The only ordinary object in Nancy Barocci`s life is the physical structure of her Lincoln Park home. But as this accomplished cook, who owns a growing complement of restaurants and specialty markets, admits, ”I was looking for a backdrop, which was this plain white box.”
Barocci is the proprietor of a new bistro in Wilmette named Betise and two Convito Italiano emporiums. She is adding a fourth piece to her string of enterprises with another Convito store. Besides being an innovative cook, she is an inveterate collector who contends that in her last home ”nobody noticed my stuff because the house itself was so stunning.”
Considering the quality and quantity of her collections, which encompass everything from antiques to artworks, this austere contemporary shell serves her well. It was transformed into a warm and inviting milieu-and repository for her possessions-by architect Suzanne Rossiter of Lovell Rossiter & Associates.
”For Barocci this was the meshing of two complete households-a big old Prairie house in the suburbs and an urban pied-a-terre-so it was important to make all her pieces work together,” explains Rossiter, who characterizes Barocci`s collections as ”eclectic, so we needed to find a common denominator for the interiors.
”It was challenging to have a standard-issue structure to start with,”
maintains the architect, ”because decorating is a partnership between a person and their place. But Nancy`s collections speak for themselves, so we strove to unify them against a neutral backdrop.”
Rossiter accomplished this by interspersing antiques with contemporary pieces and using textiles to unify everything. ”I also kept the rest of the surroundings simple so they wouldn`t overwhelm anything,” she explains. Thanks to this approach, some of Barocci`s appointments are employed in rather novel and surprising ways.
One very tall wall in the two-story atrium, which is opposite the entrance to the house, is filled with an antique cabinet topped by two large- scale contemporary works by Chicago artists. ”This establishes a mix between old and new immediately,” Rossiter explains, ”and downplays the stark expanse of this area.”
Also in this vein, an antique Dutch baker`s rack that holds pottery is a focal point in the living room rather than the dining area, and elegantly simple, custom-built shelves flank the piece to hold the rest of this collection. A formal fireplace, complete with mantel and an oil painting over it, occupies the opposite wall, and a mixture of antiques and contemporary pieces are placed in between these boundaries. But everything harmonizes, thanks to the deep reds of all the textiles in the room and the soft white walls.
Rossiter believes that ”balance is the ultimate objective in interior design, because everyone starts out with things they want to work with.”
Despite a substantial array of objects to accommodate, Rossiter has managed to let Barocci`s beautiful belongings speak for themselves.
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Foyer: Bergamo fabric on antique English side chairs–Holly Hunt;
contemporary paintings by Chicago artists Richard Hull (bottom) and the late Seymour Rosofsky (top).
Living room: Custom made shelving and chests below-Glenview Custom Cabinet; Robert Venturi sofa-Knoll Showroom; sofa upholstery-Lee fabric from Chestnut Field, available from Lee Joffa, Merchandise Mart; Corbu chair-Atelier International; tapestry fabric on pillows-Kirk Brummel; antique English gunbox converted into a table by Caledonian, Winnetka; mantel designed by Lovell Rossiter & Associates and made by Glenview Custom Cabinet and KLT Marble; Meshad Persian carpet-Minasian & Son Oriental Rug Co., Evanston.
Dining area: Bruge tapestry on antique English bench-Kirk Brummel;
pillows-same fabric and source.
