Friday Crush: Boston Apartment

One of the great things about being so affected by design and appointments to the interior, is that even though you may classify yourself to a specific style, i.e., French, Country, English, Cottage, you most certainly can appreciate rooms done in other styles. Especially when those rooms are done so well. I must spend hours each week browsing magazines and internet sites for inspirational photos. Those rooms or gardens that jump right off the page and grab you, pulling at your design strings as if to say: "TAKE ME, I'm yours!"

As I've grown older, and as I've been able to experience more styles, and more design, I've had less and less of those "TAKE ME, I'm yours!" moments. But while browsing the internet last night, I sat almost shaking in my seat. That elusive moment when the image jumped right off the page and I found myself longing to sit in the deep comfortable leather seat of the oversized wingback. I couldn't wait to share it with you, today!

This apartment is the model apartment in the building of one of Boston's premier condo developments. The design work here is that of the elite Boston design duo Gauthier-Stacy. Check out their website for more work and their impressive portfolio.

The apartment is a mix of things found, things collected, and things purchased to work in the space around it - the way I think great rooms should be! Designed to punctuate the condo developments call for a more "European" lifestyle, you can see that the team made special appointments throughout the space to make it gender neutral, well balanced, European, and oh so chic. A view into the den (above) the walls are upholstered in a chocolate brown ultrasuede - such a rich and textural finish, don't you think? The dark walls and furniture are a wonderful juxtaposition to the much more formal, but much lighter living / dining room combination adjacent to the kitchen.

The console of the living room - boasting a beautifully aged mirror with gold leaf geometric frame. The painting to the hall hung from the floor is quite possibly the best use of space I've seen in magazines or online in quite a while. It's actually on a slider, and covers an unsightly closet door. A great design tip! Positioned opposite a window looking out into the harbor, the mirror spreads light around the room, and gives a antique feel with it's veining.

This apartment is full of clever and inventive tips. A great tip if you're searching to bounce the light around in your room - hang a mirror across from a window, or place a mirror behind a lamp. You'll direct light to all of those shadowed corners.

Here, panning out into the seating group, you can admire the barrel backed linen slip covered chairs. Such a beautiful soft line, don't you think. That's something that I think the design team did so well in this space. They created just enough tension for the room to be so admired, but its in such little details that it's hard to pick up. Take the graceful curve of the back of the chairs, both the upholstered pieces and the chair to the left of the painting - those feminine touches are the perfect juxtapose to the square geometric lines of the mirror, and the hard metal and glass finish of the very rectangular console. That break of the linear through the soft curves of the accent tables, chairs, and some accessories is a common thread throughout this apartment - and is such a useful design tip when designing or re-designing your own spaces.

The living room with a look of how the two rooms relate to each other. Using the chaise lounge as a "wall" between the living room and the dining room is also a helpful tool for those of us with long narrow spaces. Breaking the room into two separate spaces is so helpful in creating cozy conversation spaces. If you don't need a second dining space, try a table for board games or cards, along with some fun ottomans or upholstered parsons chairs.

Now the best tip of all. One that I think I'll be borrowing from this space is something that you could probably barely make out in the pictures above, but if you look to the very left, you'll notice that beautiful tea colored suzani on the wall. It serves as art, but also as a convenient cover for the 42" flat screen television hung on that wall for use by the Den.

Much more beautiful and much less expensive than an armoire, this is a tip that I think anyone anywhere can use with any fabric you prefer. But if you'd like to recreate the look with a suzani, I highly recommend shopping the ebay store: Antiquarian Textiles. They are located in Buhkara, and for anywhere between $129 and $329 for just $35 shipping, you can have the beauty of a suzani in your home. No matter which fabric you choose, the look here gives us a great tip in what to do to cover those big black boxes, which are essentially useless unless they're turned on. If you've got a narrow spot, or you're looking for a fun and beautiful way to mask the black hole, this might very well be the ticket!

Of course, there is a bathroom:

And really, what a perfect place for a ghost chair. Do you see it? When you have a gorgeous marble surround like that, why clutter up the space visually with a teak or other material shower chair or bench? Again, one of the most thoughtful installations of a product I otherwise find too modern for my taste. I have been pricing them since I saw this set up last night.

And there is a kitchen:

The bar stools here are upholstered and slipped with matching linen slips from the living room chairs. The perfect lineup and perfect pairing to the furniture beyond, there really was no detail left undone. I hope you enjoyed the tour, and make sure to come back tomorrow evening for a picnic in our yard as part of Share a Garden Sunday. See you then!