Room of the Day: Concrete Block Goes Chic in a Living Room

When designers Kiera Kushlan and Jessica Centella tackled this bachelor’s condo, they were faced with an unusual design element: an entire wall of concrete block accented by two bands of black tile. Before being converted into private residences, the building had been home to a factory, and developers chose to keep the industrial material. The industrial look is popular, but in this case, it wasn’t working.

Room at a Glance
Who lives here: A political advisor and sometime college instructor
Location: Logan Circle neighborhood, Washington, D.C.
Size: Living room: roughly 186 square feet (17.28 square meters)

This home belongs to a politically minded man who purchased it before Logan Circle became the happening area for restaurants and nightspots that it is today. After he had lived there eight years, it became clear to him that he preferred hosting cocktail parties to having formal sit-down dinners. He reached out to Kushlan and Centella of Residents Understood to help him create the perfect space to stage such gatherings, as well as relax and recharge. “He has friends over a lot, and he wanted to have a cool place to do that,” says Centella.

Art: Blair Bradshaw; sofa: Atwood, Gus Modern; lamp: Kuta, BoConcept; gray paint color: Iron Mountain, Benjamin Moore; Slim Cocktail Table, Room & Board


BEFORE: Prior to the paint, the eye went straight to the concrete block wall and stayed there. It was, in Centella’s words, an eyesore. “It had an almost peach-colored tone to it,” she says.


The designers turned the wall from eyesore to elegant by painting it a dark gray color. Without the peach tones, grout lines and rows of black tile, it becomes a textured, but more subtle, accent wall.

The owner discovered the artist who painted the star-spangled work above the sofa while on vacation in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The designers worked with the painter to design an artwork with colors that fit in the new home. A blue metal coffee table picks up the blue in the painting and brings it to the center of the room.

Before the remodel, a rarely used dining room table stood where the armchairs are now. Given the way the owner entertains (and the proximity of many great restaurants), the designers removed the table and inserted two armchairs.

Now, an eat-in peninsula is the dining area. The owner “was realistic about how he used the space,” Centella says. “He decided it didn’t make sense to have a dining room table that he used once a year, maybe.”


The white cabinet to the left of the sofa is a fully stocked bar cabinet — perfect for the owner’s entertaining needs.

The map art on the wall shows Seattle — the city the owner used to call home — and its many neighborhoods.

Cocktail cabinet: Swig, CB2; lamp: Lily Lamp, Schoolhouse Electric & Supply Co.


The client owned this media console, but centering the television on it would put the TV in an awkward spot for viewing.

Putting the TV off-center and surrounding it with art made an asymmetrical arrangement that works practically and aesthetically.

“I think he’s really happy with the redesign because it fits him,” Centella says. “Every piece in this home has a story and meaning to him.”

Wall art: Climbing Man Wall Sculpture

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