Every designer has that unforgettable, once-in-a-career project.

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For Autumn Oser, co-founder of Haldon House, it was a historic Philadelphia property combined with the clients’ rule-breaking attitude that set this project apart. “It was the first time I’ve been asked to ‘un-design’ things,” she explains.

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The house in question: an elegant, 1920s Colonial Revival designed by Horace Trumbauer—a revered architect who left an indelible mark across Pennsylvania and beyond. Its owners: a couple in their sixties with a remarkable collection of design pieces. Taken by the lush setting of the property, they had decided to move away from the family home where they had raised their four children and start anew.

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How Haldon House secured the gig is notable; underwhelmed by the vision of their architect and landscape designer, the owners had put the property back up for sale. Autumn and her business-partner husband, Andre, who are based in the area, had already built their forever home from the ground up but could see the house’s development potential. When the wife got wind of their interest, she asked to see their plans, and everything quickly clicked into place. “She was like: ‘Oh, I’ll do that,’” recalls Autumn.

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What followed was an intense collaboration turbo-charged across just two years. Autumn and Andre got to know the whole family well, staying at their other homes to weave together their history. The new place was remodeled externally and gutted internally to create a layout better suited to entertaining and welcoming grandchildren. “They wanted the home to feel collected over time, like they’d been living there for 30 years, despite it practically being a new construction,” explains Autumn.

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Key to creating that storied narrative was the avoidance of any drywall: v-groove cladding, plaster, wooden beams, crown molding, and applied trim build up layers of texture which evoke such a feeling. Mixed metals in the bathrooms—a nickel faucet here, a brass light there—add to the sense of a home remodeled over time. Then there’s the decor. Some rooms were designed around the clients’ existing pieces: “It was really important that when their kids came to this new home, some elements felt similar to the house they grew up in. We even took the door knocker from the old place,” says Autumn.

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Vintage played a vital role too, with details like the burgundy scallop around a light from a casino in Vienna inspiring the color scheme for the primary bedroom. Autumn enjoyed shopping trips with the client and would WhatsApp photos of potential treasures from flea markets in Italy. Championing local talent was also important to everyone.

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Lostine, a Philadelphia vintage dealer and furniture-maker, turned out to be the source of a few excellent finds, such as the Brutalist pine desk by the staircase, which is Autumn’s favorite piece of all. “It gives such a quirky Hobbit moment. It's also where the owner stores chocolate—so the grandkids will sit up and color here and grab their treats,” she says. The Expert Vintage also proved a fertile hunting ground for finishing pieces: “I haven't found another platform that's so aligned with my team's eye,” she shares.

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Autumn became so immersed in the family’s story, she had a fabric custom-made to remind the owner of the blue, red, and yellow-striped blanket she’d take camping as a child. It covers the bench seat in the boot room. “For some designers, it can be frustrating when a client really leans in and has a lot of ideas,” she says. “But I could never have come up with that solution without knowing so much about her.”

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Alongside nostalgia, ‘weird’ was also part of the brief. “They love a high-low balance,” she says of the clients’ eclecticism. “Anytime a room felt too formal, the question was always: what can we put in here to have a bold, weird opinion?” says Autumn, which explains the yellow Boris Bally chair placed mere feet from an antique Chinoiserie desk in the study. There are also budget buys from big-box stores positioned next to rare finds that cost 100 times as much, but the magic is that you’d never be able to tell them apart.

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The lack of conformity extended to art placement too. Autumn hung pieces on windows, over waistcoating and a studio first: along spindles. “It feels very old world and European,” she says. “The clients couldn't care less for design rules, so we went with our instinct.”

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Autumn’s biggest takeaway from the project was the simple act of leaning in and listening: “It can take design to a whole other place. At the end, the client walking into a home that feels like them, and not like the work of a designer, is the most successful aspect of all.”

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