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When Jennifer Chambers decided to upsize in the coastal town of Ipswich, Massachusetts, she wasn’t after grandeur. “I didn’t want a big house,” she says. “But I wanted a real house with an upstairs and a downstairs.”
It was a tall order in a zip code known for sprawling Gilded Age estates. But Chambers eventually landed on a 1900s cottage that had two stories and a pint-sized footprint of 1,183 square feet. Unsure of how to maximize the compact floorplan, the homeowner brought in designer Kate Daskalakis of KSD Designs, who came up with a renovation plan that was equal parts architectural and atmospheric.
The vibe check for the project came early: Chambers didn’t want anything remotely nautical. Luckily, the house’s offbeat history gave Daskalakis plenty to work with. During demolition, they uncovered vintage circus posters still glued to the rafters—evidence that the original wood had likely been salvaged from a barn once used to advertise the traveling circus. With that delightful detail as a starting point, Daskalakis leaned into the home’s existing character, making smart layout edits and bold design moves to match.
To Make a Small House Feel Bigger, Add Rooms
One of the surprises of the renovation? In addition to knocking down walls, they added them. “The biggest move we made was taking down the wall by the stairs and creating a banister there, so that when you first walked in, you had a visual of the staircase,” says Daskalakis. Next, they added a partial wall to define the living room, creating the perfect spot for Chambers’s grandmother’s upright piano. And just like that, the home had a real front hall and separate living room.
Mini, But Moody
“I’ve always heard the story that you never paint a small room a dark color because it makes it feel small,” Chambers says. But Daskalakis had other ideas. The chunky crown molding gave the space architectural gravitas, so why not double down with saturated color?
“The one thing you don’t want to do is paint your whole house white—and now that we have a hard stop with the wall that we’re building, we could actually do a color in this room,” says Daskalakis. She pulled tones from the beach painting above the Lee Industries sofa and coated the walls in Farrow & Ball’s Hague Blue. The deep navy hue plays off the rich upholstery and classic plaid pillows, while a peacock-print armchair and chandelier by Currey & Co. keep things playful.
Whimsy, Wallpaper, and a Very Good Light Fixture
In the kitchen, the goal was to enhance, not overhaul. Since the client was working on a budget and knowing they were keeping the existing cabinetry, Daskalakis opted for light-touch upgrades that would still deliver personality. She coated the cabinets in Farrow & Ball’s De Nimes and dressed the walls in a fruit print wallpaper by Morris & Co.
Since the kitchen table serves as the only dining area, she swapped a basic flush mount for a scalloped rattan pendant from Currey & Co.—a subtle shift that makes the space feel layered, not cramped. With DeVOL hardware and antique Shaker stools in the mix, the tiny kitchen found its charm again.
A Drying Rack That Deserves a Close-Up
“I’m one of these crazy people who hangs as much stuff as they can to dry. I’m tall and as a kid my pants were always shrinking,” says Chambers of her commitment to the air-dry life. So naturally, a hardworking laundry setup was a must, even in a smaller home.
Designer Kate Daskalakis found a way to make it both functional and charming by carving out a dedicated laundry zone in the downstairs bathroom. Her solution? A hanging drying rack installed over the sink, sourced from a local shop.
The rack—along with a curved-back period sink—gives the utilitarian moment a countryside twist. Chambers spotted a similar setup while watching All Creatures Great and Small, and the reference stuck. Now, what could have been a purely practical corner is one that suits both the homeowner’s laundry habits and the storybook charm of the cottage.