It’s no wonder Amy Lefton loves faces. That’s what she deals with all day long as a fashion print agent for a modeling agency. Black-and-white photos of leggy models litter her desk. These photos sit there, silently pleading with her to pluck them from obscurity and cast them into stardom. Lefton can’t seem to forget about those faces when she goes home to her 2,800-square-foot Lincoln Park residence. She wanted to use her favorite images to decorate her abode, but she didn’t quite trust her own instincts.
“I like contemporary, but I tend to be whimsical,” she says. “I need to have some sophistication, just to tone it down, so you’re not turning your head every minute, saying, `Wow, wow.’ “
So she hired Chicago designer Lauren Seaman Enslin to do the job. The designer immediately envisioned Lefton’s pad as a party place when she learned that Lefton adores restaurants and entertaining at home.
The results are spectacular. A visitor can’t resist the temptation to say, `Wow.’ Lefton’s penchant for faces impresses in dramatic fashion in her living room. A huge black-and-white photo–8 by 10 feet–of a model dancing at a party surrounded by a male entourage covers one entire wall. This picture, selected from the book “Ten Years of Dolce & Gabbana,” appealed to Lefton because it had energy and movement. At first glance, the photo looks offensive. “It looks like people would think the men are gawking at her, but if you really study it, they’re not,” she says.
No matter what a viewer’s take is on the unusual photo, it provides a perfect backdrop for the Young Chang piano (no, Lefton doesn’t play) and draws the eye up to the dining room/balcony that overlooks the living room. On the balcony a few tables and banquettes are set up restaurant-style, which is exactly what Lefton wanted. The railings along the balcony were inspired by the fanciful ones she saw at Vivo restaurant.
Lefton put her own at-home restaurant to use to celebrate her 30th birthday last year. She even hired a pianist to play her favorite songs. But the pianist never showed up–thus missing out on a good time, no doubt.
The balcony leads to the kitchen/family room. The front of this room is considerably less dramatic than the living room and balcony–a soothing sea of neutrals, browns, beiges and grays.
“We painted the walls a putty color to offset the white in the kitchen,” says Enslin. Small, Kuba-cloth pillows parked on a sofa provide the color spark here. But a series of metal poles and glass vases on the back wall provides the drama and high style that Lefton seemingly craves. Her muse for this design? Another restaurant, this one in St. Louis. She pops vivid blooms into those vessels on special occasions.
Upstairs in the master bedroom, more pictures of famous faces can be seen, this time from Herb Ritts’ book, “Notorious.” Five black-and-white photos taken by the celebrity photographer are lined up behind a black canopy bed. Here again, neutral colors rule, with the plush bed linens in khaki, the walls a murky green.
Those neutral colors are carried over into the guest room, which Lefton calls her “mishmash” room because she decorated it quickly in time for her birthday. There are no black-and-white photos here. A reproduction clockface hangs over the bed. But the room, as well as a downstairs powder room, is still a work in progress.
“You never feel like you’re finished,” Lefton says.
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Resources:
Dining room: Faux painted walls, bronze powder painting available through Lauren Seaman Enslin Design; chairs–Georgetti/Morrison Collection; upholstery fabric. vintage velvet–Pollack Associates, Donghia, Merchandise Mart; tables–Michael Heltzer, Mart; pillows–Elements and Anthropologie; banquette–designed by Lauren Seaman Enslin Design, fabric–Donghia, Mart; candelabra–Decorators Walk, Mart.
Living room: Young Chang piano–American Music World, Forest Park; photos–“Ten Years of Dolce & Gabbana”; chairs–20th Century Revue, textiles by Nancy Corzine, available through Thomas Job, Merchandise Mart; metal table and accessories–Elements; piano lamp–by Dez Ryan, available at Motif; round ottoman–20th Century Revue, velvet silk fabric by Archives, through Pranich & Associates, Mart; metal railings designed by Anton Kobrinetz.
Guest bedroom: headboard–Marshall Field’s; antique wash table–Anthropologie; painted end table–Pine & Design; end-table lamp–Frivolity; linen and pillows–Bedside Manor; large clock reproduction–Ballard Design catalog; round ottoman–Nu-D-Zine (since closed).
Family room: Metal photo poles with vases–ALU, New York.
