As seen in The Boston Globe Magazine - April 22, 2004
Out of the House
S
HOW AND TELL It’s the time of year for show houses, and they are coming out of the woodwork. The Junior League of Boston has decorated the Commandant’s House, perched on a hill overlooking the Charlestown Navy Yard. The huge brick home, built in 1805, opens to the public Saturday. The show ends May 27. Some items in the house are for sale – including Dennis Duffy’s new furniture line you can check out in the dining room – but mostly we went shopping for tips during a preview last week. Gerald Pomeroy of Gerald Pomeroy Design of Boston paneled the library from floor to ceiling, but kept the wood light with a maple stain, rather than mahogany, to “humanize” the space. The master bedroom, which Boston designer James Swan created with a single gal in mind,
By Tina Cassidy
had a ceiling painted “cantaloupe,” a color he said flatters the skin. “It’s a sixth plane in the room,” Swan said, looking above the custom suede bed he positioned to float in the center of the space. The bathroom of the master bedroom employed a few tricks, too. The National Park Service, which cares for the house, would not allow Kenn Gray Duffy Design Group, Boston 617-542-2074 Gerald Pomeroy Design Inc., Boston 617-227-6693 James Swan & Co., Boston & Beverly Hills 617-482-0107 KennGray Interiors, Boston 617-905-GRAY
of Kenn Gray Interiors to rip out the green tile around the tub, so he hung a silky brown floor-toceiling shower curtain, elegant enough to make you forget you were in the bathroom. We also liked the lighting fixture: a thin strip of crystals dangling between the sink and tub. But Gray was not the only one trying to make a look less utilitarian. We got a chuckle out of Laurie Gorelick’s bathroom, where the Natick designer included a skirt around the base of the toilet and wallpapered the ceiling of the tiny space to make its soaring height feeling more proportional. One more free tip: Kids are not allowed in the house. Tickets are $25. www.jlboston.org. Tina Cassidy is a Globe staff writer. Photographs by Eric Roth