Following are some pictures from some of our
recent interior projects. We bring almost 30 years of specialization
and experience in the Arts & Crafts style to our work in space
planning, renovation, restoration and new construction. We have a
full team of contractors, tradesmen, craftsmen and artisans, and can
tackle virtually any size and type job. Please feel free to contact
us if you would like to discuss a project of your own, or to find out
how we can work with you to achieve the results you envision. If
you would like to see a dramatic example of how paint color can affect the
feeling of a room, click here.
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To
see more photos of any of these projects, and more of our work, please click
here.
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| Above are two views of a truly
remarkable project I worked on last year. Originally a gentleman's
dairy farm, the structure was built entirely out of local native stone,
and backs up to a thousand-plus acre state forest. It consists of 5
bedrooms and baths, a fully-outfitted gourmet kitchen, huge great room
with fireplace, billiard room, 2 large home offices, an in-ground pool,
landscaped garden, stream with stone bridge, and original stone carriage
house with workshop. Located in New York state, it is 45 minutes by
car to mid-town Manhattan. It is truly an estate paradise, and I had
a wonderful time working with my clients on it to turn it into an oasis in
the country. |
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| On the left is a view of the
framing creating the generous entry hall and the larger of the two home
offices located in the main barn. The proportions of the spaces were
so large that the challenge was not how to fit everything, but how to keep
it from feeling overpowering. The picture on the right shows the
finished space, with quarter-sawn oak paneling and trim, a radiant heat
slate floor, and subtle leaded glass transom windows. I wanted to
have the details subtly reflect the original purpose of the buildings, but
I was careful to keep everything looking elegant and finished as
well. My client met with his investors in this space, so it had to
be impressive, but understated. |
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| On the left is a view of the
staircase that leads up to the main barn space, now a fantastic great room
with a library loft and gourmet kitchen. I wanted the stair to be
grand enough to anchor the space, but no so majestic that it would make my
client's investors feel cheated if they were not invited up. Putting
it off to one side, as opposed to directly opposite the front door,
accomplished this nicely, I think. The balusters were custom-turned,
and are copies of one we found in the carriage house. It had the
right look and scale, and is really a subtle but effective detail that
adds a true period feeling. The picture on the right is a view of a
cozy inglenook space that "appeared" on the other side of the
staircase. It is just outside their daughter's bedroom, so she uses
it as a sitting room with her friends. It is also in between the two
offices, so my clients sit there as well at the beginning and end of their
days and unwind. |
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| On the left is a view of the
great room space undergoing structural repairs. Many of the original
trusses had to be replaced, which offered an opportunity to incorporate
lighting and electrical systems. As much of the original stonework
was left exposed as possible, to retain the rugged character of the
building. Each boulder was meticulously cleaned, however. On
the right is the finished space. It is grand without being
overwhelming, and each area, kitchen, dining and sitting, is nicely scaled
to feel comfortable and accommodating. |
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| Here are two views of the
kitchen. The cabinetry was done by Crown Point. The library
loft above the main working space keeps it from feeling dwarfed, and makes
it a comfortable, cozy space to cook in. The farmhouse sink is
hand-wrought copper, and the hood over the range is copper and iron, both
by Joe Mross. Having completed this wonderful home, my clients are
now moving on to the next project, and have put the estate on the
market. If you have an interest in this unique property, please
contact me and I will put you in touch with them. |
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On the left is the
before shot of a sweet little condo I just finished in downtown Chicago
for some clients from Wisconsin. They are avid opera and symphony
fans, and wanted a place of their own to stay when they came to the city,
which they do often. The one-bedroom unit is in a converted
commercial office building, with a view from the balcony of the Civic
Opera House, a block away! Perfectly located, but dismally
decorated, if you could even say that.
On the right is the same view now. My clients wanted an Arts &
Crafts style for the apartment, but I felt strongly that the result had to
reflect the character of the building, which was classical, and the nature
of the space itself, which was clean and modern. I did not want what
we all came to refer to as "Arts & Crafts Disneyland."
I made the detailing of the woodwork, fireplace surround, bookcases,
kitchen cabinetry and raised ceiling beams clean, bold and simple to
subtly underscore the character of the surroundings. |
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This is the horrid little fireplace
surround the previous owner, or possibly the developer, had
"installed." I put that word in quotes, because this
strange construction was not even attached securely to anything. The
whole unit pulled away from the wall at the slightest tug.
