Intimate Domain
Koo de kir owner Kristine Irving invites us into her new beacon hill studio and shares her timeworn approach to modern style.
Kristine Irving recently moved her design desk out of the cramped back quarters of her fashionable Beacon Hill home furnishings boutique Koo de Kir and around the corner into a new space. The studio, awash in Irving's signature neutrals with details that are simultaneously sleek and well-worn, will be dedicated to the interior design portion of her business. We stopped by to chat about her inspirations and to admire her treasures.
FIRST DESIGN PROJECT "When I was 12, I drew Nut, the Egyptian goddess of the sky, on the wall above my bed in magic marker. I skipped school that day. My mom came home to find the goddess and full-on hieroglyphics in blue, red, and gold."
CURRENT INSPIRATIONS "I'm still obsessed with Egyptology. I respond to the highly stylized aesthetic and how things are pared down to their basic elements. I have a small Egyptian sculpture collection, all gifts from an old boyfriend."
FAVORITE SPOT IN THE WORLD "Paris, particularly the bar at Aux Gamins de Paris in the Marais neighborhood. There are four massive fireplaces filled with loads of candles dripping everywhere."
FAVORITE PARISIAN BOUTIQUE "Miller et Bertaux [milleretbertaux.com]. They had just one long table of objects - soap, notebooks, pencils. It was very pared down, textural."
FOR UNDISCOVERED LOCAL TREASURES "I shop at E.R. Butler & Co. [38 Charles Street, 617-722-0230, erbutler.com] and Good [88 Charles Street, 617-722-9200, shopatgood.com] in the neighborhood. I love Reside [266 Concord Avenue, Cambridge, 617-547-2929, resideinc.com]. There's an antiques store I like in Lynn; it's the kind of place you'd go to find a phone booth or tugboat. I try to mix one-of-a-kind pieces into my interiors. I refurbish stuff from garage sales, I
IMPULSE PURCHASE "I saw an 8-foot-tall wine press at an antiques shop outside Central Square that I had to have."
ITEM YOU MOST COVET "The Charles Sofa by B&B Italia."
COMMON DESIGN MISTAKE "People get too bogged down in the details. They fall in love with a sofa or a wall color, and they lose sight of the fact that a home is a holistic space."
DESIGN TIP "Design is about balance. Mix a bold colorful rug and subdued modern furniture. Crazy art on the walls and quiet window treatments."
ON ENTERTAINING "I cook all the time and love to entertain, even though my place is tiny. I do lots of olives, cheeses, and bread - halfway-prepared morsels people can put together. And plenty of wine."
WORDS TO LIVE BY "A client once said to me, `I need someone to layer in the love.' I like to think I do that."
Marni Elyse Katz is a freelance writer in Boston. Send comments to designing@globe.com.
