Delightfully Downsized

By opening up the kitchen to the dining room, space was gained to extend the island and install two storage towers on either end of the stove wall.

Two years passed from the time Ann Henderson first had an inkling to downsize to the moment she knew she’d found the right place. After considering Walpole and other New Hampshire communities, and even Vermont, she went on a whim, she says, to see “an adorable little property in West Keene on a beautiful fall day.” Her search for a new home ended there.

By creating two seating areas in the living room, the long space feels less awkward than before.

From a huge, five-bedroom family house, she scaled down to a 1,600-square foot, 1980s condo. Rather than panicking, she approached the transition with total confidence, knowing that the challenges were surmountable. The fact that Henderson has worked as an interior designer
for 36 years (her company is The Art of Inside) gives her a leg up on most homebuyers, and she immediately spotted the areas that needed the most attention.

The angle of the primary bathroom’s soaking tub allows both privacy and sunlight from the windows.

“In a condominium, you can’t take out stairwells or knock down a lot of walls,” she says. “But you might be able to put in an LVL (laminated veneer lumber) beam to open up a space,” which is exactly what a contractor did to make her kitchen and dining room all one space, eliminating an existing half-wall. In this way, the kitchen became much more functional. “We were able to extend the island, which previously had only the sink in it, and also put in a dishwasher, some storage and seating,” says Henderson, noting that the brandnew waterfall-style island is Silestone quartz with a quiet Carrara veining. The “real game-changer for that space,” she says, was anchoring two storage towers on either end of the kitchen.

A clever use of space creates a mini laundry room.

Another significant challenge was the awkwardly long living room space. “It was traditional architecture with a wood-burning fireplace centered on one wall. If you laid out a seating area in front of the fireplace in any way, the furniture was going to block a hallway,” explains Henderson. Her solution was to cover the entire wall with nickel board and situate a faux hearth (with an electric insert) closer to the room’s bay window. “Doing that allowed me to create two seating areas,” she says, “one in front of the new fireplace big enough for a little sofa, two chairs and a coffee table, and a smaller reading area behind it.”

In the dining nook, Henderson chose to cover the walls in aquamarine Phillip Jeffries grasscloth to give the room some color and to differentiate it a bit from the rest of the downstairs. The newly added tower storage in the kitchen allowed her to remove two no-longer-needed cabinets on either side of the dining room window, which she recycled in the primary bedroom closet upstairs. The final touch was hanging an oversized lantern chandelier “to make the space seem grander than it was.”

A cheerful guest bedroom has space for a comfortable reading chair.

The transformation of the downstairs powder room was further proof that making small changes can have a big impact. “We jazzed up the tiny space to the max with wallpaper,” says Henderson. “If anybody is stuck in terms of their creative flow, start with the powder room. It’s a little space that needs character, and it’s not a daunting task.” Upstairs, the redo of the primary bedroom consisted of removing a small closet and a full-size washer and dryer, which gave Henderson enough space for a spacious walk-in closet and a pretty desk in front of the window. The washer and dryer were moved into an area that was created by grabbing some space from a guest room and incorporating it into the adjacent third bedroom. The washer and dryer sit behind two French doors, with floating shelves above serving as a linen closet. A second bathroom upstairs features a soaking tub.

The reorganization of space in the primary bedroom allowed room for a desk in front of the window and a new walk-in closet.

Throughout the home, vibrant colors have a huge impact on the renovation. “I wanted to brighten the spaces and have fun with them,” says Henderson. From the kitchen’s aquamarine, forest green and light blue Moroccan tile backsplash to the cheerful pink and green combinations upstairs, it’s evident that the designer likes a variety of palettes and is adept at transitioning from one to another. Her color choices were also inspired by the grounds, she says, “with super beautiful flowers and green space.”

Like most everyone who downsizes, Henderson had a surfeit of furnishings from her family home that wouldn’t fit in her condo. While she placed a lot in storage, she was surprised that some of her favorite pieces worked in her new home, like a 16th-century solid oak bread chest
from the Netherlands, and a Hepplewhite sideboard that belonged to her mother. “I was very lucky that I could hang onto and use a lot of the things that were special.”

All in all, Henderson is content in her new, smaller abode. “It’s so nice to come home and not have a huge house,” she asserts. “There are a lot of things that I do miss, but the manageability of a small house, while you’re still working, is really great.”