I left the firebox in place, but rebuilt everything else. I
installed a high hearth, which functions as a seating perch for parties,
and widened the surround to be more graceful and proportional to the rest
of the space. The challenge with this was to provide enough tile
area around the opening to make it look good, but keep the mantle from
getting too high. I solved that problem with the dramatically-curved
apron under the mantle. I also purposefully did not connect the
bookcases to the surround, as this would have made the whole composition
simply too imposing for what is really a small space. The leaded
glass windows were something that the clients asked to have incorporated
at our first meeting. I think they thought that I didn't hear them,
or perhaps want to accommodate their request, but I saw them hanging above
the bookcases from the start, and I think they were surprised and pleased
that they were such a major part of the design. |
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On the left is the view into the kitchen as
it was the day we all went to see the unit. The cabinets are the
cheapest grade big-box stores carry, and the appliances were extremely low
end. The layout was awkward in places, but the placement of the
sink, refrigerator and island were not bad. To keep costs down, I
left the plumbing and major electrical where they were, but took out
everything else. The photo on the right shows the finished
kitchen. Since it was completely open to the living room, I wanted
the finish to be as high as the Hile furniture we used. The
appliances needed to be as unobtrusive as possible as well, so I chose
integrated panel models for the refrigerator and dishwasher. The
cabinet above the wall oven holds the microwave, and the island now has a
new, very sleek induction cooktop. My clients love to eat out at the
many wonderful restaurants in the city, so requested only the most minimal
of eating areas, which was lucky, since there really is not enough space
for a dining table in the apartment and I did not want to have stools at
the island completely open and visible to the living room. In the
warmer months they will eat outside on the balcony. In
order to create a greater sense of enclosure, and to screen off the
hallway ceiling and light fixture somewhat, I added a soffit at the
entrance to the living room on the right. (more pictures to come!) |
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| These are some before and after
shots of a beautiful vintage apartment in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of
Chicago that we are just putting the finishing touches on. My
clients, a well-educated, well-traveled and intellectually curious couple,
wanted an interior that was welcoming and reflected their
personalities. The picture on the left is the living room the day I
came to see it. There are some interesting pieces of furniture here,
but with no "base line" of consistency, it just looked like an
accumulated collection of miss-matched things. The shot on the right
shows the finished space. Where we could, we reupholstered existing
pieces, like the daybed in the foreground. The two matching
loveseats, identically upholstered, and the matching lamp tables and
lamps, now give the other pieces something to show off against.
Adding some table lamps to a space that already had can lights in the
ceiling gives increased flexibility for different levels and moods of
lighting. Repetition of the gorgeous peachy-apricot color brings a
visual unity to the space and the objects in it. |
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| On the left is another shot of
the living room, offering a better view of the interesting and eclectic
art collection they have. It was a lot of fun to reintegrate their
collection into the spaces once the furnishing was done. The picture
on the right is a view into the finished library space. It is a
small, cozy room, separated by original french doors from the main living
room, and opens onto the master bedroom. It is a wonderful space to
relax in and ready quietly or watch television before bed. |
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| On the left is the library
before work was done. The overall feeling is a little chilly, an impression
not helped by the white painted fireplace face and light
upholstery. The view on the right shows the room now. The
trim, as in the rest of the apartment, was repainted from stark white to a
soft taupe-y tan color. We tiled over the existing fireplace face
with soft blue-glazed tiles, and reupholstered a sofa from the living
room, and the existing ottoman, with a wonderful William Morris fabric
that complements the tiles beautifully. The same silk curtain fabric
used in the living room is used here as well, only now it is the
complement to the blues and greens, giving a sparkle, albeit a subtle one,
to the small space. The oppressive and overpowering mirror above the
fireplace is gone now, replaced with an interesting painting from the
couple's travels. A lot of people think, erroneously, that a big
mirror over a fireplace will make a small room seem larger - the opposite
is actually the truth, as these two photos show. If your room is
small, make it a virtue, not something that you are ineffectually trying
to fight. |
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| On the left is the entryhall as
I first saw it. Although a large space as entries go, it had no
feeling of warmth or welcome. The wall in the background is opposite
the door, so it was the first thing a visitor would see upon entering the
apartment. The picture on the right is the way the space looks
now. I chose a fantastic grasscloth in a warm, rusty orange-red
color with a little brown woven in here and there to both warm up the
space visually, and darken it down, so as to play up the nice natural
light that came in from the east-facing windows in the living room.
