Published: May 26, 2008 11:21 pm      

OPRAH MAGAZINE: Former resident's condo featured

BY KELLY WARTH

Intern

Lockport native Kelly O’Neil and her husband, Gregory De Pena, were highlighted in “O at Home” magazine’s spring edition as masters of making the most of every inch of their 650-square-foot condominium in San Diego.

The magazine, published by entertainer Oprah Winfrey, contacted the couple after finding their contest submission on ApartmentTherapy.com for the “smallest, coolest tech setup,” De Pena said.

Although they wanted to live in the city, O’Neil and De Pena were not ready to accept the small amount of space the $350,000 condo originally offered.

“They like living in the middle of things in San Diego. They weren’t happy with the size of it, but now that they remodeled it, it’s beautiful,” said O’Neil’s mother, Sandy O’Neil of Lockport.

O’Neil, an accountant, and De Pena, an architectural designer, did a full-gut remodel for an additional $30,000.

De Pena does not affiliate himself with a particular design style; rather, he is inspired by confronting problems and solving them.

“We designed everything ourselves,” De Pena said. “Our designs come to life by responding to forces around it, via wind, sun, views, people. We simply solve the problem presented in the best way possible.”

The remodel solved problems the small space presented to the couple, who had a lot of possessions and no place to put them.

“The remodel gave us tons of additional storage space so it is easy to hide our messes. This was one of our major reasons to remodel — we needed more storage space because we have a lot of stuff. It wasn’t so easy when we first purchased the condo,” O’Neil said. “It may be small, but it is very modern.”

“O at Home” magazine featured the sleek and modern wooden entertainment center in the living room that hides all electronic equipment and wires, and has a flat screen television mounted on it to save space. The entertainment center doubles as a backboard to the bed, and creates a wall between the living room and bedroom.

“If you take our entertainment center, it’s responding to ... requirements for sound, visibility, and the fact that we didn’t want to see anything,” De Pena said.

Another creative idea featured in the article was disguising the utility cabinet in the kitchen by painting chalkboard paint on it and using it as a message board.

In the living room, there are windows from floor to ceiling to maximize natural light and make the room feel open. In the bedroom, mirrored closet doors serve the same function.

O’Neil’s favorite part of her home is the floor, because of the tile work. The Italian tile is laid out so that it is on a diagonal axis, making the area feel larger than a horizontal or vertical pattern would.

“Color, direction and placement of objects are perhaps the most important,” De Pena said. “One thing to keep in mind is that every inch counts.”

De Pena’s favorite part is the freestanding bar in the kitchen that is a piece of furniture, not a structure connected to the building. He also placed the bar so that it would extend the kitchen space naturally and make it seem larger.

De Pena, who came from a family of architects, feels privileged to have had one of his projects featured in Oprah Winfrey’s magazine, although most architects have work published in less mainstream publications.

“Most architects like to be featured in trade publications like Architecture Record, Architect, and Dwell. But the problem with that is that only architects read those magazines, so being in a publication like ‘O at Home’ is great because it’s getting this type of design out (and) reaching the masses,” he said.

Kelly is the daughter of Mike and Sandy O’Neil of Lockport and is a graduate of Lockport High School.