Above left, vintage church pendant lights from 68 Home hang from the dining room’s 40-foot-high ceiling beams. Underneath a 1970s fiber-and-glass art piece from Dust,
an Urban Outfitters bookcase holds Aneesha’s go-to cocktail glasses. The rug is from Holdingforth, and the six-seater Knoll table is vintage.
Boykova had to play around with scale to figure out how she could possibly cozy up the expansive space. One of her strategies hangs in the dining area: a ’70s smoked Lucite and woven yarn piece that
is an astounding 5 feet wide, which instantly grounds the setup. Installing the other, two large-scale pendant lights (originally from a church, just not this one), was no easy feat; the electrician had to use a pulley system to reach the ceiling. The wraparound interior balcony overlooking the area is lined with original trim work (you can still see the handmade nails), but the designer updated it with a coat of moody maroon paint to offer a sense of depth and help
orient the eye.
After a while, Aneesha began to view her aloneness in the vast home as an opportunity to focus on her health. “I did a lot of deep work on myself in this space,” she shares. “I had more intense therapy sessions; I consulted with a somatic counselor and my naturopath.” Artist and woodworker Kelsey Copeland, another crucial comrade, played a big part in outfitting the more private areas on the second floor, where much of this self-analysis took place. Copeland built a version of a custom shelving unit she had previously made for a local bookstore, except here it serves double duty as a headboard for a built-in daybed designed by Boykova, a piece originally crafted for Aneesha’s visiting brother but swiftly co-opted by Brian’s cat, Merf.
The plan to cover the side of the staircase that leads to Aneesha’s balcony bedroom with navy Gucci wallpaper stemmed from a jaunt to the fashion brand’s exhibit at its Dover Street Market store in Los Angeles, where she spotted the lion motif on a pillow. She went through two rolls applying it herself with Brian’s help, but she simply had to have it. “I wanted the study to feel super-moody and luxe,” she explains. Her sleeping spot, on the other hand, has light streaming in from all sides, ideal for Aneesha, an early riser. Despite not spending much time there, “it’s my sanctuary,” she says.
Above and left, vintage nightstands, textile art from 68 Home, a simple Floyd platform bed frame, and
task lamps found at Dust make the balcony bedroom a cozy oasis. In Aneesha’s workspace, far left, a Holdingforth rug lays underneath a custom daybed designed by Boykova.
Botanical stylist Kelsey Sykes designed the church’s third-floor steeple, now a closed-in porch, to help Aneesha connect to her inner self (what Freud calls the id). And the nook is quite literally where she does her daily meditations. Sykes worked with Aneesha on filling the zen zone with succulents and a myriad of propagation jars for pothos leaves. “She’s like if Chloë Sevigny all of a sudden decided to become a gardener,” Aneesha says of her most recent cool collaborator. “She has the best taste in literature, art, design, music—you name it.”
While Aneesha considered herself a “religion junkie” even before living in a church—which is to say, she thinks all faiths are beautiful and loves reading scripture—this place brought out a new kind of believer in her, one who is planning a wedding. She’s packing up her stuff and embarking on the house hunt again, this time with Brian, now her fiancé, at her side. “I’m excited to build a space with him for the two of us,” she says. “Love is the ultimate religion, so I guess I’m making my own church next.”
Jet black Amazon dinnerware and a copper Fellow Stagg kettle fill the vibrant kitchen cabinetry, painted Poseidon by Sherwin-Williams. A Fredericks and Mae chopping board and Smeg coffee maker stand out on the original countertops. The fruit bowl and blush planter are from Old Time Feeling.
I
In Richmond, Virginia, Aneesha Rao built a mini community to realize her lofty vision for living in her very own Gothic Revival church.
