If the term “loft” suggests a minimal, hard-edged space filled with streamlined contemporary furnishings, then Eugenie and Lael Johnson’s version should come as a surprise. It has all the trappings of an industrial environment, from exposed support beams to refurbished brick walls and plank floors, not to mention the usual high-tech touches, such as a gleaming stainless steel kitchen and show-stopping staircases.
But all the effects of a lifelong passion for collecting are also in evidence, giving new meaning and dimension to the notion of living in a loft. Soaring walls are warmed by eclectic works of art in myriad media. Sculptures adorn ledges, shelves and bits of the floor. Furnishings that range from rustic to refined and are often artworks in their own right outfit all the appropriate living areas. It makes for a sleek yet accessible space.
Having amassed this ever-evolving trove during their 38 years of marriage, the Johnsons always have used these possessions to create artfully cluttered homes. But their previous residences, a Victorian row house in Lincoln Park when they were first married, followed by two successive center-entrance brick homes with Colonial overtones farther north, were “basically very conventional,” says Eugenie.
Always the more adventurous half of the duo about their living environment, and the one who nurtured the collecting bug until Lael caught up, Eugenie longed for the spaciousness of a loft. She finally persuaded Lael to take the plunge three years ago, and they purchased a 3,400-square-foot, two-story space on Chicago’s West Side. Though the space was still raw, its new owners were able to alter the plans to expand and upgrade the kitchen with commercial equipment, refine and enhance the loft’s two stairways and rearrange the lower level, which harbored fairly traditional bedrooms and a storage area.
Ironically, when it came time to move in, Eugenie found that those “traditional homes were far easier to arrange because they were rife with nooks and crannies.”
The loft called for a tricky blend, because without walls, she says, everything became interdependent, and “even though this was a bigger space, its wide-open nature forced us to eliminate some things and devise new ways of displaying others.”
Achieving the equilibrium in evidence today was no small feat, Eugenie says, noting that the “biggest challenge was to maintain the industrial character of the space and still create an environment that was warm and comfortable.” It was a challenge the Johnsons met on their own, without any design help, because, Eugenie says, the thought of consulting a professional simply “never occurred to us.”
Given the Johnsons’ judgment and confidence, there was no reason it should have. For instance, even before they moved in, Eugenie had selected a color scheme that simply had “come to mind,” she says. And in the same vein, imbuing the entire space is evidence of the couple’s instinctually effective process, though a bit of trial and error was involved in actually installing all the art. With the luxury of hindsight, Eugenie chalks her success up to several factors.
Most helpful, she says, were straight-lined neutral furnishings that wouldn’t compete with the art, yet would complement and enhance the space. To that end, the public areas of the loft are filled with understated, comfortable pieces that are bulky enough to fill the expansive spaces and simple enough to become backdrops for the owners’ eclectic array of objects and art. Buttery-soft upholstered leather seating and a mammoth plank dining table surrounded by muscular chairs occupy opposite sides of the loft’s main floor. Elegant and attractive, thanks to their spare profiles and substantial girth, these pieces serve as staid counterpoints to the diversity of art and as solid anchors in the sea of square footage.
Color was another device Eugenie employed to emphasize the art and define certain spaces. The loft’s plaster walls were painted a burnished gold and washed with a sheer burgundy glaze so they would have depth and texture next to the walls that were brick, while the ducts were emphasized and gussied up with a dense coordinating coat of burgundy.
The deeper color was also used on one expanse of plaster to define the loft’s dining area.
And boldly hued carpets were employed as blocks of color to break up the vast honey-beige expanse of the wood floor and to define the boundaries of specific living spaces.
Finally, eliminating clutter was Eugenie’s tour de force, because, she says, “it took more restraint than I ever imagined.”
On the loft’s main floor, she accomplished her goal by grouping objects and artworks in small clutches around the room, while whole collections–such as a cache of paint-by-number oils and a hoard of shell-encrusted art–were installed en masse in their own rooms on the lower level.
Of course, nothing’s permanent, says Eugenie, especially because the Johnsons are still adding to their collections. Fortunately, Eugenie says, “we have a good-sized storage space so we can rotate everything–although it could be larger.”
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SPACE STUDY
Pp. 42-43: Top photo, left: Library ladder–Kane County Flea Market; folk, outsider and ethnic art–personal collection.
Bottom photo, left: Table–LaPuerta, Santa Fe, N.M.; chairs–custom-made by Sam Nichols, Chicago; credenza–Michael Heltzer at Pranich & Assoc., Merchandise Mart; all artworks–personal collection.
Living room: Gray leather sofa and chairs–Roche Bobois; metal garden chairs–Red Eye Antiques; ceramic coffee table by Michael Gross–Ann Nathan Gallery; wood cabinet–Ann Nathan Gallery; Norwegian immigrants cabinet–transformed into a sculpture by Sheri Fredericks, Phoenix, Ariz.; vintage metal medical table–Kane County Flea Market; all other artworks–personal collection.
Pg. 44: Living room detail: Cabinet by Floyd Gompf–Judith Racht Gallery; Pueblo dolls–Joshua Baer Gallery, Santa Fe, N.M.; Navaho sunscreen–private dealer Will Channing, Santa Fe, N.M.; old toy horse–Harvey Antiques, Evanston; all other artworks–personal collection.
Pg. 45: Master bedroom: Merry-go-round headboard–Architectural Artifacts; night stands–26th St. Flea Market, New York; bedside lamps–Artemide.
Pg. 46: Kitchen: Kitchen stools–personal collection. Detail of atrium balcony: Thonet chaise longue–Harvey Antiques; all other artworks–personal collection.
Pg. 58: Master bedroom: Old painted wooden chest–personal collection; green molded plastic chairs–Outsider’s Outside Art Fair at Judith Racht Gallery, Harbert, Mich.; side table–Zig Zag; all other artworks–personal collection.
Pg. 59: Guest room: Shell bed–Trader Jack’s Flea Market, Santa Fe, N.M.; all other pieces–personal collection.
