A Boston Apartment is Full of Smart Storage Solutions

A Roche Bobois table and chairs bring haute style to this home’s dining space, where the custom cabinetry has an effervescent silver-leaf finish.

Designer Beth Bourque went with modular Roche Bobois sofas so the homeowners, who hadn’t moved into the space yet, had plenty of flexibility

“The original kitchen plans were very small, so we added more cabinets and extended it for a seamless look,” the designer recalls. As for the trio of eye-candy orb light fixtures, those are Melt pendants from Design Within Reach.

In the playroom, the round rugs are actually FLOR carpet tiles; “that way they can get ruined and replaced,” Bourque says.

The platform bed’s custom upholstery and toss pillows were fabricated by Partners in Design in serene hues.

Built-ins were designed to accommodate specific pieces of art; these porcelain petals are by Valéria Nascimento and attach to the wall with magnets.

The roof-deck’s original pavers got so hot during the summer that the space was difficult to use, especially for the kids. Bourque replaced the pavers and worked closely with Tuuci to install the exterior umbrellas via crane; everything, including the toss pillows, is weighted so it stays put for safety during life’s inevitable squalls.

Ask any parent what they’re craving on the home front and one answer is likely to rise to the top of the wish list: storage, storage, and (yep!) more storage. Designer Beth Bourque’s clients were no exception. Two high-powered attorneys with young children, additional closets and cabinets were at the top of their list of needs when they reached out to Bourque.

But there’s more to tucking away jumbles of toys than a few shelves and plastic bins, as the major and minor tweaks on this brand-new Boston penthouse prove. Bourque worked with Masterpiece Woodworks to install built-in cabinetry, some that spans floor to ceiling and wall to wall, to maximize organizational opportunities.

Just as every pot has a lid, Bourque and team made sure to create bespoke storage solutions for their clients’  specific accoutrements. “Programmatically, we were able to figure out exactly what they’re storing…so in the dining room, a portion of the built-in is actually office storage; there’s a pullout with a printer on it, all hardwired to the network,” she says. They even created vertical pullouts for footwear in the foyer.

With young kids afoot, durable materials, like Corian quartz for the dining tabletop, were employed. “We made sure that it had a matte honed surface, so if they scrubbed it, they weren’t scrubbing off the gloss,” explains Bourque. Even the kids’ dining chairs have a tot-approved secret: Bourque commissioned Partners in Design to make slipcovers that zipper down the back in the same leather as the main chairs.

Bourque swapped many of the condo’s builder-grade fixtures and finishes for artful alternatives, including a dining room chandelier by Andreea Braescu and a porcelain installation by Valéria Nascimento, artists the homeowners admire. Getting their work installed, though, was a lesson in organization itself. The chandelier’s 250 leaves arrived individually wrapped and numbered. “It took us about twelve hours to assemble this light fixture,” Bourque recalls.

Nascimento’s piece, porcelain petals that appear to fall within a built-in seating nook, required a similar level of precision; it had to be assembled and then reassembled on-site. In the end, it was all worth it for a home that’s equal doses form and function.

Project Team
Interior design: Beth Bourque Design Studio
Builder: Brenco Construction Co