Photography by STACY ZARIN GOLDBERG Words by KATE MCGREGOR Styling by MARIYA BOYKOVA
A Kartell All Saints mirror hangs in the colorful entryway. Underneath the waterfall console table and vintage table lamp, both from Dust, is an electric blue Vignelli cube by Heller from 2Modern.
nviting a date over to your house for the first time always feels like a leap of faith—even more so when your house is a former place of worship. “He walked in and exclaimed, ‘I like how minimal it is!’” recalls Aneesha Rao, the Richmond, Virginia–based head of marketing at Humming Homes. How
could Brian not be wooed, stepping through her front door only to be greeted by the inside of a Gothic Revival Presbyterian church—choir loft, steeple, and all? But it wasn’t just the circa-1850 structure, which had been converted into condos in the 1980s, that he fell for, it was how the space spoke to who Aneesha was.
And in that moment she was philosophical and introspective. She first toured the listing in February 2020, a few months before meeting Brian. When she moved in mid-March, the city was under lockdown; Aneesha longed for dinner parties, quick cocktails with friends, and physical interaction of any variety. Her community-driven world was suddenly limited to this church and the team she tapped to help realize her heady view of what the home should be. Designer Mariya Boykova, a near-constant collaborator since late 2018 when Aneesha needed furniture for her previous startup venture, was her first call to help her figure out how to go about filling the quirky floor plan and mixing textures.
Vintage mingles with modern in Aneesha's living room—a 1980s mirrored coffee table from 68 Home sits atop a Cold Picnic area rug, alongside a Kardiel Kidney Bean sofa and Faye Toogood for Driade Roly Poly armchair. The Luigi Massoni for Guzzini trolley bar and wood seat by Harvey McWilliams tucked under the stairs get pulled out when Aneesha entertains friends.
The knot pillows are from Jiu Jie.
—Aneesha Rao
I did a lot of deep work
on myself in this space.
I had more intense therapy sessions; I consulted
with a somatic counselor and my naturopath.”
“Oftentimes it was such a relief and a reprieve to see her,” says Aneesha (Boykova was one of the only people she saw during the first part of that year). In between coming up with a design plan (the idea was to loosely base it off of Sigmund Freud’s Civilization and Its Discontents, with the home representing Aneesha’s ego), the two simply caught up, chatted like old friends, and of course gossiped about Aneesha’s crushes—well, really just crush, singular. “Brian and I had spent a few awkward moments together before [he came over],” shares Aneesha. But at her place, they laughed, cried, drank gin, and got to know each other. “The first time we kissed was also in my house, which felt serene and divine,” she says.
The couple spent a lot of time together cooking ratatouille in the now turquoise kitchen—a space that was inspired by the painted entryway, an area Aneesha considers to be the truest reflection of her extroverted personality. Embracing the punchy hue right off the bat nods directly to the Freudian ego (she’s introducing her home to guests the way she would present herself), but it was also the only spot in which it made sense to coat the walls in color. “It’s the one closed-off room,” Boykova points out. Everywhere else, the walls soar 40 feet high; it would have taken weeks, not to mention the world’s longest roller, to paint the whole interior.
![“Oftentimes it was such a relief and a reprieve to see her,” says Aneesha (Boykova was one of the only people she saw during the first part of that year). In between coming up with a design plan (the idea was to loosely base it off of Sigmund Freud’s Civilization and Its Discontents, with the home representing Aneesha’s ego), the two simply caught up, chatted like old friends, and of course gossiped about Aneesha’s crushes—well, really just crush, singular. “Brian and I had spent a few awkward moments together before [he came over],” shares Aneesha. But at her place, they laughed, cried, drank gin, and got to know each other. “The first time we kissed was also in my house, which felt serene and divine,” she says.
