‘TIS THE SEASON

The sun is shining and summer is in full swing at Hilltop House, the Barrington home of Graham Kostic and Fran Taglia.

The best interiors are those that seem to have come together naturally. They can be minimalist or maximalist, traditional or contemporary, but the rooms that say “home” are artless. Not that they spring full-blown on their own. Even the most relaxed space calls for an eye for what goes where. And the vintage Barrington residence of Graham Kostic and Fran Taglia—unabashedly colorful and boldly furnished—hits that sweet spot between carefully composed and collected over time.

Built in 1932, the house—christened Hilltop House—had been well cared for by its previous owners when the couple acquired it. “Having only passed hands through a few families since its construction, it was in lovely shape,” says Kostic. “The house is very unique, with a sunken living room and an octagonal dining room. We did reconfigure our bedroom and bathroom, but a lot of our renovation was cosmetic.”

Once heavily embedded in the media world as the Style Editor of Modern Luxury magazines and the developer of his own successful web magazine focusing on fashion, beauty, and travel, Kostic stepped back from all that when he and Taglia relocated from Chicago. “Immediately, I felt at peace with my decision,” shares Kostic, who performed onstage professionally as a youth in shows at the historic Muny theater in St. Louis and on tour in The King and I with Shirley Jones. He now serves as the choreographer for the theater department at Barrington High School. “I love watching the students grow and express themselves over their four-year track, encouraging them to unlock the strength within to find and share kindness and humor in all that they do.”

Out of the city and off his computer, Kostic quickly adapted to a new rhythm of life. “I found myself barefoot in the yard, journaling, painting watercolors, wandering aimlessly, observing my new environs, collecting feathers, interesting rocks, and deer antler. My world went from creating beauty on a screen to creating beauty for an audience of myself, my husband, and our son, Romeo.”

Kostic’s all-out embrace of the property is evident everywhere, from the music room, which is set with a piano and adorned with an abundance of millwork painted in a daringly rich yellow, to the kitchen, where a vintage portrait hangs above the La Cornue range. But it is perhaps the garden where this former city-dweller truly realized a new life. “I could hardly keep a succulent alive before,” he admits. “I never dreamed of having a garden, and now I can’t imagine my life without one.”

Kostic spent his first summer in the garden just watching things grow, learning the ways of each plant, observing how they thrived or struggled. “I realized quickly that delphiniums just die out each year and that all the pretty plants that I love, the deer love too. But over the summers, I found what worked, started seeds in the greenhouse, transplanted, and started creating something in which I take great pride.”

While Kostic gives the garden a lot of love, he’s not mad about mulching and doesn’t “worry when something doesn’t come back the same way it did the season before.” Lavender and foxglove have proven resistant to his attentions, but he’s done well with a variety of perennials, including irises, and always leaves plenty of space for dahlias and zinnias.

“I give the terrace ivy a funny little haircut each spring, and this year, I’m focusing on big pots of chamomile and more marigolds from seed, a variety from Hager’s garden center in town a few seasons ago that thrived amazingly well. I faithfully try to tame and trim, but also let the garden express itself. I love a controlled weed. There are some beautiful ones that provide long-lasting color and, if contained, are absolutely joyful.”

Never static, always surprising, sometimes cooperative, often not, a garden is utterly alive. For the true gardener, its phases move too quickly, but even as things bloom and fade, there’s deep pleasure to be had in the beautiful passage of time. “The creeping bluebell around the front circular drive in late June reminds me of rehearsing for a full-fledged dinner theater production of Cabaret for the Barrington Play Reading Group we hosted here a few years back,” relates Kostic. “The wild rudbeckia and sunflowers in full bloom are signals of our son’s birthday in August. A garden provides a certain rhythm to one’s life that is very consistent from year to year but, in the moment, wildly unpredictable. It’s a perfect metaphor of life—it ebbs and flows, it shifts and wilts, but inevitably, it finds life again in surprising ways. I’ve always thought this place was magical, a storybook come to life. And now with our son, who is 5, racing out the door down to the field below, swinging wildly on his tire swing, or making a fort under the giant junipers, I am so proud to have continued a very strong tradition of keeping this house and property as it was intended—as a place to appreciate nature and celebrate all life’s joys.”