Meet “second-time-arounders” Karen Rich-Cacciapuoti and Ken Balazs, who connected on Match.com 10 years ago and have been happily “playing house” ever since. 

“Our life is a circus,” laughs Ken, who had been living in Scituate, while Karen spent 19 years in Easton before the couple settled in Cohasset. 

Today, their blended family includes Ken, Karen and her three children: Sophia, 20, Bella,18, and Alex,11; plus Thor, their energetic 4-month-old black lab.

“Moving here, we had to create new traditions,” says Karen. With the two older girls now away at college, the couple keeps busy following schedules at Umass Amherst and Virginia Tech while still learning the local ropes with Alex at SciCoh football, lacrosse, baseball, surf and sailing lessons, plus trying out new things like the annual Turkey Trot and lobster trap buoy contest (did we mention they won the blue ribbon for their nutcracker two years ago)?

During her time in Easton, Karen opened her interior design firm (KRC Interior Design), served on many town committees including the local Historical Society, Garden Club and Friends of Easton Public Gardens, published a field guide to historical places, and ran an agricultural literacy program. Once in Cohasset, she jumped right back into community organizations, volunteering with the Cohasset Community Garden Club and the PSO. 

On their own time, the pair is drawn to some unique pursuits. “Our big ‘date night’ might be local dining followed by a Town Hall meeting,” Ken laughs. “Sounds unusual, but for us, it’s fun,” Karen adds. 

You’re also likely to find them perusing the town’s history books or exploring Cohasset’s neighborhoods. “We walk around looking for stories,” Karen says. “It’s kind of an adventure.”  

“We like to look at historical homes and… imagine,” Ken adds.

The couple first settled on Ledgewood Farm Drive, but moved last year to the Cook Estates to be closer to town. 

While their Chittenden Drive home may be newer construction, they have made the condo a “home” by filling the space with objects that have deep personal or historic meaning. 

“This house is a collection of multiple families,” says Ken. “We took things of importance and incorporated them. We can tell you a story about everything in here.”

There is the oil portrait of Hingham’s Benjamin Lincoln, a figure of historical importance, which Ken’s father originally purchased at an auction in New York. Or an artist’s placard of a golden fish they long admired on their walks that popped up for sale on Facebook. 

As a designer, this is the skill Karen brings to her clients. “I don’t want them to just acquire things – I want them to tell their stories.” 

The value of any particular object can often be secondary to its deeper meaning, Karen notes. “To me, the seashells and rocks the kids have collected are just as precious as an antique oil painting.”

As a blended family, it can also be challenging to accommodate two sets of memories and sentimental objects, but accomplishing that feat is what currently brings Karen the most joy. “I’m grateful,” she says, “for the opportunity to start over, and build a non-traditional family.”