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| These are two shots of the tv
area in a basement family room in a Frank Lloyd Wright house in Oak
Park. The original condition was typical of many of the houses of
the period - low ceiling, dark, cramped spaces, and in this case, areas
with a dirt floor. We dug down in order to get the necessary ceiling
height, and then poured a new concrete floor with radiant heating which we
then stained to the color of rich antique leather. The walls are
sand-coat plaster, left in the natural color, and all the wood is
cypress. The original limestone foundation walls were exposed,
cleaned and repointed. |
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| On the left is a view of the
wetbar area into the wine cellar. Original leaded glass windows and
doors which we found in the basement were reused for this entry. On
the right is the billiard area, with a custom-designed leaded glass
fixture and built-in benches and stereo cabinet. Teh concept was to
not fight with the low level of natural light in the space, but rather to
make it a virtue by introducing textured fabrics in warm colors, thereby
creating a cozy, inviting and relaxing feeling. If needed, the
recessed fixtures can provide more than enough light, but the owners
prefer to keep the space a little on the darker side, which is nice. |
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| On the left is another view of
the billiard area, showing a part of the mural I designed to wrap around
the entire room as a single composition. Each element was carefully
considered to provide a two-dimensional backdrop for vases and other
objects to play against, as the shot on the right clearly shows.
Flat, water-based pigments were used to melt into the sandy plaster, and
become part of the wall rather than appear to sit on top of it. |
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| These are
before and after views of a basement media room that we recently
completed. The ceilings are low, and there are just the usual small
high basement windows, so I did not want to attempt to make it a bright
space with natural lighting, which would have been futile. Instead,
the space seems bright through the use of high contrast colors and
values. The walls are covered with a beautiful rich grass cloth that
has a subtle golden sheen over a nice saddle brown base. All the
woodwork, which is aniline-dyed poplar, is quite dark, which makes the
walls the mid-tone in the scheme. On the left is a little dry bar
with a beverage refrigerator and a microwave for snacks, and open shelving
for glassware and plates. The right hand side contains a craft and
art supply center. |
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| These are
views of the main room, with a very comfortable sectional and a flat
screen tv. Since this was intended to be a room that the whole
family and friends would enjoy, it had to function for teenage children
and adults. While not quite up to the level of finish of the rooms
upstairs, it still has a quality that is decidedly not "rec
room." The walls, ceiling and floor, the "envelope"
were kept close in color and value, allowing the few bright spots of
color, namely the sectional, pillows and artwork, to really pop. It
is a comforting and comfortable space to be in, and is used constantly by
the family. |
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| Here are
two more views of the main space. The picture on the left gives a
good view of the DVD cabinet, while the photo on the right shows the game
table, with a custom-designed high-back settle and some very comfortable
new Windsor chairs. While not a large room, it nonetheless provides
beautifully for the needs of the family - a warm, inviting and comfortable
space to watch tv or movies. |
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| These are
before and after shots of a showcase house room I did last September for a
local charity. The picture on the left reflects the state of the
room when I got access to it. The slate tile floor was already in,
and the original fireplace had been clad in local limestone. The
windows, which look into wells, were glass block. A curious detail
of all the rooms in the basement of this house was the use of commercial
storefront doors. This gave me the idea of making this room into an
Arts & Crafts pub, but with a slight twist on the theme. I
wanted to create a space that would be comfortable for and accommodate the
activities and needs of all members of the family. I put a seating
group in front of the fireplace, a small game table under one window, and
a small bar at the other end. There was a large home theater in one
of the other rooms, so I did not have to install more than a small tv, for
which I was thankful. The concept for this space, very loosely, was
Ralph Lauren meets William Morris. |
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| This is a
view towards the fireplace, both before and after. Paradoxically, by
bringing the paneling up to about 5 feet, and painting the remaining wall
and ceiling the same color, the room feels higher than it really is.
