Inside a Colorful Boston Penthouse

A Tritter Feefer table joins an Edelman leather banquette crafted by McLaughlin Custom Upholstered Furniture in the family room’s casual dining area. Floral-upholstered chairs with baby-blue legs add a soft touch.

A new marble floor with hand-glazed insets and a de Gournay chinoiserie wallpaper make an elegant statement in the foyer. A hallway off the foyer has herringbone-patterned engineered hickory floors and doors upholstered in orange leather.

Designer Robin Pelissier used a variety of fabric colors and patterns on the custom bolster-framed sectional and swivel lounge chairs; a playful Lladró chandelier in clear and candy-colored crystal hangs above.

An eighteenth-century Louis XV console table and gilded-frame mirror fill a niche in the foyer.

A powder room has a deco-glam feel with its wallpaper of gigantic peonies on a charcoal-gray background.

The dining room’s Murano-glass flowers create a gorgeous glow hanging from a ceiling covered in Phillip Jeffries metallic paper. Incorporating all the colors used throughout the living spaces, Nina Campbell’s Paradiso drapery fabric ties all the rooms together and references the pretty landscaping on the home’s outdoor terraces.

Owner Karen Kames sparked the home’s palette with her choice of mulberry-colored cabinetry in the kitchen.

The stairway leads from the main living level down to a lower floor that holds guest bedrooms and an open area with a gym, a TV room, and a golf simulator that Chris says has shaved a few strokes off his handicap.

The family room’s Schumacher paper with a subtle pattern and color forms a neutral backdrop for Pelissier’s use of bright colors. facing page: Purple and orange, homeowner Chris Gaffney’s favorite colors, make an appearance in the living room, where fabric-covered walls, a leather-upholstered door, and a blue velvet sofa are united by the Landry & Arcari rug.

Purple and orange, homeowner Chris Gaffney’s favorite colors, make an appearance in the living room, where fabric-covered walls, a leather-upholstered door, and a blue velvet sofa are united by the Landry & Arcari rug.

All things toile makes for a pretty, feminine bedroom when the couple’s daughter comes to visit.

The couple’s toddler grandson no doubt has sweet dreams in a bedroom that’s playful yet sophisticated with its Thibaut Elephant paper and Lewis & Wood curtain and headboard fabrics.

The primary bedroom echoes the home’s color palette but in paler hues; the wallpaper is Schumacher’s Imperial Garden.

One of Karen’s favorite spots in the home is her desk area in a corner of the kitchen.

Common Room’s Lioness & Palms wallpaper adds a touch of whimsy to a guest bedroom; the light fixture by Allison Paladino has LED-lit chunks of rough-cut sculpted glass.

Admittedly, de Gournay wallpaper on the kitchen backsplash is a bold choice. So are glossy mulberry-hued kitchen cabinets, orange living room drapes with blue trim, and lime-green leather dining chairs. But Karen Kames and Chris Gaffney have never shied away from bold when it comes to home design. The couple incorporated every color in the rainbow—and then some—in their two-level penthouse unit in a Boston high-rise. “I didn’t want just another urban penthouse, with beige and pewter colors and modern design,” Karen says. “I wanted a home that felt warm and vibrant.”

To help them achieve that result, the couple turned to Robin Pelissier, with whom they’ve worked on multiple projects over the years. “They are cherished longtime clients, who express their love of life and style with color,” Pelissier says.

Joining the design team was Sean Reynolds of Woodmeister Master Builders. Together the pros and their clients went through the home, moving walls, replacing mechanicals, and reworking moldings, trim, floors, and ceilings. “The spirit of the project was to open the views of the skyline and the Charles River,” Reynolds says. “We couldn’t change the footprint, but working in the confines of the high-rise, we peeled away the finishes and built it back.”

The work began in the kitchen. “Karen and Chris have a very kitchen-centric way of living, so that drove the project,” Reynolds explains.

The cabinetry, glistening in high-gloss Fabulous Grape from Sherwin-Williams, warms the space, as do the engineered hickory floors. Counter stools in a sky-blue fabric belly up to an oversize island topped with polished marble (with the thoughtful touch of radiant heating).

Then, of course, there’s that de Gournay wallpaper, a choice the couple might have second-guessed when their younger son, daughter-in-law, and toddler grandson came to live with them.

“I will tell you, our fabrics and wallcoverings are getting a workout,” Karen says with a laugh. “We’re finding yogurt in places I didn’t know we had!” Fortunately, Pelissier wisely covered the backsplash area with glass for easy cleaning.

The home’s vivacious spirit begins in the foyer where another de Gournay wallpaper makes an elegant companion to the newly laid marble floors. The open family room and casual dining area incorporates Chris’s favorite colors, orange and purple. Floor-to-ceiling windows put the focus on the outdoors, but Pelissier keeps the room feeling grounded with a mix of colors, textures, and patterns. “Robin is a savant with lighting and fabrics and colors and details,” Reynolds says.

The living and dining rooms don’t skimp on the color, either. The former sports walls upholstered in purple fabric and an azure velvet sofa, while the latter brings all the hues of adjacent rooms together in one glorious, glamorous whole. Lights of amber and blue Murano glass hang from the silver-papered ceiling. “It’s a gorgeous effect, but it doesn’t impede the view,” Pelissier notes. The lights illuminate a Keith Fritz dining table with an aubergine finish and lime-green leather dining chairs whose blue trim plays off the blue grasscloth wallcovering.

Chris insists his wife is the one with the vision when it comes to color. “Karen went down the bold road, and I went willingly along and enjoyed it,” he says. Karen returns the compliment, saying Chris has a talent for choosing lighting and tile. And of course, they both credit Pelissier for having the talent to pull their vision together.

Pelissier sums it up succinctly: “With clients who are true creative partners, the results can be extraordinary.”

Project Team
Architectural design: Robin Pelissier Design, Woodmeister Master Builders
Interior design: Robin Pelissier
Design Builder: Woodmeister Master Builders
Builders Landscape design: Wisteria & Rose