Walking the Plank

           

       

How many times a day do we walk down hallways? Why can’t they be as beautiful and useful as any room in the house – after all, we might spend more time in them than the rooms they lead to. Our clients in Brookline, a young couple with a baby on the way, gave us a wonderful opportunity to make something of their standard-issue corridor in their 1200-sf condominium in a charming 1920’s wood-frame apartment building. They are book-lovers who never have enough shelf space, so we transformed the hall into a long library where “windows” on either side look into the living room, kitchen, bedroom and nursery.  The run of shelves filled with books and art, a wood “carpet” beneath your feet, and gently arching wood baffles above your head wrap you in the warm glow of diffused sconce light on maple.