A Boston Townhouse Designed for Entertaining
April 11, 2021
A fun-loving couple ditches the burbs for Bostonâs Back Bay without forgoing beloved traditions.
Text by Erika Ayn Finch    Photography by Sean Litchfield
![JA21_Kennerknecht_Hacin_Living Room âIf youâre going with a monochromatic palette, how do you make it interesting?â asks designer Jessica Rogers. âYou do it with textureâmaterials that feel handcrafted.â In the formal living room, thatâs evident in the leather-tabbed mirrors by Casamidy, the hair-on-hide Steven King carpet, and the laser-cut wood artwork by Nate Nettleton sourced from Boston Art.](https://i0.wp.com/nehomemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/JA21_Kennerknecht_Hacin_Living-Room-.jpg?w=414&h=276&ssl=1)
When Natalie and Barry relocated from Pennsylvania to Waban, a village within the city of Newton, Massachusetts, in 2001, they towed with them a three- and a six-year-old as well as a penchant for bright colors(âChartreuse,â confesses Natalie). Twenty years later, much has changed. The kids are out of the house, and for the coupleâs newly built Marlborough Street townhouse in Boston, Natalie had one big request: a monochromatic palette.
âIâm either wearing all white, all black, or all gray,â she says. âBut I love texture. So when I saw the way Jessie was mixing linen, leather, metal, fabric, and glass, I got really excited.â
Kennerknecht Design Groupâs Jessica Rogers, who served as project manager, agrees that Natalieâs wardrobe provided inspiration. âWe wanted something approachable and casual,â says the designer, âbut also modern and edgy.â That translated into rich shades of white, gray, and black, which pop against the condoâs matte-finish white-oak floors. âThe flooring adds warmth and acts as an anchor to the darker, richer pieces,â explains Jayme Kennerknecht. âThose now stand out as sculptural.â
One such piece is the B&B Italia molded-leather reclining chair in the family room, Barryâs favorite spot in the house. He was adamant that the coupleâs new city digs include space for watching the Patriots on Sundays, and this room, with its deep sectional, scores a touchdown. âFor twenty years, there have been ten or more of us who get together to watch Pats games,â he reminisces. âWeâve watched every Super Bowl together, and we wear the same clothes, sit in the same places, and eat the same food. We had to have a comfortable space.â
On game days, weather permitting, a courtyard, located off the family room and outfitted in JANUS et Cie furniture, offers the ideal space for grilling (Barryâs other favorite pastime). But itâs not all casual all the time. The couple regularly hosts chef-prepared wine-tasting fundraiser dinners, so the design team reimagined the crawl space under the stairs and adjacent to the kitchen as a storage room for up to 200 bottles of wine.
The design reflects a chic couple who knows how to kick off their shoes and have a good time. âThe condo already has beautiful architecture,â says Kennerknecht. âBarry and Natalieâs streamlined aesthetic transferred effortlessly into the space.â
Project Team
Interior design: Jayme Kennerknecht, Jessica Rogers, Kennerknecht Design Group
Architecture: Hacin + Associates
Builder: The Holland Companies
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