The couple spent a lot of time together cooking ratatouille in the now turquoise kitchen—a space that was inspired by the painted entryway, an area Aneesha considers to be the truest reflection of her extroverted personality. Embracing the punchy hue right off the bat nods directly to the Freudian ego (she’s introducing her home to guests the way she would present herself), but it was also the only spot in which it made sense to coat the walls in color. “It’s the one closed-off room,” Boykova points out. Everywhere else, the walls soar 40 feet high; it would have taken weeks to paint the whole interior, not to mention the world’s longest roller.](https://media-s3-us-east-1.ceros.com/domino/images/2022/05/17/06efaae00fa74e7cbbe9f510be68a296/178.png)
“
Outback Rug
Cold Picnic, from $210
Poseidon Paint
Kidney Bean Sofa
& Ottoman
Kardiel, $3,450
All Saints Mirror
Kartell, $490
Shop the
Story
RICHMOND–VA
State
of
Grace
Sherwin-Williams
Exterior Image Photography by Johnny Fogg
in and exclaimed, ‘I like how minimal it is!’” recalls Aneesha Rao, the Richmond, Virginia–based head of marketing at Humming Homes.
How could Brian not be wooed, stepping through her front door only to be greeted by the inside of a Gothic Revival Presbyterian church—choir loft, steeple, and all? But it wasn’t just the circa-1850 structure, which had been converted into condos in the 1980s, that he fell for, it was how the space spoke to who Aneesha was.
And in that moment she was philosophical and introspective. She first toured the listing in February 2020, a few months before meeting Brian. When she moved in mid-March, the city was under lockdown; Aneesha longed for dinner parties, quick cocktails with friends, and physical interaction of any variety. Her community-driven world was suddenly limited to this church and the team she tapped to help realize her heady view of what the home should be. Designer Mariya Boykova, a near-constant collaborator since late 2018 when Aneesha needed furniture for her previous startup venture, was her first call to help her figure out how to go about filling the quirky floor plan and mixing textures.
Shop the Story
Boykova had to play around with scale to figure out how she could possibly cozy up the expansive space. One of her strategies hangs in the dining area: a ’70s smoked Lucite and woven yarn piece that
is an astounding 5 feet wide, which instantly grounds the setup. Installing the other, two large-scale pendant lights (originally from a church, just not this one), was no easy feat; the electrician had to use a pulley system to reach the ceiling. The wraparound interior balcony overlooking the area is lined with original trim work (you can still see the handmade nails), but the designer updated it with a coat of moody maroon paint to offer a sense of depth and help
orient the eye.
After a while, Aneesha began to view her aloneness in the vast home as an opportunity to focus on her health. “I did a lot of deep work on myself in this space,” she shares. “I had more intense therapy sessions; I consulted with a somatic counselor and my naturopath.” Artist and woodworker Kelsey Copeland, another crucial comrade, played a big part in outfitting the more private areas on the second floor, where much of this self-analysis took place. Copeland built a version of a custom shelving unit she had previously made for a local bookstore, except here it serves double duty as a headboard for a built-in daybed designed by Boykova, a piece originally crafted for Aneesha’s visiting brother but swiftly co-opted by Brian’s cat, Merf.
The plan to cover the side of the staircase that leads to Aneesha’s balcony bedroom, with navy Gucci wallpaper stemmed from a jaunt to the fashion brand’s exhibit at its Dover Street Market store in Los Angeles, where she spotted the lion motif on a pillow. She went through two rolls applying it herself with Brian’s help, but she simply had to have it. “I wanted the study to feel super-moody and luxe,” she explains. Her sleeping spot, on the other hand, has light streaming in from all sides, ideal for Aneesha, an early riser. Despite not spending much time there, “it’s my sanctuary,” she says.
I did a lot of deep work
on myself in this space.
I had more intense therapy sessions; I consulted
with a somatic counselor and my naturopath.”
I did a lot of deep work
on myself in this space.
I had more intense therapy sessions; I consulted
with a somatic counselor and my naturopath.”
I did a lot of deep work
on myself in this space.
I had more intense therapy sessions; I consulted
with a somatic counselor and my naturopath.”
I did a lot of deep work
on myself in this space.
I had more intense therapy sessions; I consulted
with a somatic counselor and my naturopath.”
I did a lot of deep work
on myself in this space.
I had more intense therapy sessions; I consulted
with a somatic counselor and my naturopath.”
SUMMER 2022
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