A Homeowner Added Tons of Storage in This Philadelphia Home for Only $400
Adrienne Breaux
·6 min read
Kevin Boyle has owned this 800-square-foot townhouse in Philadelphia’s East Falls neighborhood for seven years, and partner, Mac Francis, moved in a year ago. Together, the couple run A Four Foot Prune, a vintage home goods store in Philadelphia. Credit: Carina RomanoCredit: Carina Romano
Kevin says that the purchase price of the home was $136K "[T]his was wildly cheap even at the time." Credit: Carina RomanoCredit: Carina Romano
"I don’t think most people saw its potential — and my friend Abe worked really hard to get it as cheap as possible for me," Kevin continues. Credit: Carina RomanoCredit: Carina Romano
"Time and money are probably the top two challenges," Kevin explains of designing and renovating their home. Credit: Carina RomanoCredit: Carina Romano
"A Four Foot Prune takes up 90ish hours a week for each of us. And we sell stuff for so cheap, it’s not the most lucrative thing in the world," Kevin admits. Credit: Carina RomanoCredit: Carina Romano
Kevin says his proudest DIY project is the pipe shelving. "It was one of the first things I did after ripping up the carpet and getting the wood floors to look as good as I could." Credit: Carina RomanoCredit: Carina Romano
"You see those pipe shelves everywhere and exactly how I thought it would work was how it worked!" Kevin continues. "It was like big-boy Legos — just stick ‘em together. So easy. Those are seven years old now, but it was under $400 to build them." Credit: Carina RomanoCredit: Carina Romano
The pipe shelving serves another purpose. "So I’m a maximalist with a bad memory, so nothing is hidden — everything is on full display. I don’t use dressers or drawers or cabinets (unless they’re see-through)," Kevin explains. Credit: Carina RomanoCredit: Carina Romano
"If I can’t see the object I’ll forget it exists — and it’ll never be used. So every kitchen tool, every sweater, every book is on display." Credit: Carina RomanoCredit: Carina Romano
Kevin explains that when he added the carpet to the stairs, each week for a month he'd buy one tool. "And once I had all the tools, I drove to a Pittsburg outlet store to buy the carpet. But I was a *little* short on carpet, so then I emailed the company for a sample and that was enough to finish it off!" he explains. "So from step one, to carpeted stairs, it took a month and a half — but never more than $30/week." Credit: Carina RomanoCredit: Carina Romano
Kevin explains that if there's something he doesn't want to display, that means he doesn't love it, "and that means I don’t want it in my house — so it gets donated to someone who will love it." Credit: Carina RomanoCredit: Carina Romano
Kevin says a favorite element in the house is the kitchen window. "It lets in so much light. It’s actually the reason I bought the house," Kevin admits. Credit: Carina RomanoCredit: Carina Romano
Kevin loves the objects he surrounds himself with. "I love that I use the same kitchen tools my Mommom and Grandma used," Kevin says. Credit: Carina RomanoCredit: Carina Romano
"I love my ice cream scoop — so I’m happy to look at it even when I’m not scooping ice cream." Credit: Carina RomanoCredit: Carina Romano
Actually one of the oldest things in the house belonged to Kevin's Mommom’s grandmother: a butter dish! Credit: Carina RomanoCredit: Carina Romano
"Most of our best purchases come from A Four Foot Prune. We try to give customers a chance to purchase first — even if the item only stays in the shop for a week before making it home," Kevin admits. Credit: Carina RomanoCredit: Carina Romano
"The Charley Harper, the Aldo Londi lamp, the swung bittersweet, the Andy Warhol, the Tony Paul Westwood lamp, most of the rugs and furniture all come straight from the shop!" Credit: Carina RomanoCredit: Carina Romano
When asked how he likes to spend time in his home, Kevin says he loves mornings. Credit: Carina RomanoCredit: Carina Romano
"Everyone’s quiet and comfy up and drinking coffee. Just playing Wordle and crosswords. A slow and easy moment before the day." Credit: Carina RomanoCredit: Carina Romano
The house also has a secret. "We have a ghost," Kevin admits. "She doesn’t come around very often — I’ve only see her once." Credit: Carina RomanoCredit: Carina Romano
There's another old item in the home: "We’ve also got a folk painting from the 1700s in the Prune room right now (Prune room is what we call the office — it’s mostly just overflow for the shop)." Credit: Carina RomanoCredit: Carina Romano
Kevin Boyle has owned this 800-square-foot townhouse in Philadelphia’s East Falls neighborhood for seven years, and partner, Mac Francis, moved in a year ago. Together, the couple run A Four Foot Prune, a vintage home goods store in Philadelphia. The store is filled with a selection of delightful secondhand finds … and their home is, too!
“I’d define it as ‘what if Walter Wick and Keith Haring made out in Pee-wee’s Playhouse?’” describes Kevin, when asked what their personal home style is. That style is on display in every room, where collections of nostalgic, themed items line shelves and surfaces.
When it came to renovating the home, Kevin says he “exposed some brick and tore down a wall and ripped up some floors,” explaining that he learned how to do those things by watching YouTube. But one of the biggest challenges was budget.
“Before opening A Four Foot Prune, I worked for a large organic grocery store chain — so I’ve never had much money,” he begins. “Owning a small business doesn’t pay much. Retail doesn’t pay all that much. All the ‘renovations’ were completed for very little money (nothing more than a couple hundred) and far more audacity than I deserve to possess,” he writes of the house originally purchased for $136K.
The carpet addition on the stairs, for instance, took a month and a half to finish by buying needed tools one at a time and purchasing the materials from an outlet store in Pittsburgh. And tons of storage was added to the home by utilizing affordable pipe shelving.
You’ll notice that all the storage in the home is open, and that’s for a specific reason: “If I can’t see the object I’ll forget it exists — and it’ll never be used,” Kevin explains. “So every kitchen tool, every sweater, every book is on display.”
Thanks, Kevin and Mac!
This tour’s responses and photos were edited for length/size and clarity.
We continue our summer 'Flip The Script' series by looking at who could be this year's Houston Texans. Dalton Del Don joins Matt Harmon to look back at what made CJ Stroud, Nico Collins and Tank Dell so special in 2023 and allowed them to catapult from worst to first. The two look at the last place teams from last year and try to identify which can go worst to first and potentially provide a league winning fantasy combo at QB and WR.
Boston Fed president Susan Collins told Yahoo Finance there are "scenarios" consistent with one or two interest rate cuts "later in the year" while cautioning patience amid volatile readings on inflation.