I like entries on the darkish side, frankly, because I feel this causes
the guest to pause and begin to relax. The lighting is kept on the
low side as well, and now there is a nice pair of vintage lamps from the
40's I believe, a table and a colorful oil painting to catch your eye when
you enter. An 18th century chest of drawers on the left holds hats,
gloves, keys, the mail and all the other stuff that you find by the front
door. The dark red rug on the floor is an antique, part of my
clients' collection that has been assembled on their travels. Again,
the color of the woodwork has been softened from the stark white it used
to be. |
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| These
are shots of a basement family / media room that I have just finished. 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
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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. |
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| These are two views of a magical room for a
little girl we just are finishing here in Oak Park. The house has
strong English Arts & Crafts overtones, so William Morris patterns
seemed a natural choice. The wallpaper, Brer
Rabbit, is particularly suited to a child's room, with its naively-rendered
bunnies, very similar in feeling to the decorations done on Dedham plates
of this period. The four poster bed, a family antique, is covered in
Morris's Artichoke brocade, while
the window shades are Leicester.
The toy chest at the foot of the bed was collaged by the girl's mother
using antique illustrations from children's literature. While not
chosen for their color, the Ugli dolls on the bed coordinate
beautifully! The picture on the right shows a small table and
chairs, perfect for tea parties, in front of Morris's Acanthus
in a tone-on-tone pewter blue. Behind is the daughter's dressing
room with custom-made cabinetry instead of dressers. It also doubles
as a theater stage for performances. While there is no pink per se
in this space, the overall feeling is of a delicate, decorative and
beautiful room, clearly created for a girl. I kept the many patterns
from clashing by making sure they were all of different scales, a
technique Morris himself used when creating his interiors in the 1880's. |
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| These are two views of the
living room of a Frank Lloyd Wright house here in Oak Park that I have
been working on for several years. There was no furniture designed
for the house, so we had some freedom in terms of what pieces we
used. The settle and morris chairs are by Hile
Studio, and the other pieces were custom-designed for the house.
One of the most important instructions that the clients gave me at the
start was that the house would be comfortable and liveable for their
family and friends. There could be nothing too precious or
museum-like that would make people feel uncomfortable. I chose
fabrics that had a richness both in terms of their color as well as their
textures. Velvets, wovens and subtle patterns predominate, which was
a characteristic of the Prairie School interiors. |
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| The picture on the left is a
view into the breakfast room off of the new kitchen. The table and
chairs are custom designs, and subtly play up the Japanese flavor of the
architecture. The recessed ceiling fixture above was designed after
the leaded glass, and casts a beautiful glow in the evenings over the
whole space. The photo on the right is of the veranda, and space in
the back of the house that looks over the garden. Wright originally
intended this room to be an open porch, we believe, so the walls and
woodwork were treated to match the exterior. It is now enclosed with
leaded glass windows, and is a wonderful place to sit and have a quiet
conversation, read a book, or unwind at the end of the day. I chose wicker
furniture, but upholstered it in "indoor" fabrics, which
creates a pleasant tension. The furniture is all custom-designed and
made of cypress, a gorgeous, albeit soft, wood. |
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| Here are
two views of the master bedroom of the Frank Lloyd Wright house.
While the basic foot print of the room did not change, virtually every
surface was touched in some way. The walls are treated in a special
application of sand and tinted paint that perfectly replicates the old
sand-coat plaster found in homes of the period. The pair of chairs,
the lamp table, night stands and bed were all custom-designed, since there
was no furniture by Wright specified for the house. The chandelier
is period, but I am not sure who designed it. It is perfect in the
room nonetheless, and in fact the colors of the walls were chosen to
harmonize with it. The wall behind the bed has built-in cabinetry
behind it, which allowed us to keep the room itself relatively open and
uncluttered. At night, it is a magical, peaceful 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, and combined nicely
with the fact that the husband brews his own beer. The family has
three children, two boys and a girl, and 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.
