A Philadelphia Home Transformed By Hand

Our homes are powerful instruments of inspiration. There are few places that we can walk into and decide to change and personalize through furniture, color and finishes. Home is a safe place to express our personalities, tastes and creative innovation. Artist, textile designer and graphic designer Thao Nguyen and craftsman and builder, Anthony Angelicola have transformed a dilapidated carriage-house-turned-mechanics-garage into a minimal and rustic home for them to share in Philadelphia, PA. The project has taken them three years, and the result is breathtaking.

When this 1914 shell of a house in the Fishtown neighborhood was brought to Thao and Anthony’s attention, they weren’t looking to buy. Thao was working in Brooklyn, NY and Anthony in Philadelphia. When Thao was hired to be a textile designer for Urban Outfitters in Philadelphia, they decided to take on the renovation project and turn this house into their home. “The property was a complete shell (no interior walls, no plumbing or electrical) and [it had] some serious roof issues. It was formerly used as a mechanics garage and upholstery factory — there were a lot of existing materials we removed that allowed us to better appreciate the original architectural details,” Thao says. “We worked together to plan out the interior space and slowly worked on the renovation whilst maintaining full-time jobs. The process to make the home bare-bones move-in ready took 11 months, with us doing a majority of the renovation work ourselves including putting in skylights, sandblasting the wood beam ceiling and restoring the pine floors. Once we were able to move in, we worked another two years on the finer finish work — such as designing and installing custom oak french doors, open kitchen shelving and modern bathroom vanity.”

The process has been long and well worth it. The cozy-yet-minimal furniture and styling inside Thao and Anthony’s home is so beautifully done. Each room feels like a piece of artwork and the house itself, a gallery. “We wanted our home to reflect our favorite experiences traveling and appreciating art. One particularly is experiencing Donald Judd’s work out in West Texas — his philosophy for curating his home environment and work has a strong influence on how we approach furnishing our home. We designed and built many of the furniture pieces in the home to suit our needs but to keep in line with our simple and handcrafted aesthetic.” Their home’s transformation was spurred from inspiration, and their house is now the muse fueling their new home furniture line, Fire on the Mesa. This peaceful, eclectic and gorgeous home has been many things in the last 100 years, but it’s finally at its best. –Lauren

Photography by Heidi’s Bridge

SOURCE LIST 

The house is all painted in Benjamin Moore — Snowbound flat finish

LIVING ROOM
chunky throw is from Kneeland Mercado
pillows from Urban Outfitters
oak coffee table and rustic side table is from Fire on the Mesa
teak wall units are from Vintadelphia
record player by Crosley
cacti from Shop Field

GUEST ROOM
oak day bed is from Fire on the Mesa
linen pillow covers are from IKEA
closet doors are from Home Depot
cacti from Shop Field

BATHROOM
ceramic sink and faucet, mirror are from IKEA
light is from Schoolhouse Electric
vanity is by Anthony Angelicola

MASTER BEDROOM
closet doors are from Home Depot
maple and steel post bed is from Fire on the Mesa

KITCHEN/DINING AREA
stove, oven, cabinets, faucet are IKEA
metal sink is Karan
shelving, hood and side panel and poured concrete countertop are by Anthony Angelicola
dining table and chairs are from Fire on the Mesa
pendant light is from Schoolhouse Electric

HALLWAY
lighting is from Schoolhouse Electric
sliding pocket doors are by Anthony Angelicola
cacti from Shop Field

from Design*Sponge http://www.designsponge.com/2016/05/a-philadelphia-home-transformed-by-hand.html