In the hands of other design professionals or homeowners, a 1930s white clapboard Colonial-style home might have been furnished very traditionally: Oriental rugs here, antiques or quality reproductions there, chintz, billowy curtains and subdued colors all around.
But the designers and homeowners who rejuvenated a vintage two-story house in a North Shore suburb sought a more romantic, softer approach, which they defined as charming, adventurous, flirtatious, even quirky.
“We’re not traditional or modern; we’re a mix, and this house had to reflect our personalities and be a bit different,” says the wife. Each of the other players involved also had definite ideas about how to achieve the romantic, spirited look the home-owners desired.
The husband, a busy executive, wanted a palette of earth tones and didn’t want an ornate design that would discourage sitting or touching, as he and his wife have three young children.
“He didn’t just say, ‘Do whatever you want,’ as some husbands we know do,” says his wife, a former social worker now engaged in her kids’ activities, volunteer work and a jewelry/clothing business. Her wish list included unorthodox accessories-her beaded bags, which she displays on walls-and diverse furnishings. “Modern, antiques, crafts and nothing matchey-matchey,” she emphasizes.
The design professionals also weighed in. Architect Maurice Blanks, who now lives in Minneapolis and owns a contemporary furniture company, Blu Dot Design & Manufacturing Inc., wanted to overlay a contemporary aesthetic onto the traditional house while leaving its bones intact for the romantic, fresh look.
“They bought the house for a reason, so I wanted to keep the original feeling and not overtake it with something different,” he says. He left moldings and arches and added the square footage they wanted in the kitchen area and raised some ceiling heights.
Decorator Mitchell Putlack, who formerly worked at Arlene Semel & Associates and now runs his own Chicago firm, Mitchell Putlack Interiors Inc., introduced antiques and reproduction pieces from different periods but upholstered them in modern fabrics. He used few window treatments because of the outdoor views and kept the palette mostly to beiges and greens, except for a yellow dining room. “It’s mostly a nighttime room, and I felt that color would give it warmth in the evening,” says Putlack. He also suggested white trim throughout to unify the colors.
The result of this collaboration combines the contemporary and the traditional rather than blending them into a third, diluted style, and adds surprising touches. The novel approach shows up most clearly in the kitchen, the magnet for family and friends. “No matter what, everyone ends up here,” says the wife, a serious cook.
Blanks’ choice of materials and detailing reflects those from vintage houses. But after selecting white painted cabinets, for example, he updated the look by fitting some of them with green glass fronts and using black granite and stainless countertops, a stainless wall and a gray slate floor. The breakfast area features a wood tabletop on an old iron base, surrounded by modern maple chairs, some in zany colors like orange, lime-green and magenta-pink. A wall of windows and a glass door let cooks and diners enjoy the yard, landscaped by Rocco Fiore of Rocco Fiore & Sons of Highland Park.
The kitchen also serves as a path to other spaces, including a family room whose wood-paneled ceiling was painted white to freshen the room and an indoor half-sized basketball court where the children celebrate birthdays, rollerblade and swing from ropes.
The other side of the house contains the more formal rooms, yet is neither stiff nor unromantic-contemporary and traditional furnishings live side by side. In the living room, a sofa remade from a vintage classic sits near a new Michael Heltzer stainless-steel game table, surrounded by English reproduction chairs.
Upstairs, romance turns glamorous in the renovated master bathroom. Walls are covered in half-inch-square Italian white-glass tiles and the walls of the shower and toilet room were done in sandblasted green glass.
But the most romantic touch in the house may be the couple’s growing collection of contemporary art and photographs. They purchase a piece yearly for their anniversary, which coincides with the Art Chicago exhibition. “It’s given us an opportunity to be on the same wavelength and acknowledge the date,” the husband says. He jokingly adds, “It’s taken pressure off me to find something for my wife-and I’m sure it’s the same for her.”
———-
RESOURCES
GOOD BONES: Pg. 34-35 and 39: Foyer: Mirror-Armand Lee & Co., Ltd., Chicago; area rug-Fortunate Discoveries, Chicago; stair carpet runner-Larsen Carpets, Patterson, Flynn & Martin, Merchandise Mart, Chicago; glass tile shade window treatment-The Fine Line, Chicago; Dos Gallos console table-Spanish Colonial furniture & antique ceramics, Los Angeles; chair-Arlene Semel & Associates Inc., Chicago.
Pg. 36: Breakfast room: Chairs-Design Within Reach, Chicago; table base-I.C.F., Merchandise Mart, Chicago; table top-Bob Robinson, Chicago (no longer doing custom work).
Pg. 36-37: Family room: Custom sofa, fabricated by Shoppe de Lee-Elk Grove Village; sofa table- Arlene Semel & Associates, Chicago; coffee table, Murray’s Iron Works-Mart, Chicago; lockers-Anthropologie, Highland Park.
Pg. 38: Living room: Custom sofa copy of an antique, fabricated by Shoppe de Lee, Elk Grove Village; throw pillows-Lynda O’Connor of Textures, Chicago; coffee table and lounge chairs-Thomas Job, Mart (closed); occasional chair-Mike Bell Antiques and Reproductions, Mart; area rug-Odegard Inc., Mart; console table-John Dougherty Antiques Inc., San Francisco.
Pg. 38: Dining room: Table-Holly Hunt Ltd., Troscan Design & Furniture, Mart, Chicago; chairs-Melvin Wolf & Assoc. Inc., Woodland Furniture, Mart, Chicago; chandelier-Donzella, New York, N.Y.; sconces-Pavilion Antiques, Chicago.
Pg. 39: Foyer detail (see pg. 34-35).
Pg. 40: Kitchen: Light fixtures-Holly Hunt, Ltd., Mart, Chicago; Wicker Works stools-Callard & Associates Inc., Mart, Chicago.
