At home with: Jennifer Paccione Angulo

How does your living space serve your needs?

Like many today, our living space serves many different functionalities, way more than any previous expectations. My husband and I both work full-time from home, so our space serves a productive need as well as a creative need to allow us to do our work well. Aside from work, we absolutely love hosting.! I've always felt the dining table was one of the most, if not the most important piece of furniture in a home. Whether gathering friends or family, we love bringing people together around a dining table and a well-cooked meal.

What are the advantages and challenges of living in a smaller space?

The challenges to living in a smaller space almost always arise when decorating. Finding the balance between what you want vs what is functional is always tricky. However, one of the greatest advantages of living in smaller spaces is learning how to edit. It's too easy to accumulate a lot of stuff over the years. Learning how to intentionally curate and edit the items in your home, from clothing to decorative objects to side chairs, is a superpower.

You chose the Egg™ table for your living and working needs. How does it fit your life?

The Egg™ Table is such a unique piece. The shape it holds feels like a piece of art in that every angle gives you a different impression. It's so important for me that the dining table fits enough people around it while hosting in the evening. It can simultaneously serve as a worktable during the day, whether laying out floor plans and fabric or working on my laptop. The table's design lends itself as the centerpiece of any room; however, it doesn't give way to the bulkiness and large scale of most dining tables.

Why are downsizing and the so-called small living trend becoming prevalent?

Part of that is influenced by economics, and the other part is influenced by the fact that there is much more flexibility today in where one chooses to live and work. Overall, I see a general shift towards simplifying how we live, and the concept of smaller living allows for such simplicity.

How do you think about multipurpose furniture?

It's one of the most essential things to consider when bringing furniture into a smaller space. Having multipurpose furniture also increases your likelihood of holding on to those pieces for a long time. I don't think you can ever have enough seating options, for example. Whether it's dining chairs, accent chairs or foot stools, having pieces that function for one thing but can just as easily be brought around a coffee table or a dining table when you have more guests than planned for is so comfortable - which I would argue is the definition of luxury in the home: comfort.