apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Congratulations on your renovation! What a lovely home.

just love how the paint is acting as a accessory in the living room and the bedroom .....good that u have put pictures of the house before renovation ... truely "labor of love".. great job guys

really like your space but i am overwhelmed by your absolutely fantastic art--incredible stuff, esp. the anuszkiewicz in the kitchen and the sheila pepe piece in the hallway. as a cambridge resident, i am so happy to see modern & contemporary art in cambridge/boston, where i have to say it's underrepresented. Go cambridge!!!

I have the same dining chairs. Did you replace the foam?

Wow, what a wonderful renovation. Good job!

Would you mind sharing where you found the rug you have in your bedroom? I love it...

You have created a very lovely home! I adore your use of yellow throughout. You also have a great eye for art. Thanks so much for sharing who the artists are.

No surprise to see that their home is incredible. Brian's an amazing artist, and Paula has incredible style. Thanks to Apartment Therapy for showing that Cambridge isn't all preppy frumpiness!

What a fun home! A lot of it is not my style personally (the pink room is a little too pink for me haha) but it definitely shows a lot of personality.
And I like the use of bright colours because you didn't hold back.

Congrats!

It makes me so, so happy to see Ikea furniture used in such a successful way. My home is also a mixture of second hand furniture and Ikea (although the percentage is much higher for Ikea) and this tour makes me feel much more confident about that.

I have a few identification questions:

- What material are the counter tops?

- What is the light fixture in the bathroom? Is it wall mounted or ceiling mounted?

- Do you have a manufacturer name and/or model number for the bathroom mirror?

- What is the cat sculpture beside the toilet? Is it functional or purely for aesthetics?

It is a wonderfully fun place! The kitchen color is practically edible (lime sherbet?) and nothing looks too "done" or fussy. Great job.

You guys did an absolutely amazing job. I love almost everything about it, except for the pink. It's just too much for me. I hope someday I can transform a space like that.

Emily

I love the pink!

Do you mind sharing the color of the pink in the kitchen and the pink room?

Except for the blinding yellow in the living room, I really like it - nice use of space. It does feel smaller than the 900 sq ft it really is.

I love the circle rugs along the hallway--so fun!

Oooh, more! I want to see this WHOLE house! I love it! :)

I know "mouracs" likes the circle rugs. But it is in fact the only thing"s" i dont like in this space. Other than that, everything is so nicely done.... yep, fun and colorful and lively.....

You also used good feng shui principles whether you were conscious of it or not: the shelving in the kitchen where the corners were cut off, the perfect balance of square yang round yin shapes, the uplifting art. Kudos!
Katy
http://fengshuibyfishgirl.com

It's such an impressive renovation. I"m particularly impressed by the art pieces. I was wondering if the owners can share how they collected those pieces and how much the Anuszkiewicz pieces run nowadays?I have quite a few empty spaces at home but I'm very intimidated by the art scene......

Wow, congrats! It's really wonderful how you were able to see through the horrible past renovations and bring this condo back. Your renovations allow your home to still look old (in a good way!) and blend in with your own contemporary aesthetic. I really love the stepping stone effect of the circular rugs and the bold use of colors. Thanks for sharing with AT!

ps: drop ceiling covering acoustic tiles in the kitchen...WHY?? (looks fantastic now though!)

Love it, and you did a great job with the kitchen especially. It's nice to see white appliances instead of stainless--they blend in much better!

luv the bold colors, and the stepping-stone carpet circles in the hallway (hope the backs are skid-resistant :)

