Built-in white oak bookcases flank a gas fireplace, above which hangs a landscape painting that Madden bought at an antique store for $85.

“It’s an amazing find,” she says. “It had a big tear, and it was just so beautiful that I decided to repair it. So I found an art restoration company that restores art at the Crocker Art Museum [in nearby Sacramento] and [they] restored that for me.” They also identified the painting as probably Scottish, from the mid-19th century.

The painting was Madden’s jumping-off point for the decorating scheme. “Once I picked the art, my color palette was pretty much set, and then I picked the pillows, the rug and I even reupholstered the living room chairs,” she says. The thick wool green rug and chairs’ performance fabric, she adds, are good options for withstanding wear and tear from kids and pets.

The art also inspired her to scour antique fairs for similarly old-world, vintage pieces, she says, including the dictionaries on the bookshelves, the pitcher on the mantel and the scalloped bowl on the coffee table.

Rug: Armadillo; chair upholstery: Rose Tarlow