Intellectual Property
With a $45,000 budget, Ken Herron had one request for his interior designer: Make it work.
When Ken Herron moved to South Boston from the Jersey suburbs for a job as a marketing director, the 42-year-old clotheshorse was prepared to downsize. And that he did, leaving a two-bedroom home with four walk-in closets for a white-box condo one-third the size.
Herron was determined to make the unit's 1,100 square feet feel like 3,000. But he needed help, and Michael Ferzoco of Eleven
The condo's location at the corner of the building and its wealth of enormous windows meant tons of light infused the living/dining area and the kitchen. But the loft-style condo had odd-shaped spaces and few walls on which to construct enclosures for much-needed storage. There was only one existing closet, a shockingly small affair in the lone bedroom.
"Developers don't always take into consideration how people live -- where they'll stash their vacuum or coats," Ferzoco says.
Herron, who began with a $40,000 renovation in mind but eventually added $5,000 to the pot, says his first instinct was to go shopping for lots of little pieces. He was surprised when Ferzoco suggested a charcoal-gray sectional by Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams. The designer explained that small spaces need anchors; a sectional would visually separate the main living area into living, dining, and sitting zones but keep the room feeling open and airy. Plus, it would be large enough to accommodate Herron's 6-foot-4 frame. Shelves climb a nearby wall, saving floor space for two yellow velvet ottomans that add a punch of color.
The kitchen-counter stools from Design Within Reach double as extra seating. In a triangular alcove in the main living space, Ferzoco created a sitting/reading nook with two slipper chairs that mirror the mustard of the ottomans.
Herron loves color, but Ferzoco kept it tame because of the small space. "You want unity, not confusion," Ferzoco says. "We went with a gray and white base with yellow, burgundy, and blue accents. In a small space, you need continuity of color and material."
One of Herron's favorite pops of color is the burgundy shag rug in the living area that helps keep the contemporary space from seeming severe. "It looks like it should be a Muppet," he says with a laugh. "Several friends have already named it." And he needn't have worried about having enough seating -- everyone ends up wanting to stretch out on the rug.
For dining, the pair chose a round pedestal table from Boston's Sedia to offset the rectilinear angles in the rest of the space without the clutter of too many legs. The glass top makes the table seem light, helping it disappear into the space. The Donghia dining chairs seem to float on their wire legs.
In the windowless bedroom, Ferzoco created a custom wall-mounted headboard that stretches beyond the edges of the bed, unifying it with tiny end tables. Herron confesses to a serious clothes habit, noting that his shoe rack is taller than he is. Ferzoco helped solve the storage problem by placing two identical dressers from CB2 end to end. For stowing other items, such as the vacuum and luggage, he found a mirrored cabinet at IKEA and tucked it into an alcove in the bedroom, opposite a wall with clerestory windows that let in light from the main living space. "High-end products bring up the low end," Ferzoco says.
Though Herron was recently downsized out of his new job at an online media company, he hopes to stay in his now-welcoming digs. "It's even better designed than my old space," he says. "It's ironic that in this tiny condo, I can have a dozen people over and it doesn't feel crowded. I couldn't even do that in my last place. When anyone walks in now, they say, 'Wow, this is so big!' "
eleven interiors535 Albany Street, fourth floor, Boston, 617-423-1114, eleveninteriors.com 