Hello, Paula and Brian here. We are so moved by all of your wonderfully upbeat, encouraging comments! We'll try to answer some of your questions, but as we did the reno little by little over the past 4 years, we may have forgotten some specifics. So, here goes:
1. We did not replace the foam on the kitchen chairs...yet.
2. Our bedroom rug is from Crate & Barrel.
3. The kitchen counters are Corian, color is cobalt.
4. The bathroom light over the medicine cab. is a ceiling mounted light from Ikea that we chose to wall mount. It sort of looks like a large breath mint!
5. The medicine cab. is from Home Depot, that's all we can remember, sorry.
6. The white cat next to the toilet holds the toilet brush. It was a wedding present bought at Bed, Bath & Beyond.
7. Paint colors: All are Benjamin Moore. Our bathroom is actually a lot more green than yellow (it is called limelight),but for some reason, it looks yellow in the tour. We can't recall the exact name of the kitchen wall color, but the dressing/guest room is called tickled pink. The hallway is pigeon gray.
8. To imcaffeine: don't be intimidated by the art scene! It is a buyer's market out there. The Anuszkiewicz is from the Barbara Krakow Gallery in Boston. Go there and ask for Andrew.
9. The circular gray rugs are nailed to the floor with carpet nails so nobody ever slips ;-)
Again, thank you for the positive feedback!

Thanks for submitting photos that actually show the rooms. I'm so frustrated by tours that only show little vignettes and corners. Great colors!

Zowie!

I'm with mjs7640...your tour is just perfect because the rooms are shown in all their expansive glory. There is great detail without resorting to too-precious close-ups and vignettes. I'm all for banning them myself.

My only itty-bitty quibble: you could use fewer images of the kitchen -- it certainly is a knock-out -- and more of the bedroom and artwork.

Excellent job under very challenging circumstances.

I absolutely love your space! It's bright and fresh, and looks so inviting. Thanks for sharing!

w00t!! What an amazing job you guys did!!! You can tell this home is truly loved by it's owners!!

I love the wall-lamp/art left of the television!! Where did you get it?

Hi - I had a telephone table like you have in your front hall 40 years ago, Now I wish I still had it - you have done an amazing job of renovating,I love it all.

Love the pink bedroom. Love. Great kitchen. I like what you've done w/o going granite/stainless blah. Great work. I'm envious except for the circle carpets in the hallway; they made me cringe.

this is awesome - excellent use of a bold yellow. Who makes the couch?

This is a nice place and a VERY impressive renovation, but for me it seems to straddle an uncomfortable middle ground between minimalism and eclecticism.

I think more Scandinavian-style wood pieces (furniture, frames) would give it a nice theme to tie everything together. The dining table and the living room armchair work really well because they're add a nice simple texture to rationalize the minimalist lines and the bold colours.

Hi -- love the design and style! Can you tell me where you got your couch?

thanks!

So beautiful and colorful! I'm loving those circular rugs spread around. I'm one town over, in Somerville, MA so it's great to see a Cambridge home on here!

Congrats Brian and Paula!!! You did an amazing job--the place really feels like you guys!

I *thought* that was a Sheila Pepe wall hanging! What a beautiful piece.

I NEED to know the color used in the bedroom. It is exactly what I'm looking for, lemony without being too lemony, buttery without being too buttery, and looks good with the same bed (and color cat - haha) that I have!

Hi,
A few ppl. asked about our couch--it is from Ikea (Tylosand, I think), and the paint color in the bedroom is called Barleycorn, which doesn't tell you much! (Can't remember the name of the blue trim). It is pretty bright in person, and yes, a black cat like our Olive does contrast with it well!
--Paula

You two have great taste - I love the bold choices. My favorite is the white kitchen, the red bookshelves and of course - the art collection. It's a long way from Gailhac Hall!

I give you a ton of credit for renovating - that's hard work. Thanks to AT for posting this beautiful condo...and inspiring me to declutter and paint! I want a dressing room!

Paula and Brian, congratulations on the fantastic renovation! It is always tough to make an area seem bigger than it really is. I find that by having urban furniture it really lights the room up so people don’t pay attention to the size because they are so taken by the energy the furniture gives off.

Huge Congrats on this!

From the before and after pictures, you can tell a lot of work went into this!!! I'm not usually one for strong colours, but with your choice of art and overall decor it looks stunning!!!

ps> One question though, where in the world did you find an Ikea Tylosand sofa/chaise in Kungsvik (suede-like) fabric in black??? I only seem to find those covers in sand, its available in Evarod black, but I don't like how rough that other fabric feels.

LOVE it! Great job!

I really like your danish dining table and chairs. Perfect size. I have the same question as Chris Fig. Where did find that color for Tylosand covers?

Thank you,
Shauna.