Young, hip, happening
A reporter's quest for an "apartment for one" lands her in the midst of the excitement at Blue Back Square.
By Alexandra Schwartz, Photo by Lisa Brisson

For WFSB TV-3 traffic reporter Teresa LaBarbera, finding the perfect home was all about location, location, location, and she believes she’s landed the perfect one, tucked into the suburban cityscape of West Hartford’s Blue Back Square.

Her loft, a studio overflowing with plaid and floral prints, sits on the second floor of the swanky and hotel-esque 115 New Street complex, home to some of West Hartford’s most eligible bachelors and bachelorettes. “I have a very different work schedule than most of my neighbors,” said LaBarbera, who goes into work every morning at around 4 a.m., “but I’ve met a lot of young, single professionals in the building.”

Aside from her own red suede couches and black bedroom set, she left the apartment’s interior design in the hands of M Design Group’s Matt Stimac and Meg Callahan, who focused their work around these staple pieces. “We don’t like to match; we like to complement,” said Callahan, as she surveyed the finished interior. “We like anything with a little sparkle.”

Today, with its principal brick wall and Dr. Seuss-inspired striped and checkered painted accents, LaBarbera’s loft exudes confidence and style.

In order to pull the only light entering the apartment from the sitting room area into the whole studio, Callahan and Stimac chose paint colors and patterns that capture and expose any illumination – in contrast to the bare white walls found in the loft prior to LaBarbera’s arrival. “In the entrance, we used light eggshell stripes with a visible sheen that reflects all of the natural light,” Callahan said. The vertical stripes themselves draw the eye up the wall, accentuating the impressive height of the ceiling.

Apart from the entry wall, a lone standing column that marks the entrance to the living room also showcases a whimsical red-and-white striped pattern. The column’s horizontal ribbons flatter the suede couches that sit adjacent, and serve as one of the many audacious red accents featured around the loft. A solitary red stripe that juts out from behind LaBarbera’s bed – and can be seen from above the demi kitchen wall and throughout the sitting area – carries the red theme into the bedroom space.

In the living room, the same polished eggshell from the foyer embellishes the wall opposite the brick, but with a chic checkerboard pattern to complement the stripes. “They’re not necessarily geometrical with a ruler, but they’re geometrical to the eye. That’s what’s important,” said Stimac, the less meticulous of the two designers. “Meg did all the measuring and taping; I just painted,” he chuckled. The checkerboard creates the à la mode ambiance that LaBarbera was hoping for, while matching the striking red and green plaid found in the window treatment and kitchen space.

One of Callahan’s and Stimac’s favorite decor pieces in the apartment is an elegant sheer white curtain adorned with little green tassels along its edge. The curtain is used in a non-traditional way, functioning as a wall separating the bedroom from the rest of the studio. Using inexpensive metal piping from Home Depot, Callahan and Stimac were able to hang the flowing fabric wall from the ceiling to enclose the bedroom area. The wall creates the illusion of a larger space and offers a sense of privacy without making any permanent changes to the apartment’s infrastructure.

The finished space, which epitomizes luxurious coziness, is a conglomerate of different textures and tints that play off of one another. Next to the lush red couches, LaBarbera’s set of silk upholstered salon style chairs are modernized by cream sequined pillows that were given to her as a birthday gift. The quaint landscape drawings of old Connecticut that hang along the entryway add a touch of New England history to the timelessness that the loft emanates. A pop art print of LaBarbera’s smiling face (Callahan dubbed it “Teresa Warhol”), given to her by a local WFSB TV-3 fan, contains vibrant colors and helps to bring together the surrounding eclectic mix.

Her mini kitchen space is stocked with flowery wine glasses and a surplus of coffee mugs in its golden wood cabinets.

An enthusiastic LaBarbera loves her new living space – and living in the trendy mixed-use neighborhood. “I look forward to the everyday hustle and bustle of Blue Back Square. I’m always wondering ‘Oooh! What’s going on?’ and then I just step outside,” she said. “But I’ve never been disrupted; the thick walls and brick definitely help with the noise.”

With its central location, the loft has been the hot spot for pre- and post-party festivities. “I think I eat lunch and dinner in Blue Back Square every single day. And I grew up in Connecticut and went to UConn, so all of my friends are around here. My apartment is always the meeting point, the central location. There are something like 22 bars and restaurants right around me,” she added. “I always have my friends over. And if someone breaks a wine glass, I can just run down to Crate & Barrel and grab a new one!”

LaBarbera recently moved back to Connecticut from Louisiana, where she worked as a reporter and covered the devastating Hurricane Katrina. She’s elated to be settled in her home state. “This place is good for someone who is single, and a great place to live. It’s not for a family, but for me, a young single professional, it’s completely ideal. I couldn’t see myself anywhere else,” she said. “There was a waiting list to get into the apartment, so I took the first one that was available. I knew it was going to be small, but that means less to clean!” she commented about the loft, which spans less than 600 square feet.

The designers are delighted by their finalized work of art. “We wanted to design the space around Teresa to fit her personality. She’s what we call a ‘blind-faith’ client; she left it entirely up to us. And she was ecstatic with the turnout,” Stimac raved, his bold checkered vest adding to the apartment’s color scheme. “She’s young and free at this point of her life, and we wanted to cater to that and show it in the apartment’s décor.” HL

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