Before & After- A Downtown Condo Transformed Into A Warm, Art-Filled Retreat

Hi House and Home, I'm Natasha Popek-Konesko. I am the founder of Common Good Studio, and today we are in our Mill Street condo renovation project. When they first got in touch with us, they had made the decision that they really wanted to renovate this condo, so Ramon had had it for five or six years at that point, and they had a sense of what they were looking for, but really came to us asking if we could bring that vision to life. Often when we are working with clients, I would say we are really there to help them find their style and to define that. Market and Ramon came into our studio with a sketchbook. They had sat down together as a team and found their points of inspiration, had cut it out of magazines, and had put it all through the book, and we page turned it together. I'm kind of a design obsession person, like I'm not an interior designer by any chance, but I do like interior design and to appreciate, you know, obviously House and Home magazine, actually I pulled a lot of inspiration from as well. We just started going through and seeing what each of us liked, because we both had different styles to begin with. So it's finding a common ground and finding the things that we both would agree on. They are collectors, so they love art, sculpture, they had lots of really personal pieces that they had gathered over the years, treasure hunting from family, and that was really where we wanted to start from so that we could ensure that we could honor that and create a space that was built around their personality, their character pieces. With classic builder kitchen, just melamine doors and like a faux wood look. With the ceiling height, we're able to really maximize the whole kitchen. So we were able to completely reimagine the layout, not so much the location of everything, but how it was finished and how it was treated. There was an opportunity to think less of it as like functional kitchen and seating area and more hotel suite. So how did these areas become more like amenities? Stone throughout the project has been a really big character. Wrapping that stone from countertop to backsplash, we did this really soft gray cabinetry that we pulled from the stone textures. And then we actually wrapped it onto the bulkhead above. So it just really fully enrobes this kitchen area. Often there's this hesitation to put things against the window, but the light that kind of moves through this area just really brings a glow and an interest. So it's really quite fun how it dances off of different pieces. Also, it started to feel a bit like a chef's table, the dining room, as being like in proximity to the kitchen. So I just imagined them once they got settled back in, really like hanging out with their friends, and someone can be cooking, people can be gathered around the table versus a little bit of like separate zoning that can happen. My favorite would be the fireplace, the color, the texture, and the fact that it actually gives off real heat. And it does create a nice ambience when you're sitting watching either TV or just relaxing. Green has been the color story throughout the entire project. The first piece was the stone, so we knew and like all fell in love with this Verde Alpi. It just is that unexpected amenity that then created this great grounding element for the sitting area. And then also the color story that we moved throughout the space with. It's an ochre, tangerine. It's at that opposite end of the color wheel with green, so it feels very complimentary. We wanted to be able to balance some neutral tones and then also some really great pops of color that work really harmoniously with the darker green. And we have such amazing views. So we introduced shades that lower from the ceiling and can be adjusted. So that really gives them the most light control. Very classic condo. We have these poured concrete columns that live in the suite. These two actually had a bit of irregularity at the top edge. So we took just a beautiful piece of brass, wrapped the top edge of the column and put a little bit of LED lighting in there. So at night, it just glows and washes down the columns and then solve for this little bit of unsightliness that they found at the top edge. There's one detail that keeps cropping up in this condo. Fluting. When we decided on the dining table, we didn't realize that it had mimicked that same fluting that we liked. There's fluting on our bed in the bedroom. And as you walk throughout, there's fluting in the glass in the den and on the fireplace wall as well. So yeah, that was a nice detail that we liked. The classic frosted glass panel, they always live on the outside of the wall. And so that precious real estate is unavailable for that functional need of a smaller space. So we pocketed the sliding doors for the bedroom and for the den. While we might've lost some storage in some areas, we wanted to make sure that we made up for storage in other ways. So there's two different types of storage in the den. There's actually a drywall storage niche. In addition to all the great art, our clients also had these great objects and books. And so they really needed a home. But then on the lower level, we did enclosed storage so that there was room to balance both requirements. The color green was never my favorite. Red was. And actually the fireplace started it. And then I realized as we went through the process that I was now gravitating to more green. My partner's obsessed with green. That was his color, but it was never mine. And now I am totally a convert. I am like green obsessed. We have introduced it into the bedroom by painting and enrobing the whole room in that same great emerald green. We also added some panel molding in the bedroom behind the bed. It could be a little bit risky if you're thinking a small space in a dark color, but we had the advantage of these wonderful floor to ceiling windows. So the room really feels nice and bright during the day and then super cozy at night. Bathrooms, there's not a lot of movement to be done. You can't move your shower. You can't move your toilet. But with the plumbing for the vanity, they had originally had this classic 30, 36 inch base cabinet with a mirror above. We decided to rotate both vanities and both bathrooms 90 degrees. So that almost tripled their storage. They've got great under cabinet storage now. They've got lots of countertop space. And then one of our like super favorite details as a studio is a custom medicine cabinet. Our third touch point with the green was in the main bathroom. So opportunity there to like wrap it completely through the shower area. So you just get these great little pops throughout the space. When we started thinking about doing a gallery wall, we were deciding, okay, so I have a lot of art pieces and my partner had more drawings and stuff like that. And I thought, what a great way to honor both our styles, my love of the old and a little bit more traditional and his more modern and more like natural. And we just found that nice balance of incorporating both. Before we decided to rent out this condo, we had actually put a down payment on a house and we started weighing the pros and the cons. And we're like, okay, this is a beautiful layout. Look at the view. You will never find this view anywhere. Why don't we just take the money that we were going to deposit in this house and just renovate this. But the object was to make it feel like a home, which Natasha just knocked on the park. Like whenever, when we open the door at night and you walk in you don't feel like you're walking into a condo. You feel like you're actually walking into a home. This is maximalist living at its best. Small spaces always feel like they need to be really edited but I think this really demonstrates how when you fill a space with great pieces, really interesting pieces, that you love to be surrounded by. The personality and the feeling you get is just like very joyful, very true to our clients.