Northshore Home magazine highlights the best in architectural design, new construction and renovations, interiors, and landscape design.
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/1206063
67 fast nook with banquette, and created a mudroom; then they revamped a sitting room off the kitchen. Typical of a Colonial, the home had formal living and dining rooms off the front entry. The kitchen occupies a 1980s- era addition toward the back. With Fernandes's guidance, a series of crucial layout tweaks plus material updates gave the family a modern black-and-white kitchen with a timeless aesthetic. Keeping the same footprint, they simply refaced the cabinets with new doors and hardware. "The brushed brass hardware takes its cue from the stove—it's a little trim detail that we pulled through," says the designer, who addressed the room's lack of heat with toe-kick heaters installed along the island's base. Staying within a clean, neutral palette, they partnered white cabinets with a gray-veined quartzite for the island's top and honed black granite countertops for the perimeter. Removing shelving from one side of the island created enough room for two barstools. The stove was moved out of a corner and sited within the perimeter cabinets. A hive mosaic backsplash tile from Ann Sacks's "Savoy" collection adds a layer of sleek polish. "Sashya pushed me on that tile; it's a little modern but still recognizes the historic nature of the house," says Schley-Johnson. Similarly, Fernandes employed tradition with a twist in the new mudroom area. Wanting to keep the space, previously a pantry, open visually to both the rear entry and kitchen, Fernandes used hexagon tiles by Ann Sacks to demarcate its boundaries. "Their shape is reminis- cent of the Victorian era, but the scale is bigger," says the designer, who added further interest by having the hexagons spill out whimsically into the kitchen's hard- wood for a more organic transition. She paired a bench and storage baskets from CB2 with a repurposed coat rack foraged by Schley-Johnson at Sunshine's Furniture in Somerville. Its shoe motif is an homage to the home's first owner, a shoe designer based in downtown Beverly. "My goal on this project was to source materials that are eye-catching but can still stand the test of time, hold up to two young kids, and also complement the home's time period," summarizes Fernandes. Originally from India, the designer/entrepreneur studied architecture before shifting into interior design and launching iD8 Design Studio in 2012. She delivered all of these goals and more with the kitchen's breakfast nook. Leaning toward the con- temporary, its spare metal frame accommodates the bench's long spans and leaves the baseboard heat clear underneath. "It's really important that people can get in and out of the U easily," asserts Fernandes. "I chose a pedestal table so feet don't get tangled in table legs, and durable faux leather for the upholstery. Equestrian straps adhered to the wall give the cushions some inter- esting detail. I wanted the banquette to read very clean, to have a floating feeling." An eclectic mix of art dresses a wall over the sofa.