Both the leather sofa and the pair of chairs are on the low side, which
helps to reinforce the feeling. The wicker chandelier is something
we have made exclusively for us in two sizes. The one shown is the
larger, 31" in diameter. Because it is hanging over a place in
the room that you would not normally walk under, we could lengthen the
drop a little. This kind of fixture, which reflects light off the
ceiling, is a wonderful way to softly illuminate a room without casting
hard shadows. |
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| The view
looking towards the bar. The owner of the showcase house had already
installed the cabinetry, which was stock lumberyard grade, but had left
all the other decisions to me to specify. We put in a traditional
wood bar counter with a heavy, shaped wooden rail nosing like you
would see in old neighborhood bars. The tile backsplash, in a warm,
orangey-amber, picks up some of the color notes from the fabrics and rug
in the room. I wanted a palette that would appeal to men, but not be
so "clubby" as to turn off women. The rug on the floor,
Tulip and Lily Harvest, is part of the GuildCraft
Collection that I helped to develop. It is a beautiful, rich rug
in a wonderful color combination that really served as the inspiration for
the rest of the colors in the room. |
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| This is a
basement in a large house in the northern suburbs. We had just
completed work on the first floor spaces, and the clients asked up to help
with a family room and home theater downstairs. The basement was
absolutely typical of any house of the period - low ceilings, cement
floor, boiler and water heater right out in the open, and pipes running
everywhere. The only was it could work was if we could relocate all
the mechanicals to a single room, and to move the pipes to the exterior of
the space. Luckily, we were able to accomplish both of these, and
the resulting room, while still small, was opened up. The picture on
the right shows the finished result. There is a small wet bar at the
back, with a pool table in front and a game table next to it. The
space is not large by any means, and so I differentiated the three areas
through the use of patterned cork tile floors; a different pattern for
each area, which makes the room look larger than it really is. We
found three leaded glass windows at a salvage source, and used those with
back lighting to add some color and interest. There is a small tv on
the wall which is visible from anywhere in the room, but the main theater
space is located off to the right of the game table. The ceiling was
deliberately left open, both to refer to a medieval banqueting hall, which
was the inspiration for the space, as well as to keep the space from
feeling too claustrophobic. |
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| This is
another view of the same space, looking directly into the bar area, and
you can see how small the space is, yet all the desired functions are
accounted for. The support beams could not be moved for structural
reasons, so they had to stay where they were. We had them
sandblasted, along with the ceiling joists, which helped to clean them and
give them a nice, worn, weathered look. |
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| These
are shots of a basement family / media room that I am just
finishing. The clients are a young couple with a baby girl and another
child soon to arrive, and wanted to make this large space function for a
variety of uses. The
picture on the left is the before view, just as I saw it on my first
visit. The space lacks warmth, and there really is no sense of what
its purpose is. There was a small kitchenette on the left, which was
intruding into the space and cutting off the flow. The picture on the right shows the finished room as it is
now. In the main seating area, a spacious sofa, upholstered in a
wonderful coppery chenille, is flanked by a pair of lamp tables with a
matching pair of lamps, MFDA exclusives. The
upholstered armchairs are in
shades of soft green, and the rug, Tulip
& Lily Harvest, is rich and luxurious in shades of scarlet, gold,
dull green, brown and purples. There is a game table and chairs in
the alcove, with a custom leaded glass chandelier and brass
sconces providing, along with the recessed cans, three levels and
sources of light. The ceiling height is around 6'10", but the
paneling, at just under 60", makes the room seem taller, and larger
as well. It is
now the warm, cozy, comfortable and inviting space that they had hoped to
achieve. |
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| On the other side of the space,
an "L" shaped area had no real purpose or function assigned to
it. I thought it would make a wonderful playroom for their daughter
and new baby. I kept the same paneling as in the grown-ups area, but
painted it a more child-friendly green. Under the window, I widened
the dado cap molding to become a little toy shelf, on which sits a very
charming collection of stuffed animals. By painting the doors the
same color as the wainscoting, the room feels anchored. The table
and chairs are from Pottery Barn, but are exactly the type of thing you
see in period photographs of children's rooms. The rug in the
foreground is a prototype for one of a group of rugs I am creating based
on illustrations by Margaret Iannelli, who, along with her husband
Alphonso, had a design studio in the Arts & Crafts period in Park
Ridge, Illinois. In addition to producing thousands of illustrations
for various children's books and magazines, it appears Margaret was
responsible for the design of the sculptural
sprites for Frank Lloyd Wright's Midway Gardens, and Alphonso sculpted
them. |
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| This is the little kitchenette
