For Jim Fitzmaurice and Doug GeBraad, 1996 was a big year. After more than a decade of splitting their time between Chicago and Bridgman, Mich., they teamed up to open Lovell & Whyte, a home furnishings store and design studio, in Lakeside, Mich. Within a year, they realized that two houses and a business was one large commitment too many.
In Michigan, where GeBraad had a successful rehabbing firm, they had a charming lakefront home on an acre of land and were in the process of renovating it. In Chicago, they had an already renovated three-story
Victorian rowhouse in Lincoln Park. “There was just too much to take care of,” says Fitzmaurice, former editor-in-chief at Scott Foresman. So they decided to sell their rowhouse and began a search for a city pied-a-terre.
“We found this on our first day out and bought it on the spot,” says GeBraad of the one-bedroom co-op they snapped up in a 1924 Gold Coast high-rise designed by architect Robert S. De Golyer. A most pressing need made it easy for them to overlook its decrepit kitchen and hackneyed decor. “The dog made us do it,” Fitzmaurice quips. Many buildings don’t accept dogs that weigh over 35 pounds; the couple’s springer spaniel tipped the scales at 42.
So, they bought first and decided to address the little things second. Such as the original 72-year-old kitchen, a sea of grungy wall-to-wall shag carpeting, a missing wall that originally defined the living and dining rooms, a hidden fireplace, a hallway closet too narrow to handle any hangers and a gerrymandered foyer that led directly into the bedroom instead of the living area.
“The place had nicely proportioned rooms, high ceilings and big windows. The rest we knew we could fix,” says GeBraad.
Up came the gold shag, revealing an equally grungy linoleum floor. So that too was removed, and oak floors came to light that were in decent shape. A wall to demarcate the formal living and dining rooms was restored, the fireplace was found behind a mirrored wall and given a grand new demeanor with an antique French mantel, the narrow hallway closet was ripped out and reworked into a recessed banquette, the foyer was realigned to lead into the living room, the bedroom got a new entryway and the kitchen got a gut job.
These structural changes gave the couple the foundation they needed to make the apartment livable on their terms. “Our goals were simple. We’re both avid readers and have a substantial collection of modern first editions, so we needed a place to put them . . . and a place to sit and read. But we still had to be able to have a formal, sit-down dinner party because we love to entertain,” explains Fitzmaurice. Yet a home office of sorts was also a requisite: “We end up working here sometimes because we have so many projects in Chicago,” says GeBraad.
That left a lot of functions to fit into about 800 square feet.
Turning the dining room into a double-duty space fulfilled many of their needs. A steel shelving system designed and fabricated by GeBraad, and installed over most of the wall space set the tone for the room. Its cantilevered form, which made it seem to float off the walls, turns the books into a decorative element and keeps their sheer bulk from feeling weighty in the space.
To promote an airy feeling in the room, the couple kept furnishings to a minimum. All it holds is a rectangular glass table on a leggy wrought-iron base, paired with two cushy wingback chairs. The table is large enough to use for going over architectural plans and stately enough to double as a formal dining table, while the wingbacks become head chairs and are supplemented by four Biedermeier dining chairs (two are in the living room; two are stored in a closet) for dinner parties.
While the dining room/library is sparsely furnished, the 15 -by-20-foot living room is well-stocked with four types of seating. The pieces are close, but not quite cramped, in the space thanks to the couple’s deftly executed game plan. “We varied scale and style, so all the pieces are different yet compatible, and stuck to matched sets covered in earth tones so we wouldn’t have too much going on in the room,” explains Fitzmaurice.
Cabriole love seats surround the fireplace; sleek contemporary loungers border the mantel’s opposite wall; traditional easy chairs edge the windows and create an intimate spot the couple uses for reading; and Beidermeier dining chairs stationed at either side of the room’s entry are permanently on call to be used as extra seating anywhere in the place.
Renovating the kitchen was a relatively routine and straightforward job for GeBraad, who had done dozens by then. Yet outfitting the tiny space to accommodate all their needs was still challenging. He borrowed a few square feet from the dining room’s storage closet to recess a full-sized refrigerator and save floor space, turned a few spare feet of space near the door into a commodious floor-to-ceiling pantry and used a sliver of wall space to anchor a one-legged demilune dining bar outfitted with two stools.
Only the bedroom didn’t require any tricky moves, and is outfitted for only one function: sleeping. But side tables hold candlestick lamps and books.
Since they first did the place nine years ago, “nothing’s changed,” reports GeBraad, proof that good design can really be timeless. Plus, “we’ve been very busy since that time changing other people’s home,” notes Fitzmaurice. Their only concession to this photo shoot: “We dusted,” says GeBraad.
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Resources
Small space, big needs
Design: Lovell & Whyte, Lakeside, Mich.
Pg. 30-31: Living room: Love seats–Marshall Field’s (now Macy’s); Christian Liaigre armless chairs–Holly Hunt Chicago, Merchandise Mart; armchairs–Lovell & Whyte, Lakeside, Mich.; coffee table–McGuire, Merchandise Mart; Navaho rug–collection of owners; demilune table–Crimson Gate, Miami.
Pg. 32: Kitchen: Cabinets and dining counter–designed and fabricated by Lovell & Whyte; cement counters–Concrete Age Artworks, Chicago; photographs by JoAnne Verburg–collection of owners.
Pg. 33: Demilune tableau: Demilune table–Crimson Gate, Miami; Victorian stool–collection of owners; drawing by Keith Vaughn and poster–collection of owners.
Pg. 34: Dining room: Shelving and dining table–designed and fabricated by Lovell & Whyte; wingback chairs–Holly Hunt Chicago, covered in raffia–Summer Hill, both at Merchandise Mart; lamp–McGuire, Mart; drawings by Michael Hoskins–Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago.