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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This
is the exterior of a large and gracious house in a western suburb on a
beautiful corner lot. The owners felt that both the exterior and the
interior could use some attention. On the outside, the home's color
scheme was a little drab, and did not really reflect the character of the
architecture - Arts & Crafts with a faint Italianate feeling.
On the right is the exterior after a fresh color scheme and some additional
landscaping
was added. The porch columns and terrace walls were stripped to reveal
the original glazed bricks, and the garden wall was painted to harmonize
with the soft, warm white color of the bricks. The trim and window
casements were painted the same greenish-gray color, something like the pietra
serena found in Florentine Renaissance architecture, which served
to simplify and unify the elements on the facade. Below are some
pictures of the interior. |
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left is the view of the entry hall before. My client had made a good
start with the use of William Morris's Golden Lily wallpaper, but the
space, a large and central one, lacked the essential feeling of welcome
that all entries should have. The table in the center, an obvious
choice, actually served to hinder the flow among the other rooms, and
created a visual barrier that subconsciously said "stop."
The picture on the right is the way the room looks now. On the
original plans, we discovered that there was a fireplace intended for the
corner where the big pier mirror was. When we looked behind the
mirror, we discovered that the masonry was there, but it had never been
opened. I used all the original woodwork from the mirror to create a
mantle and fireplace surround, and we installed a ventless box. Two
wing chairs, a nice table and a pretty lamp create a wonderful spot to sit
during a party. The feeling now is definitely one of warmth and
welcome. |
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| The photo on the left shows a
room that my clients had not really used to full advantage. One of
the problems, as you can see through the windows, was that the house next
door was very close. No one liked being in the room because it felt
so exposed. I suggested a billiard room, which you can see on the
right. We added a picture rail, used a Morris paper below, and added
sconces and a ceiling fixture that was more in keeping with the large
scale of the room. To solve the next-door-neighbor problem, we had
some leaded glass panels made, based on those at Morris's Red House, and
mounted them directly to the existing Pella frames. They look so
natural and authentic, it is hard now to believe that they weren't always
there. Click here
for a better view. |
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| These are some views of the
sunroom off the billiard room. On the left is how it looked
before. Despite the wonderful natural light, the room felt cold, and
the style was decidedly Country French, which did not go with the
architecture of the house at all. The walls and trim were painted stark white (my least favorite
color), and the lamps were too small to do much to warm things up.
The picture in the middle shows the same view afterwards. I painted
the walls and the brick piers the same color as the exterior stucco, and
the trim the same wonderful green as the trim outside. A wicker
loveseat and matching sofa, along with a generously-sized ottoman, are
covered in Morris fabrics. The wooden slat blinds are the wide ones,
just like in the period. After we installed this room, the husband
called a few days later to tell me how much he enjoys this space now,
which before he never entered. I like it so much I put another photo
of it on the far right. |
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| On the left is a view of one end
of the living room before. While there is a nice, original fireplace
and mantle, the space feels curiously unfinished, and lacking any
anchoring weight. The flanking loveseats are the right idea, but the
white slipcovers are too stark. The photo on the right shows my
solution - built-in bookcases that also cover the radiators now complete
the picture, and give a feeling of solidity and purpose to the area.
A custom pair of Lutyens-inspired chairs replace the sofas in the proper
scale. I changed the wall color just slightly to a warmer, happier
shade of tan. |
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| On the left is the other end of
the living room before. Again, the idea is a good one, and the
furniture layout is logical and functional. I tend to leave existing
furniture layouts the same, unless there is something terribly wrong or
non-functional about them. In this case, they were the right kinds
of pieces, just the wrong details. We got a pair of sofas on
sale at Macy's, and built the rest of the pieces around them. The table
in the corner is an MFDA exclusive copy of a design by CFA Voysey, one
of my favorite Arts & Crafts architects. The brass
lamp continues this feeling. The white woodwork was stripped and
stained, revealing quartersawn white oak surrounds. The plaid wing
chairs ended up recovered in the entry hall above. The family used
this space a lot, so it had to be comfortable and functional. I am
happy to report that they still do. |
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On the left is the before shot of a
room in a charity showhouse for the Infant Welfare
Society of Oak Park and River Forest. The house is owned by a
developer who basically ran out of ideas for completion, and so turned to
local designers and the IWS to help him finish the project. His
thought was to make it a "sports bar", but I chose English Arts
& Crafts pub instead. As you can see from the glass block
windows, the room is below grade, and the ceilings are 7'10", just
barely up to code.
