says. “My backdrop is all neutral with lots of beige and taupe. Let’s let everything else sing.”
The couple’s house is just the way they want it, Merida says, with no new projects in the offing. They are now focused on their latest venture: a home they’ve purchased in Normandy, France. Merida’s husband of 11 years is from Normandy, so the new house pays tribute to Bochin’s homeland, which Merida has come to love, too. Like his home on the Eastern Shore, the Normandy home is expected to exude the same warmth and be filled with the art and antiques the couple love. So, whether it is the Eastern Shore of Maryland or Normandy, France, for Merida and Bochin, home is where the art is.
INTERIOR DESIGN: Jamie Merida, Jamie Merida Interiors & Bountiful Home, Easton, Maryland.
Great Room:
Sofa – Hooker Furniture
Wingback Chairs – Wesley Hall
Round End Tables – Woodbridge Furniture
Square End Tables – Sarried Furniture
Dining Room Chandelier – Currey and Company
Living Room Chairs – Wesley Hall
Bench at Foot of Bed – Century Furniture
Outdoor Furniture – Universal Furniture
Outdoor Pillows – Annie Selke
© Annapolis Home Magazine
Vol. 15, No. 4 2024