Viewing Pleasure

Charles Spada will always love Boston as a place to work, but he admits he has lost his passion for living there. “I developed a yearning for peace and quiet, and I wasn’t finding it,” says Charles, a sought-after interior designer and antiques dealer, of the lively city where he’s worked for 30 years. It was time to move; the question was where.

“My real estate agent kept prodding me to look at a new condominium tower in Milton, a small, historic town south of Boston, but I kept telling him I wasn’t interested. I thought it would be too much like living in a city high-rise,” the designer explains. But the agent convinced the skeptic to at least take a look, and that’s all it took. Charles was enthralled, and purchased a 1,800-square-foot condo.

To create a focal point in his living room, Charles designed the sleek 1930s-style fireplace with recessed shelves on either side. The warm tones of the bare oak floor keep the neutral color scheme from looking cold.

Design:
Charles Spada, Charles Spada Interiors, One Design Center Place, Boston, MA 02210; 617/204-9270, and Antiques on 5, Suite 547-232, One Design Center Place, Boston, MA 02210; 617/951-0008.

Sources:
Sofa (custom); coffee table; glass vases on coffee table; mantel (by Christian Marty): Charles Spada Interiors, 617/204-9270.
Chain-link vase on coffee table (“Split Spiral Cylinder,’’ by Ruth Borgenicht, 2004): Lacoste Gallery, 978/369-0278, lacostegallery.com.
Sofa fabric (custom color): Henry Calvin Fabrics, 888/ 732-1996, henrycalvin.com, trade only.
Gray-striped pillow on sofa (“Gailen Silk Stripe’’/Stone #61040): Schumacher, 800/332-3384, fschumacher.com, trade only.
Chaise; end table by sofa; end table by chaise; wood chair; seat fabric on wood chair (antique silk velvet); leg sculpture (cast plaster model); clock on mantel; plaster horse head on mantel; metal sculpture in bookcase (African ankle bracelet); mirror behind sofa; candelabra sconces; pencil drawings (by Marcel Lenoir): Antiques on 5, 617/951-0008.
Chaise fabric: Clarence House, 800/803-2850, clarencehouse.com, trade only.
Green throw on chaise: Muse, 312/595-9604.
Fireplace surround (gray slate); soapstone firebox: Adamo Stone Design, 617/269-9000.
Lithograph (“Rocks and Waves,” by Richard Bartlett, c. 1950): Childs Gallery, 617/266-4824.
Paint (“Stonington Gray’’ HC-170): Benjamin Moore & Co., 888/236-6667.

Photographs by Bruce Buck
Text by Pamela J. Wilson
Produced by Estelle Bond Guralnick