Small Bathroom, Small Budget, BIG UPGRADE

Started work on a single family in West Roscoe Village. Been tee-ing everything up for a a couple months, and finally started the doing.

These are before and after images of a small bathroom in the middle of the third floor which is shared by 2 sweet little girls. The transformation was very simple, but had a great impact. Quick and painless: paint the walls and trim, new vanity(sink and faucet), new shelves above the toilet, new mirror(s) and some wall mounted boxes for additional storage. Aside from the paint, everything came from Target and Ikea.

Below, also, are the ingredients we used.

3rd Floor Microbath Before

3rd Floor Microbath Afte

Lillangen sink and vanity from Ikea

Ensen sink faucet from Ikea

Circle Mirror set from Target

Cubby set of 3 boxes from Target

Ekby Oxie wall side unit from Ikea

Ekby Osten shelf from Ikea

Sometimes More is Better

This is taken from Karin Stack’s website. “Hair Stories chronicles hair growth after chemo through sequential photos and stories about hair.”

Grid by Karin Stock

More Your House Than Show House

If I waited any longer to get this next post up, I think my blogger license might be revoked.

Lately, by the grace of G*d, I’ve been getting a number of emails by way of the internet. Google searches that land people at my website and ultimately to me, just like the ads say. One such email has turned into an actual project. It’s not a large one, but I thought it might be interesting to offer a taste of how these things get going.

The clients have a fireplace, floating in the center of a wall, that they want to turn into something more attractive and functional —  the wall that is, not the fireplace. They wanted to have the TV exposed and AV equipment below. Also, they wanted floating shelves to display pictures and store books, you know the deal.

Part of my concept was to create a pair of built-ins that had enough unity to make the wall feel like the brick fireplace wall dropped in the middle of the built-in.

Another reason I wanted to show this project off is that this is certainly not the design-house of your standard home decor magazine. It’s a normal suburban house, with toys and kids and work papers and a toy horse and instruments and cookies, well, when I was there there were cookies. They aren’t looking for a show-house, they are looking to solve a problem and elevate one space.

Here is a photo of the existing condition, and 2 drawings of what I am proposing.

Fireplace Wall Before

Fireplace Wall Drawing

Fireplace Wall Drawing-3D

How to Know

Four years ago, I shot 3 videos. My thinking was that they might be an interesting marketing tool, and having just done some work at Harpo, I thought it’d be fun to use as a pitch to them. Since then, collectively, they’ve been viewed more than 58,000 times. Crazy right?

Anyway, as I am getting ever so close to relaunching the new site, I thought it might be fun to show off one of these little videos.

 

Following the Butterflies

Finally, with the weather turning, we were able to spend a little more time installing the butterflies on the atrium wall in Lincoln Park.  Not done yet, but I think one more warm sunny day and we may be able to check this off the list.

Black and White and Charcoal All Over

I have no idea why I was struck with nostalgia and inspired to look up Robert Longo, but I’m glad I did. When I was getting my MFA, he was my idol. I loved the way he, much like Caravaggio before him, thought of the viewer as a participant in the art. His large drawings of people falling make you feel like you need to get out of the way and some of his later work involved both 2 dimensional and 3 dimensional elements, suggesting that the viewer occupies space in the art.

His simple black and white drawings use scale as a brilliant tool in affecting the viewer.

Robert Longo "Untitled" 1981

Robert Longo "Men in Cities" 1981

Robert Longo "Untitled" Shark 4 2008

Robert Longo "Nights Bright Days" 2008

Robert Longo "Untitled" Gloria 2009

Robert Longo Studio View 2010

Smile for the Camera

So… the Lincoln Park condo that I started to renovate in June, finally got some staging furniture, and last week we photographed it. The furniture came by way of  FCA in Naperville and the pieces were selected by their head interior designer Anne Kaye-Jewett.

Here is the collection of before and afters. I think the upgrade is noticeable, right?

Great Room Before

Kitchen Before

Great Room/Kitchen After

Stairwell, from 1st floor, Before

Stairwell, from 2nd floor, Before

Stairwell, from 1st floor, After

Stairwell, from 2nd floor, After

Powder Room Before

Powder Room After

Master Bedroom Before

Master Bedroom Before

Master Bedroom After

Master Bath Room Before

Master Bathroom After

Guest Bath Before

Guest Bath After

Go West-Part 2, the After Chapter

Westover Basement Before

Westover Basement After

Westover Foyer Before

Westover Foyer Before

Westover Foyer After

Westover Dining Room Before

Westover Dining Room Before

Westover Dining Room After

Westover Living Room Before

Westover Living Room Before

Westover Living Room After

Westover Master Bed Room Before

Westover Master Bed Room After

Scaling the Stairs- Simply Brilliant

Go West, Part 1

Although most of the work I do is in Chicago, I am always happy to work on projects elsewhere.

One that I recently finished was in Portland, Oregon. This couple bought a house that was being foreclosed on 65% through it’s renovation. The home needed to both be finished and fixed – much of the previous renovation needed to be redone. This is a situation that I see often – a rushed renovation marred by poor design, poor craftsmanship  or both.

Here are some of the befores, stay tuned….

Westover Basement-before

Westover Foyer-before

Westover Foyer-before

Westover Dining-before

Westover Dining-before

Westover Living-before

Westover Living-before

Westover Master Bedroom-before