A Boston Condo Is the Epitome of Serene and Soothing

Name: Annabel Joy, her husband (Kean Duffey), and their French bulldog (Mona)
Location: Boston, Massachusetts
Size: 900 square feet
Years lived in: 3 years, owned

Your eyes don’t deceive you: This is a SECOND house call of the same home. But, it appears that the first post’s headline (A DIY Designer & Chronic Rearranger’s Boston Condo) was particularly appropriate, for Annabel has submitted some more photos and the space already looks pretty different. In fact, it sounds like her career has been updated, as well: “I’m a special education teacher-turned-interior designer, currently preparing to launch Trim Design Co., a boutique online interior design firm that I started with a friend.”

“At Trim, we use vintage and artisanal pieces in every one of our designs. We’re about creating homes steeped in individuality and we want to celebrate emerging makers and timeless pieces instead of fast-furniture. I live with my husband Kean—a chemical engineer who thankfully puts up with my constant rearranging and experimenting in our space and our French bulldog, Mona.”

Describe your home’s style in 5 words or less: Casual eclectic modern

What is your favorite room and why? That’s tough! My favorite room is a tie between the kitchen and the bathroom. I know it’s weird to love your bathroom, but it’s where I first learned to use power tools (to install the woven bamboo roman shade), and I covered the walls in vinyl decals so it looks like polka dot wallpaper, and my favorite piece of art is in there. It’s a pink risograph print we bought on our first wedding anniversary in Provincetown, from the incredible Brooklyn-based artist Sean O’Connor.

The kitchen is my other favorite because I love to cook and we completely remodeled it last summer. It hadn’t been updated since the seventies and it was in really bad shape: Crooked particle board cabinets, laminate counters, curling linoleum tiles in mottled brown. Now it’s bright and happy and I especially love the old radiator, which we painted a bright Tiffany blue.

If you could magically change something about your home, what would it be? If I had a magic genie, I’d wish for a dining room! Like many city apartments, we don’t have a spot big enough for a real table. Our living room is actually pretty big for an apartment, but the back section of the room serves as the walkway between the front door and the kitchen, so it has to stay open.

My solution was to use the sofa as a divider between the pass-through and the rest of the living room, and then I put a lucite console table against the back of the sofa with two wishbone chairs. It serves as my desk during the day, since I work from home, and at night we use it like a bar counter to eat. But I’d love a dining room, so we could have friends over for dinner and sit around a table together.

Any advice for creating a home you love? My advice for creating a home you love is to think about how you want the space to feel as a whole before buying individual pieces. Sometimes pieces by themselves don’t speak to you, but they might work together with your other stuff to create that ideal vibe you’re aiming for. I have to resist my magpie urge to collect every really special piece I’m drawn to, because the end result is more visually chaotic than I want for my space.

I also return again and again to the advice my mother, who has an incredible eye, once gave me: “Sometimes you don’t realize how wrong something is in a room until you remove it.”

Thanks, Annabel Joy!

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