photography: Roger Davies
Laura laid gray and white tiles diagonally in groups of four to make a large checkerboard pattern. She extended the palette by painting the walls gray halfway up and the rest a high-gloss white "to make the ceilings appear taller." A friend gave her a bright orange, fifties-style light fixture, which she painted silver and hung above the table.
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Though Laura goes for it with chalk, wheels, and camouflage, she doesn't abandon the principal rules of design she's created for herself after 28 years of running her own firm. In many of her projects, she "splits" the walls—painting the lower half one color and the upper half another, just as she does here with gray and white in the living and dining rooms. "It anchors lighting and makes the ceiling look higher," she explains. It also adds architectural interest. In other projects, Laura often uses the same trick on curtain panels and wall tile. "Curtains allow you to use different fabrics and add more texture to a room," she says. Covering part of the wall with tile not only creates another layer but also—with less surface area to paint—"gives you the option of easily changing a wall color if you get bored with the one you have." She also sticks to her style of choosing bold, overscale pieces. "But not too many," she stresses. In the living room she has only a sofa, armchair, and coffee table, but all are generously sized, and cushy pillows add even more comfort. The giant silver pendant fixture in the dining room tops off a simple table surrounded by a set of clean-lined, modern chairs. "Don't be afraid to go extra-large," she says. To showcase her bold furniture, Laura uses a limited palette, working mostly with cool, serene colors. "I never do all-white spaces—there are too many gorgeous colors out there. Besides, too much white makes me fall asleep." 
photography: Roger Davies
The bath sink, installed on top of a rolling storage cart, has plumbing mounted to a wall. "I love wheels," she says. "I put them on everything." |
photography: Roger Davies
Laura replaced the bathroom radiator with a baseboard heater and the traditional sink with a Kohler vessel sink mounted on a metal cart. |
So in a classic three-bedroom bungalow full of modern surprises, perhaps the biggest of all is the house itself. "It came in a box in 30,000 pieces," says Laura of the 1931 cottage built from a Sears, Roebuck, and Co. kit home design. "The kit had the option of putting in a bath. The original owners installed one, but it was so tiny that the tub was only 4 feet wide and the toilet stuck out in front of the door."
photography: Roger Davies
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photography: Roger Davies
Laura varied counter heights in the kitchen to change up the scale and customize the look of her off-the-shelf cabinets. |
All of the rooms were so small, in fact, that Laura reconfigured the walls between the living room, dining room, and kitchen, opening them up to one another and giving the house a more spacious feel. And by closing off the back portion of the stairwell and the original side entrance, she found room for additional cabinets in the kitchen. Now Laura's enjoying the fruits of her labor. "This was a hands-on project, and everybody helped out," she says. "The people at my office would come out and paint, and my husband, Richard Fiore, is a builder and developer who's up for anything." These days friends gather at the cottage for her cocktail parties that have become quite popular—one even involved the police. But don't worry: "His brother was a previous owner," Laura says. "Everybody stops in to see this house because it's just so different."
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