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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 feeling is a little chilly, an impression
not at all 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. |
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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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