Rec Room for Grown-Ups

Brookline MA
Interior Architecture and Decoration
2022
General Contactor: Thoughtforms
Cabinet work: Kenyon Woodworking

Occasionally a project comes along that is unlike any other that we’ve encountered.

We’ve designed many bars, restaurants, and private clubs, but this project—a rec room for grown-ups—borrows from all three. Originally designed as a kids’ recreation space (the orange lacquer floor remains) our design brief was to transform it into a party space for adults including a bar, lounge area, air hockey, a large TV, a great sound system, and a good-looking restroom.

The bar is made of sheet brass and brass mesh with an onyx top with a fluted glass front. The back bar has elaborately patterned glass that is backlighted. Impossibly thin solid brass shelves sit in front of the glass.

The lounge area has a Patricia Urguiola designed sofa, a pair of 1970’s easy chairs with a “tree bark” pattern and Raf Simons mohair on the base, a high and low tufted carpet, vintage bubble chairs swinging from the ceiling , a black walnut and bronze coffee table, a mid-century brutalist lamp, Juniper THIN light fixtures in a radial arrangement, and a fluted console.

Everything in the space is special, even the black, white, and brass powder room that has recessed linear light fixtures that continue from the wall to the ceiling, a Fornasetti cabinet, a Blackman Cruz vanity, tile with imbedded brass strips, and scenic wallpaper.

This unique space was built for many good times and, for us, designing the room was one of them.