that we had to take out, and the extent of the provision for the tv. On the right is a shot of the cabinetry that I
designed to hold the electronic equipment, the DVDs, video tapes and so
on, as well as the sink and refrigerator! The sink is hidden behind
the cabinet door on the far left, and the refrigerator is located in the
lower cabinet right next to it. There is a microwave hookup in the
upper cabinet on the far right. I did not want any of this to show,
because I wanted the whole space to read like a library or den, not a
kitchen. The tv had to be moved slightly, and we ran all the wiring
through a tube in the wall, so nothing shows. |
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| This is a little nook at the
bottom of the stairs, and is the first thing you see as you come
down. I actually love the bright, striking color they chose, but it
was not right for the period of the house or the overall concept we were
developing. The photo on the right
shows the re-done result. A generous built-in bench, with a soft
cushion and big pillows, sends the message "comfortable resting
place" immediately. My thought here was that when my clients
were entertaining friends or family (they both have big ones), there would
be four areas for separate activities: the game area at the far end, with
seating for 4, the television area, which can accommodate 7 to 9, this
little seating group, which can seat 6 with the leaves on the table out,
and then the "playroom" space, which is to the right of this
area. The bench is configured so that anyone sitting there can
easily see the television and the kids playing. My clients purchased
the painting above the paneling on their honeymoon. I believe it is
of Scotland, or maybe Ireland, but in any case is perfect in the
space. The wall
sconces are dull, unlacquered brass with off-white fabric shades,
perfect for the vintage feeling we were hoping to achieve. The space
looks elegant but welcoming, grown-up but inviting, beautiful but not
off-putting, which is just what I had wanted to do for them. Click
here for more picture of this elegant space. |
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This is
a basement that we recently finished. The concept, an English pub,
was generated by the hammered brass fireplace hood that was the first
thing purchased for the space, almost before demolition had begun, and combined nicely
with the fact that the husband brews his own beer. The family has
three children, two boys and a girl, so the space had to function both
as an entertaining space for the adults and as a game and family room for
the kids. Nothing could be too precious or delicate. In order
to create the required head room, the floor had to be dug down a foot or
so, which allowed for the installation of radiant heating under the slate
tiles. An antique corner pub bench was located at an antique store,
and the entire bar was built around it. The steel beams and posts,
required to hold the rest of the house up, were boxed in with rough-sawn
oak planks. The disguise is entirely convincing. |
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On the right is
a view from behind the bar towards the flat screen tv and theater
area. As you can see from the games, drum set, guitar hero
equipment, and bookcase full of DVDs, this room is thoroughly enjoyed by
the family. This is how it should be. Good design results are
ones that create spaces that can be used and enjoyed, not just looked at.
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| These two views of a little
office / guest room shows what can be done with a small space. The
rich, warm red color of the walls, a favorite of my client, is repeated
with variations throughout the room: in the coverlet on the bed, the
upholstery of the armchair, and the tiles, reproduction of DeMorgan
designs, on the fireplace face. The same multi-color slate used in
the family room is used here as well, with come carefully-chosen spots for
the few rare red ones helping to reinforce the color scheme. An
antique leather medicine ball is used here as a foot rest. |
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A third floor library / family room - before. While
the space, up under the roof, was conceptually appealing and engaging,
there was just nothing going on style-wise.
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The same view - after.
There are five distinct areas: bookcase, work table, computer desk,
comfortable reading / relaxing, and an in-progress gallery display for
showing and storing historical memorabilia. It is a magical space. |
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| The same library, opposite the bookcase -
before. The problems here were to unify the three windows, rethink
the too-large window seat, and create an area that would be enjoyable to
be in. |
The area after, with a comfortable seating
grouping, stereo components and additional bookcase storage.
Paradoxically, by making the window seat smaller, it became a more
attractive place to sit. |
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This is a beautiful
conservatory that the previous owners had put on a wonderful late 19th
century house. Since neither of my clients had any ability with
plants, it had become a store room where the children sometimes did
homework and what few plants were there waited to die. The
photo on the right is the same space
now. Since it is off the large kitchen, it is a perfect family room
and homework area. It also serves as an overflow party space.
It has become one of the most used rooms in the house, not the least
because it has a wonderful view of the large backyard. By the way,
all the plants you see are artificial, and are healthy and thriving to
this day.
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