The photo on the right shows the same room
finished. By installing paneling to a height of just over 5', the ceiling
paradoxically looks higher. Painting the walls and ceiling the same
color helps to further this illusion. I wanted a kind of
"William Morris meets Ralph Lauren" feeling, so the furniture is
tufted and comfortable, with lots of leather, velvet and deep, rich
colors. There are three "levels" of lighting: wall and
ceiling fixtures, floor lamps and table lamps, which can be turned off and
on independently, allowing a great deal of flexibility. The overall
lighting level is low, since it is below ground, but this is appropriate
to the style of the room. The various fixture provide pools of warm,
inviting light. The rug, from the GuildCraft
Collection of designs by CFA Voysey, provided the inspiration for the
entire color scheme. |
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This is a view towards the bar
area. The cabinets, prefab, had already been installed,
unfortunately, but the rest of the decisions and details were still
pending. I did not want the room to simply be an off-putting
"man cave", so I kept the bar to its necessary minimum, without
sacrificing the considerable impact of a real, functioning bar in a
domestic interior. I felt strongly that the space had to function as
a family-friendly environment, so women and children needed to feel
comfortable in it and be provided for as well. This meant seating
for conversation, reading, relaxing, playing games, watching television
and so forth. If the room had been bigger, I might have included a
pool table.
On the left is the same view
completed. We tiled the back wall with a rich, rusty orange field tile
with a small decorative triptych under the television, which serves to
draw your eye towards the far wall and gives a nice punch of color.
The antique leather chesterfield sofa is English, and the patina on the
leather lends a very nice vintage feeling to the room. Most of the
wood furniture is antique, while the upholstered pieces are all new, but
very much in the style. The wicker chandelier
is one we have made for us exclusively, and is a copy of a rare Gustav
Stickley design. The overall feeling is rich, enveloping,
relaxing, subdued and clubby, but not overly masculine. The head
carpenter brought his 76 year old mother through and she told him this was her favorite room.
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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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| This is the loft-like living
and dining area in a high-end condo building in Oak Park. The space,
created out of a much, much larger room, is long and narrow. The
furniture placement serves to accentuate this fact, rather than disguise
it, and while the building as a whole has some wonderful period
architectural detailing, my clients' space did not. On
the right is the same view
afterwards. I wanted to make their apartment seem special, and like
it was an original, intimate suite of rooms in the larger building.
We added columns and beams, copied from elsewhere in the building, and
re-oriented the furniture so that it would create areas with specific
functions within the space. Turning furniture groups perpendicular
to the main flow of the space paradoxically makes the room seem larger. |
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This is the existing fireplace
and surround when my clients moved in. Not the most horrible, but
certainly nothing special, nor did it reflect the character and
personality of the original building.
The picture on the right shows the same view
after. The concept and detailing were based on an original fireplace
from elsewhere in the building. I felt strongly that my clients'
apartment should not look like a left-over scrap of a once-grander space,
as these conversions can often seem, but rather like it always was this
way. The bright, multi-colored checkerboard pattern on the face
echoes the original source of inspiration, and the painting above, by the wife's mother, was a
stunning complement, found long after the tiles had been installed.
Flanking bookcases help to define both the space and the function of this
area. The husband is a well-known and respected architect, and I was
fairly intimidated at first, but the collaboration was extremely
successful and satisfying for all. |
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| This is a view of the living
room in a typical Oak Park home. The clients, a young, well-educated
professional couple and their young son, love to read. The husband
collects 20th century first editions, and the whole family uses this room
on a daily basis. The problem was that the first thing you saw when
you entered the house was the tv, flanked by small bookcases - not the
message anyone wanted to send guests. We moved the tv under the
stairs on a custom-built cabinet that stores the components and all their
DVDs, and created a proper focal point that tells a story about who they
are and what they value - an impressive bookcase that can how hold all the
first edition collection, and more. The walls were painted a soft,
golden yellow, and the trim, added at some later time, was
simplified. We kept their existing sofa, but had it recovered and
re-styled a little to make it more in keeping with the period and history
of the room and the other pieces we added. The morris chairs are
bow-arms by Hile Studio,
and the little table in between is a copy of a Limbert
piece that we have made for us. |
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This is the entry area in the
same house. I'm not sure how it was originally configured, but the
existing problem was that there was no sense of arrival, not to mention a
clear function for this area. The bookcase only served to confuse
the issue.
