STARTING OUT
PREVIOUS RESIDENCE: A rental apartment they both shared in Lisle.
WHAT THE CURRENT HOME HAD TO HAVE: Location in a suburb close to the city and plenty of architectural detailing, such as wood molding.
———-
Although they knew it would be a stretch financially, Arpie and Geoff Petkus decided to buy a home a year after they married. The young couple, 25 and 26 respectively, settled on a 1,350-square-foot condominium in a 1916 building in Oak Park because of its graceful architecture, including arches, molding and hardwood floors. It was also close to downtown Chicago.
But the couple, who met when they studied graphic design in college, didn’t want the traditional rooms to look stuffy or “overly adultish,” says Arpie, who works for her family’s rug business. Husband Geoff, whose software firm develops Web pages, felt the same.
The couple took a three-pronged approach. They filled the rooms with furnishings and antiques they can take with them if they move to a larger home. Some they inherited from their great-grandparents and grandparents; some they found on their travels; some they found on weekends spent with Geoff’s parents at their Wisconsin cottage. His mom, Janie, an interior designer in Hinsdale, helped train their eyes.
Second, the couple decided to paint the rooms a mix of vintage white, which they felt was appropriate for the condo’s period, and more playful, youthful shades of sage green, cobalt blue and goldenrod. “There are flaws in our painting, some waves in the ceiling, but that’s part of the charm,” Arpie says.
Third, they decided not to let the decorating and minor remodeling take over their busy lives or wreck their budget. “We decided to do the work slowly, affordably,” Geoff says. The blue kitchen, inspired by the water and sky they remembered from their honeymoon in Greece, remains a work-in-progress. Geoff has replaced some cabinets with vintage ones, added some painted ones he found at Home Depot and installed a black granite countertop–“our big splurge,” says Arpie, who sewed blue and white striped curtains from dish towels, then hung them from clothespins. So far, they’ve kept kitchen costs to $4,000, half their budget.
“What I’m proud of is that they’ve bought sparingly rather than suites of furniture that they might tire of. They also did the legwork to find things they’d use for a long time,” says their mentor, Janie Petkus. “They both have good eyes and a sense of color. In fact, I don’t think I would have done anything differently.”
———-
RESOURCES:
HOME FIRST HOME
Pg. 24: Living room: Bench–personal collection.
Pg. 25: Camelback couch, the Great Ace; table–Dakota Jackson showroom, Merchandise Mart; rugs throughout–Mathew Klujian & Sons Carpets.
Pg. 26: Dining room: Table and chairs–Crate & Barrel.
Pg. 28: Hallway: Pedestal–the North Light gift shop, Waupaca, Wis.; chair and other accessories–personal collection.
