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

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

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

Bath After

Eugenie Master Bath Before-east

Eugenie Master Bath After-east

Eugenie Master Bath After-north

Getting Punchy

Sometimes, punching through a wall changes the entire space. This condo proves that. We are at a point where we are knocking out the punch list and I though, as the kitchen is done, it might be fun to show off. This kitchen is chock full of Bosch appliances and we went with the Hanover maple cabinet doors with espresso finish from Wellborn Cabinet. The satin nickel Lewis Dolin pulls we got online from ww.myknobs.com and the faucet is the new just out Purist Kitchen Faucet from Kohler.

before: view from living room

before: straight view into kitchen

after:view from living room

after: view from in kitchen

Lewis Dolin pulls

Purist Kitchen Faucet by Kohler

Giving Back

Wednesday, I spent the afternoon in Evanston at “Boys Hope Girls Hope,” a privately funded, non-profit, multi-denominational organization that provides at-risk children with a stable home, high quality education, and the support they need to reach their full potential. Many of their children come from home environments marked by abuse, poverty or neglect. Others come from caring families unable to meet the child’s needs because of poverty, violence or dangerous neighborhoods.

Together with Brandy Rinehart, from Beverly Hammel Kitchen and Bath, I am working with Designs 4 Dignity, an organization committed to the transformation of non-profit spaces via pro-bono design services, to rework one of the homes. Mostly a decorative project, we will be transforming their first floor living and dining spaces and their office and study areas in the basement. Here are some before images.

Stay tuned…

Justifying Chocolate and Vanilla

Last week, while scouting for another photo shoot of a converted 2 flat I did a couple of years ago, and meandering around the half complete decoration job, they would say the same, I couldn’t help but be hit with the realization about space, which is that everyone sees it differently. Sounds obvious enough, but when you are in a space that you designed and see how people have interpreted it so differently from how you envisioned it, it hits you in a real way. Imagine if someone replaced all your furniture and rearranged everything so that the space was unrecognizable.

I love that the space is a tabula rosa and offers different options for decorating and function, just wished they had had me do it.

Here are some before and afters of the foyer/entry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Showing Off

A couple of weeks ago, I posted about a 2 flat building that I renovated, converting it into a single family, and showed just 2 images of the dining room, a before and an after. Last week, I went back to take better images for the new website, due to launch around Thanksgiving. Thought I might show off these, with befores, as they show off what I do a bit better that the previously published snaps.

Carmen Living Room

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Carmen Living Room Bay

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Carmen Living Room After

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Carmen Dining Room

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Carmen Dining Room Bay

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Carmen Dining Room

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Carmen Dining Room into Living and Foyer

More Before, and Afters

Like everyone, I love a bigger design project. I feel I offer my best value when I am involved with a project from the beginning and can see the project all the way through. This offers the client the best opportunity for maximizing the effect of the space and offers the most conceptual and aesthetic coherence.

Here is a taste of a home I renovated near Ashland and Foster. This project involved converting a 2-flat into a single family. I not only did all of the design and layout but also acted as GC.

We are going to be reshooting this home for the new Paul Schulman Design website but, since people have been asking for more images here on the blog, here’s another taste.

p.s. Love this chandelier — very reasonable, found it at Z Gallerie.  It’s called the Calais Chandelier.