By adding paneling in oak,
based on the detailing of the staircase, and staining it to match the
existing woodwork, we created an entry space that was both a part of and
apart from the main living space, and looks as if it were original to the
house. The added window bench stores boots and provides a place to
stop, if only for a moment. The custom dresser holds gloves,
scarves, hats and other outerwear. Hooks have since been installed
for coats on the rails of the paneling to the left of the window. A
rug, proportional to the space, helps to delineate the "room."
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| This is another view of the
living room, showing the beautiful Prairie-style staircase that was
probably added a few years after the house, a modified Victorian, was
completed. The stair dominates the space, both visually and
actually, because the rest of the elements are sparse and small in
scale. All you want to do in this room is go upstairs. There is a consistent density
to the room now, and the furniture layout permits multiple
types of activities, from watching tv or movies to reading or
conversation. With the various elements now in balance, the
staircase does not seem to overwhelm the room as it once did. The
walls are not as stark as they were either, but have been painted a rich,
buttery yellow. |
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This is a view of a large
living room in a wonderful house in Oak Park. The family has three
children, all with diverse and multiple interests, and the challenge was
to create a space that could be used by all, not just the children.
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This is a view of the same
room afterwards. A matching loveseat and sofa were used, upholstered
in the same fabric, to anchor the fireplace area, in the middle of the
room, which helped to define the "grown-up" space. The
piano at the far end creates a music room. The house overall had a
slightly English feeling to it, and it was originally a 19th century
farmhouse that had been added to in the early 20th century, so William
Morris fabrics and carpets seemed to be the perfect basis on which to
build a decorative scheme. |
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This is the other end of the
room. A wonderful window bench enclosed the space, with the windows
giving a nice view of the neighborhood in front and a little watergarden
in back. Enjoyment of this nice feature was prohibited by the
clutter and confusion of toys and plants.
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A game table now anchors the
space, and clutter is kept to a minimum. It is still used by the
whole family, but for chess, backgammon and other board games that the
whole family can enjoy together. In addition to furniture placement,
the rugs help to define the three spaces - music room, living room and
game room. |
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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 becomes a more
attractive place to sit. |
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A living room in a large, gracious house in a
park-like setting - before. The colors, furniture, fabrics and
detailing did nothing to reinforce the architectural style of the house.
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The same room after. The architecture
of the house called for an English, William Morris approach, which suited
both the clients' tastes and family history. Those with a keen eye
for detail will recognize the shameless borrowing we did from Standen, a
Phillip Webb / William Morris collaboration in England. |
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The original built-in bookcases in the midst
of restoration.
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The same view after. The space itself
is a cozy inglenook at the end of the much larger living room. The
overmantle is new, based on ones from Standen. The original surround
had some historical significance, so we had to retain it, but figure out a
way to incorporate it into the new vision. By the way, these are the
same armchairs seen in the first picture, just with new fabric and trim. |
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| On the left is the living room in a
wonderful new-construction country house in Galena, a wonderful
rural area of Northwest Illinois. The
family is very interested in Nature and outdoor pursuits, and the art and
decoration is themed around this concept. We used a mixture of
antiques and reproductions, along with some contemporary upholstered
pieces, to keep the mood casual and comfortable. The
picture on the right shows the lower-level family room in
the same house. The requirements were that the furniture be
comfortable and low-maintenance, but still reflect the owners' interest in
Arts & Crafts. We mixed antique and reproduction pieces with
soft, upholstered furniture. |
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| This is the master bedroom in
the country house. The goal was to achieve a light, airy feeling,
like sleeping in the clouds. |
A small writing desk, an
antique by Gustav Stickley, is paired with a mid-century blond-wood
armchair, keeping things from getting too serious. |
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This is a view of an
unsympathetic addition on a charming little bungalow. There was no
way to fix it, so we had to tear it down and rebuild something that we
wanted to appear as if it had been a part of the original house.
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This is the space, all new
construction, that resulted. Paint with sand additive was used on
the walls and ceilings to give it a soft, beautiful visual texture.
