A family of five finds a place for everything.
The custom kitchen features local millwork.
As any parent knows, one gets used to living with clutter. And yet, we still long for the time when we can finally rid our living spaces of all the stuff that has taken up residence. That moment came for Amanda Teo, Stephen Gordon and their three kids when they fell in love with a stately 1900 colonial revival
on a tree-lined street in Brookline, after living in 1400 square feet for many years in Jamaica Plain. Although updated, they tapped Stephanie Freeman Design (stephaniefreemandesign.com) to help
create nooks and crannies for maximizing storage and minimizing clutter.
the design mixes classic architectural elements with bold colors to create a mod-trad vibe.
“The home was beautiful to begin with, and we loved what designer Stephanie Freeman had already created. We worked with her on the challenge of creating places for everything,” says Leana Taft of Slocum Hall Design Group (slocumhalldesign.com) who was part of the design team, along with Masse Builders (massebuilders.com). Together they overhauled the first floor to accommodate the family’s massive book collection, many musical instruments, and all the stuff that goes hand-in-hand with many hobbies. Freeman helped to reorganize the first-floor openings and Slocum Hall added stairs to the attic, creating a small workstation for Teo. A mudroom was added, the front living room was converted to a library and the back living room was converted to a music room.
The back living room was converted to a music room.
“Aesthetically, our goal was to modernize the home without taking away from the quirky character. Mixing classic architectural elements with bold color and clean-lined furniture created a mod-trad, fun, family vibe,” says Freeman. She found inspiration in the library and music room where the family spends most of their time reading books and jamming together on their various instruments. “We fell in love with Farrow and Ball’s Stiffkey Blue early on for the library and that drove a lot of design decisions,” says Freeman.
The kitchen was reconfigured to create an open-plan entertaining space.
However, some rooms proved a bit more challenging. Gordon is an avid cook with many large industrial kitchen appliances and gadgets that all needed a place to live. The family also loves to entertain and they regularly host large dinner parties so the floor plan had to show how to seat 40 people for Passover, for example. The kitchen was reconfigured to include an opening wall to the dining room, creating an open plan entertaining space.
Farrow & Ball’s Stiffkey Blue provided inspiration in the library.
The team was able to complete the project in just eight months. That included adding decorative beams in the dining room toward the end of the timeline when Freeman realized the ceiling needed a little something. Because, at the end of the day, taking everything away is boring. Turns out a bit of stuff isn’t a bad thing.
