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The fabric of life

For Michael Zimman an Ellen Rovner, home is a harmonious blend of silks, velvets, and the odd leopard print.

Michael Zimman and Ellen Rovner love vibrant colors, rich textures, and intricate patterns, and it shows. A walk through the three rooms and entry hall on the first floor of their Brookline Victorian "is like a mini world tour," muses Zimman. The entry hall is a melding of pumpkin-colored walls and vibrant Moroccan rugs; the dark-hued living room, with its stenciled walls and grand piano, is styled as an English parlor. The dining room, which has aqua walls and an ornate chandelier, is a marriage of Venetian and Asian high style, and the airy kitchen's whitewashed pine cabinets give the room a country cottage feel.

"When we were first married, we didn't like the same things," says Rovner, a former caterer and food columnist now studying anthropology. "I liked antiques; he liked contemporary looks from the '50s, like kidney-shaped coffee tables. But as the marriage has evolved, so have our tastes and so has the house. We come closer together every year. It's now a harmonious mishmash."

"Our rule is: If it doesn't work for both of us, it doesn't go," adds Zimman.

Zimman is the third-generation owner of Zimman's in Lynn, an enterprise founded by his grandfather as a department store that sold everything from children's toys to ladies' shoes. Today, it's a fabric and furniture specialty shop, and Rovner encourages Zimman to bring his work home - bolt by bolt. The two have designed rooms around the sunny hue of a chinoiserie silk drapery fabric or the fleur-de-lis pattern of an upholstery material.

"It's a great way for us to utilize what we have in the store," says Rovner. "It's like dentists' children all having beautiful teeth. We have access to all these beautiful fabrics, so we should use them and show them off."

While their home is full of elegant fabrics, they want it to be comfortable - they have raised four children in their 14 years here. They also like each room to evoke a different mood, and they love a little whimsy here and there. "Everyone needs a little bit of leopard skin in their lives, don't you think?" says Rovner with a laugh, noting the antique bench in the bedroom covered in the popular pattern. "You can't take yourself too seriously. I want my house to be beautiful, but never off-putting."

The couple mix their collector's items - like the English marquetry and burl bureau in the bedroom - with conversation pieces pulled from neighborhood trash piles. A petite wingback chair in Rovner's home office, covered in yellow fleur-de-lis fabric and accented with a purple and gold acanthus-leaf pattern, was a tattered mess when Rovner spotted it at the curb one day.

"I just loaded it into the station wagon," she says, "and drove it to Michael's shop," where Zimman's upholsterers made it better than new. The chair is the perfect accent for the room's red velvet sofa, which was salvaged from Zimman's store and had been used by his grandmother in her office at the shop.

"We searched forever for a sofa, and one day I was just standing in Michael's office and looked down and said, 'Hey, what about this?' " recalls Rovner. "It had ledger books piled on top of it and had old, gray, shiny fabric on it, but I loved the style and knew we could bring it back to life."

Zimman and Rovner bought their house, an attached single-family, from the last surviving daughter of the original owners, who entrusted them with the home her family had loved. They have renovated all three floors, but they've been careful to maintain its antique flourishes and architectural integrity. They are planning to update the kitchen this year, for style and function, and have recently redone their den, adding a built-in entertainment center and a comfortable sofa.

"I like that the house changes and keeps changing," says Rovner. "It's a metaphor for our lives here together."