A baby-friendly rowhouse renovation

Last summer, after six years in their home, Danielle and Jonah Abrams decided to upgrade their 1,000-square-foot, two-story rowhouse in East Passyunk. The neighborhood was ideal, Danielle said, but they needed to accommodate their growing family.

“We love our location and have great relationships with our neighbors. We know at least half our block by first name,” she said.

Both are heavily involved in the neighborhood, both politically and civically.

“When we were expecting our daughter, everyone asked us if we were moving to the suburbs,” Danielle said. “Instead, we doubled down on our investment in our home by renovating.”

They contracted with City Living Construction to complete the renovations. The process required staying with Danielle’s parents for three weeks, when she was seven months pregnant, while contractor Christtian Mazza, “transformed our full bath into the respite of our dreams,” Danielle said.

“I designed the space by picking the fixtures and making multiple mood boards in PowerPoint showing the different tile, vanity, mirror, and fixture options,” Danielle said. ”We visited a tile store in Fishtown together and chose the flooring and shower tile, which took over an hour of laying different options on the floor of the showroom.”

Most of the home’s furniture was secondhand and sourced from local social media groups, Danielle said.

“The one piece we splurged on was our sofa, which is from Joybird,” she said. “We chose the ivory pet-proof fabric to brighten up the space and also to hide cat hair.”

The nursery is the smallest room in the house. Again, the couple’s practical sense took a role.

“We worked with furniture we already had, including the rocking chair from my childhood bedroom,” Danielle said.

They added handmade touches throughout the space, including the felt mobile in the window and the name garland on the wall.

“The only new piece of furniture in the room is the crib,” Danielle said. “We opted to get a mini crib from Babyletto that would better fit the small space.”

In terms of color, the home showcases blue and sage green throughout. Danielle also added her own personal artwork. She is especially proud of a mural that she painted in the kitchen, a continuous line design that incorporates botanical leaf shapes and the Hebrew letters that spell out Shalom.

The stairwell was the couple’s final project, with a goal to create a space for their daughter’s books and toys.

“Choosing to stay in the city after having a baby makes our home stand out from many of our neighbors’ homes,” Danielle said. It “demonstrates how to be resourceful and creative in your home design rather than moving out to a larger property in the suburbs.”

A 15-year retail veteran who has worked at many retailers in the Philadelphia area, including Burlington, Five Below, Anthropologie, and Terrain, she is a graduate of Drexel’s Westphal College of Media Arts & Design. She currently runs her own business, a sustainable Judaica brand called HamsaMade, while also working for a local woman-owned company that sells safety accessories to essential workers.

Jonah is a project manager in the renewable energy field. He’s equally happy to be living in the city.

“Being right by Goldstar Park, Capitolo Park, and Paolone Park is one of our favorite things about where we live,” he said. “Before we moved in together, I was living in Queen Village and Danielle was in Bella Vista so we clearly love South Philly.”

Last year’s renovation, Jonah noted, was not the couple’s first home project since they bought the house in 2018, but it was the first “that was not to solve an immediate problem.” He appreciates the surrounding community, and serves as a ward committeeperson. He can sometimes be found traveling the neighborhood by foot, “wearing our baby as I knock the doors of my neighbors, hearing about their challenges and helping them to vote.”

“We love being able to walk to so many of our favorite places and favorite people, and we want our daughter to grow up being able to do the same,” Jonah said. “And we are dedicated to making our neighborhood even better.”

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