House Tour: Scandinavian Design Meets Allston Christmas in Cambridge

This loft in Central Square is filled with foraged finds and family heirlooms.

By Madeline Bilis· 7/6/2017, 2:03 p.m.

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Photo by Megan Krench

The Snapshot
Name: Megan Krench
Neighborhood: Central Square, Cambridge
Type of home: Loft apartment
Bedrooms: 1
Bathrooms: 1
Size: 850 square feet

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Megan Krench and her husband, Joel, have created their own live-in museum inside the old Fig Newton factory in Central Square. Their home at the Kennedy Biscuit Lofts juxtaposes sleek, Scandinavian design with curated antiques, artifacts, and souvenirs.

In Krench’s 850-square-foot loft, each and every accessory has a backstory. Since moving in three years ago, she’s put a robust collection of odds and ends on display, from a vintage suitcase found at the Davis Square Goodwill to a shiny copper chair received as a birthday present. Then there are the things foraged Allston Christmas-style, like an olive green footlocker Krench spotted about a mile down the road in Harvard Square.

“I found it and I was like ‘Joel! It’s perfect, we need it!’ And he’s like ‘We need it?’ And I’m like ‘We need it!'” she recounts. So, the locker was picked up off the sidewalk and carried down the street to their home in the Fig Newton factory.

Other pieces, like Krench’s grandfather’s typewriter, or the handcrafted mirror made by her husband’s grandfather, nod to the couple’s family history. Plus, Krench says when she entertains, she tries to make her home feel like a speakeasy in honor of her Great Aunt Rega, who was a flapper during the 1920s.

“I feel like I’m channeling the Aunt Rega vibes with all the old stuff,” she says.

Ahead, hear from Krench about her one-of-a-kind home.

Photo by Megan Krench

Describe your style in three words.

Scandinavian, speakeasy, Allston Christmas.

What’s your favorite part of your home?

We live in a loft in the old Fig Newton factory, so we love the soaring, 22-foot ceilings. I also love the open layout and panel of skylights across the ceiling. All of my friends are in relatively small apartments, so the fact that all the living space is open makes it feel a little bit bigger. I feel so lucky to live in an apartment where visitors come in and literally go, “WOW!”

Least favorite?

It’s hard to say what my least favorite part is—maybe the proximity to Sonia’s, formerly TT the Bear’s Place. Between the tour vans idling outside our window and the tipsy concert-goers, it can get kind of loud—but hey, at least it keeps us feeling cool even as we close in on 30.

The problem with the space is that it’s very open, but there’s no storage. All I can ever think is “I would not mind if you took away three feet of a wall and put in a bunch of built-ins or something.” It was a really interesting adjustment to have to learn how to hide everything in plain sight. That’s a big part of where the suitcases come in, they’re all full of stuff. We’re kind of at capacity.

Photo by Megan Krench

Where do you find your design inspiration?

I love that our home is truly a collection of the found and foraged. Many items are literally from the street (hello, cool metal lockers that we dragged down the block) and almost all of the rest is from Craigslist (like my favorite leather chair in the living room), Goodwill (so many vintage punch bowl sets), or bazaars we visited on vacations together (looking at you, little copper kettle from Budapest).