The room includes a dining room, above, and a family room overlooking the
garden. |
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While we were refreshing the
rest of the house, some old paneling was pulled down, revealing the
original chimney breast, and the remains of built-in bookcases.
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After careful research, we
were able to determine the exact look of the fireplace, mantle and
bookcases, and replicated them. The living room, formerly
little-used, is now one of the warmest and most popular rooms in the
house. |
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| This is the living room in a
Tudor-revival house. Despite the ample windows, the room was cold
and dark feeling. The previous owners had attempted to deal with
this by painting the walls a pale yellow and everything else, including
the limestone fireplace, stark white. It did not work - in fact, the
results were just the opposite. The room felt colder and just sort
of grey and depressing. |
Counter-intuitively, it
sometimes is better to go darker in order to make a space feel
brighter. We kept the woodwork white, but softened a bit. The
big difference is the wall color - a rich, warm, lush terra cotta, with
plenty of complementary colors. The result, as you can see,
sparkles, and the light that does come in seems brighter by contrast.
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This is a basement space
midway through construction. The clients wanted a family room, bar
and home theater in what was a typical, and messy basement. We
relocated all the pipes to the perimeters, and sandblasted the beams and
posts.
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This is the same view
afterwards. The concept was to create a vaguely-Arthurian feeling,
without drifting over either into kitsch or a too-serious and
self-conscious result. The floor, in 6 distinct medieval patterns
drawn from illuminated manuscript pages,
is cork tile. The leaded glass windows near the bar are from an old
church, and are backlit.
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This is the living room of a
beautiful house on a bluff overlooking the Fox River in Wisconsin.
It was built in the Usonian style by a follower of Frank Lloyd Wright, and
consequently has a great deal of architectural integrity and
interest. The existing furniture did not support the style of the
house.
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Using the impending wedding of
their daughter as a catalyst, the clients commissioned all new furniture
from us. The pieces were designed in a Usonian language, but based
on Prairie period pieces by Frank Lloyd Wright. The results are much
more in keeping with the architecture of the house. The upholstery
colors are clear, high-value jewel tones, much like Wright himself used in
this period. |
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The flash on my camera was not
working the day I shot this, so this is a horrible photograph, but it does
show the wonderful fireplace done in roman brick and the high limestone
hearth. The clients did not utilize this area much, primarily
because the seating was so inadequate for comfortable relaxation.
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This is the same view
afterwards, with the simplified Robie house sofa and chair in the
foreground, and modified Kauffman lounge chairs in the background.
Flat cushions were made for the hearth, which provide additional seating
for parties, as does the upholstered hassock. To the left is a
partial view of the dining table and chairs we designed for the
house. The two main seating areas of the living room now provide
flexibility depending on mood, season or time of day. |
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This is the
senior pastor's office of the 1st Congregational Church of Western
Springs, a late Prairie-style complex by George Grant Elmslie. As
part of a systems-updating campaign, the congregation decided to restore
the sanctuary and the education building to their original condition.
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This is the office after completion. In
order to accommodate sprinklers and new HV/AC ducts, the ceilings in this
building had to be dropped, but it afforded us a chance to do some better
lighting, and improve the proportions of these spaces. The walls
were painted with sand-additive paint, giving them the appearance of the
old sand-coat plaster. An Elmslie-designed stencil, used as well in
the sanctuary, was painted just below the picture rail. The room has
a much quieter, calmer feel to it now, appropriate to its use as a place
of counseling, prayer and guidance. |
| To
see more photos of any of these projects, and more of our work, please click
here. |
There
is a nice article on our work in the current issue of Arts & Crafts
Homes and the Revival. Click
here to see scans of it. NEW "QUICK
FIX" SERVICE: Do you just need some window treatments, or help with
colors or furniture arrangement? Does your interior lack a little
focus? Ask us about our "Quick Fix" service if you aren't
contemplating a major project, but just need a little extra help to get
things finished. Also,
we are now offering Home Staging Services for
realtors, developers and home owners. A staged home sells on average
35% faster and for 25% more than a non-staged one. Please feel free
to contact us if you feel we can
help sell your home or condo. |
Please feel free to
call if you'd like to discuss your own project. We have a full team of
contractors, subcontractors and workrooms, and can handle any size restoration,
renovation or new construction. Click
here to contact us.
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