‘Extra joy’ in a Philly Victorian apartment

A flowered cloth covers a table set for six with flowered napkins and gold-rimmed platters under fruit-patterned salad plates.

Natalie LaBossier often hosts dinner parties for as many as 12 in her spacious apartment in a Victorian rowhouse in Fitler Square.

She carves time to entertain from her busy schedule as a third-year medical resident at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Guests contribute favorite dishes she serves along with her own, such as poached salmon and tomato galette.

LaBossier found the apartment, which she shares with her cat Billie, on Zillow two years ago. Previously she lived in cramped lodgings with roommates during medical school at Boston University.

Her landlord preserved the Victorian’s original features, including ornamental wrought-iron grates on entrance and foyer doors, and the fireplace and leaded glass windows in LaBossier’s apartment.

Her furniture is a mix of old and new. The dining table and chairs, china cabinet, and wood-framed mirror over the fireplace were purchased from Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore on Washington Avenue.

The gray pullout sofa and stackable stools came from Ikea, while two lipstick-red chairs, “have been passed around among family members,” LaBossier said.

She found the coffee table on Amazon. A mid-century modern mahogany cabinet housing a radio and record turntable was purchased from Jinxed, an antique store in Fishtown.

The salad plates from another antique store almost match the five fruit plates hanging on the wall, which belonged to LaBossier’s maternal great-grandmother.

Growing up in New York’s Hudson Valley, LaBossier inherited a love for thrifting and antiquing from her mother, Katy Walsh.

Walsh gave her daughter the white étagère for her first apartment in Boston to display her early purchases.

Every item in her home has a story, LaBossier said.

When friends ask about the painting of a woman carrying a basket of fruit on her head, she explains it is the work an artist from Haiti whom her mother’s church helps support.

The photograph of speckled eggs in a bird’s nest was taken by LaBossier’s father, Wil, who matted and framed the photo. He also framed and matted a painting by LaBossier’s sister, Camille, depicting Billie nestled in one of the red chairs with books, a teapot, and other items meaningful to the sisters suspended above.

The pink and gold tea set came from India where LaBossier spent a month on a public health mission as an undergraduate at Smith College.

She purchased the vegetable-patterned colander in the kitchen from a Goodwill store in Boston. The ceramic vegetable-shaped measuring cups came from Retrospect, a thrift store in Queen Village. The tea cart is from Ikea as are the Persian-patterned rugs in the living area and upstairs den.

The apartment has beige walls with white woodwork and laminate oak floors. The kitchen has walnut cabinets and a dishwasher that makes LaBossier’s dinner parties a little easier. The subway tile backsplash is actually peel and stick paper that LaBossier applied over faded Formica.

Flourishing plants are scattered around the living area and fill a tall window facing the street.

A spiral staircase leads to a second-floor bath, bedroom, and a den, which is furnished with two bookshelves LaBossier painted blue, a desk, a yellow flower-patterned upholstered chair, and a yellow upholstered French Empire settee. The settee is a recent acquisition from Thunderbird Salvage in Kensington.

LaBossier does not have a car and often relies on friends who do to haul her finds. But the chests of drawers in the bedroom and the living area didn’t require any car transport, and they were free. She found one chest on the curb across the street and the other on a nearby block.

The clothes rack in the bedroom was meant to be stored in the hall but friends liked the display of LaBossier’s colorful attire which, like her furnishings, is a mix of new and vintage.

The pediatric resident wears scrubs in the hospital, but when LaBossier sees young patients in the clinic she prefers cheerful street clothes.

Putting on a pretty dress, like for the dinner parties for her hardworking colleagues in her charming apartment, is “a small opportunity for extra joy,” she said.

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