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Project Description:

Located in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago, this 3 bedroom, 2 bath townhome built in the 90’s was begging for some updates.  The kitchen had great appliances and was fairly new but, the euro-modern, glossy cabinets and stainless steel hood didn’t fit the design aesthetic of the customer or the home. The space was ill-used, with a strange open area.  It was time for a change.

Inspiration:

A feminine aesthetic showcasing material richness and tonal subtlety. Directly adjoining the entryway, the kitchen was long and narrow with minimal natural light. It was a gloomy first impression. We knew that we wanted to brighten the space and draw the eye up towards the tall ceilings, showcasing the height and welcoming guests to the home.

What We Did:

We created a kitchen design that took advantage of every square inch within the existing kitchen footprint, even the angled area over the stairs.  Not only did we focus on selecting beautiful cabinetry, finishes, and lighting, we put the time in to create an elegant functional solution that offered various storage options, multiple food preparation areas, and an integrated desk.

Highlights:

• Tall antique-white painted cabinets with inset doors open up the space and help reflect the natural sunlight from the windows on the opposite wall.
• The upper cabinets with glass panes and halogen lighting minimize the dark space that commonly falls between the cabinetry and the falloff from the recessed can lighting.
• Deep, dark limestone countertop provide a contrast to the light cabinetry.
• A writing desk nestled into the corner of the kitchen not only takes advantage of the previously underutilized corner, but it also offers a place for the daily delivery of mail and other paperwork.
• Linen pendants soften the natural break between the edge of the kitchen and the stairwell to the garage,  situated below.
• A large, dramatic giclee canvas fills the space with a splash of contrast and coordinates with the dark limestone countertops.

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A bland, uninspiring bathroom in the Ukrainian Village/Noble Square neighborhood of Chicago transforms into a relaxing, zen-like, contemporary refuge.

• The bathtub and shower closed up the room, originally. So, we tore those out and replaced them with a generous couple’s shower and adjoining linen/toiletries cabinet.
• Dimmer switches are a must for bathrooms. No one likes stumbling into a dark bathroom then subjecting yourself to a blinding light; yet, sometimes you need very bright light for shaving or makeup application.
• Matching shower heads and hand showers from the Grohe Allure collection frame a shared rain-shower while providing the functionality that we were looking for in our plumbing fixtures.
• The floating soffit brought some intimacy to the space by lowering the ceiling over the shower while providing a space to hide the necessary plumbing for the rain shower. It also gave us an opportunity to create architectural lighting that softly illuminated the ceiling from below, giving the illusion of greater height.
• For lighting within the shower, we installed recessed cans rated for wet locations.
• To the side of the shower enclosure is a generously deep cabinet. The expert craftsmanship of a local cabinet maker provided us with clever ‘hidden drawers’, allowing us to keep the metal inlays uniform in height across all cabinets and the entry door, without sacrificing utility.
• The Silestone countertop in White Zeus, gave us the crisp white and ease of cleaning we needed. The unique interplay between the countertop and the shower required especially vigilant trades sequencing from Design Inside to successfully construct.
• Repeating the bold treatment of the countertop material at the linen and toiletries cabinet, we dropped a Silestone leg down to the floor. This gives the vanity a floating quality without an unpleasant view the toilet base. It also invites the viewer to appreciate the material interplay between the darker porcelain floor, the glossy white countertop, the black ledge, and the warm woody tone of the sapele bumpout.
• The vanity mirror was designed to float away from the wooden bumpout, creating a unique layered effect for the bathroom space.
• Conveniently hidden behind the mirror and sapele bump out are two outlets.
• Heated floors provide a warm touch for those cold Chicago mornings.
• The sliding barn door with aluminum inlays provides clean entrance to the space while tying in features from the rest of the space.

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Video Walkthrough

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjL7TP11zGI

This couple lived in a beautiful duplex condo on the East end of Wicker Park in Chicago.  When they called Design Inside, they wanted to freshen up the design of their builder basic powder room without blowing their budget.  Powder rooms are great space where a lot of design impact can be made on a relatively small budget in comparison to other bathrooms.  Here are the highlights of what we did to improve the space:

• Replaced the ceramic pedestal sink with a new wood vanity that has a clean vintage European look with ample storage.
• Vintage glass pulls tie in with the existing glass knob to the powder room door.
• The 24” fire clay pedestal sink top offers a stylish alternative to the typical granite countertops with an under-mount sink.
• A double handle widespread lavatory faucet with metal cross handles adds a stylish touch to the room.
• A light monochrome wallpaper with a subtle elephant print is an added treat to guests who look closely at the pattern.

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Recently, the Chicago Redeye local newspaper interviewed Bill Cherne, the owner and one of the lead designers at Design Inside for an article about the stresses of moving.  Bill was interviewed along with 3 other professionals in the Chicago area and a local woman who has moved 15 times in the past 10 years.  Click here to read the full article at Chicago Redeye, or click here to download the PDF copy of the article.

One thing I love about traveling to other countries is that you get to see the subtle differences in things.  It always makes me think of this great part from Pulp Fiction where Vincent discusses the “subtle differences” in his trip to Europe.

Vincent: Yeah, baby, you’d dig it the most. But you know what the funniest thing about Europe is?

Jules: What?

Vincent: It’s the little differences. I mean, they got the same s**t over there that we got here, but it’s just…it’s just there it’s a little different.

One thing in particular that I love about Singapore, Australia and Europe is their great energy saving ideas that are built into daily life.  Here are a few that I think that we should adopt here in America:

Power Outlets With Power Switches

All of the outlets in Singapore have On/Off switches built right into them.  This makes it easy and convenient to switch off power to the item plugged into the outlet.  Sure, I probably wouldn’t use this too often for lamps in my house, but it’s great for energy draining devices like Laptops, Phone Chargers, TV’s and other electronics that draw “phantom power” from them.  Many of these electronic devices usually draw a small amount of power to stay in a “Standby” mode.  Standby mode can be helpful for some devices, but many times it is used by electronics manufacturers to help speed up the power-on cycle by a second or two.  Many studies show that Phantom Power can account for almost 10% of your energy usage.

Water Heater Shutoff

Another energy saving device I noticed while in Singapore is a water heater shutoff switch right in my hotel room.  Any time you need a bit of extra hot water, simply turn on the switch and it fill fire up the hot water boiler.  Honestly, I left off the switch most of the time in my hotel room and never ran out of hot water in my strange toilet/shower or at the faucet.  Even at a minimum, if every house in America had an accessible switch to shut off their hot water heater when they leave for vacation, this would help save energy.  Instant hot water heaters address this issue head on, however many households still have the style of water heater with the large boiler that keeps a few hundred gallons of water hot all of the time.  Installing a similar switch for the households with the boilers would help save energy.

Key Card Power Shut-off

The final gadget I saw was the ability to power off your entire room simply by removing your key card.  In a hotel, I see the demand for this because it automatically shuts off the power in your room when the guest leaves their hotel room and presumably takes their hotel card with them.  Though this gadget wouldn’t work in a residential situation with the use of key cards, it could be modified to work with the Bluetooth in your cell phone.  When you enter the room with your registered cell phone, the house can detect who you are and turn on/off lights, adjust the thermostat and even turn on the radio based on your preferred settings.  When you leave the house (assuming no other registered phones are detected), the house could switch into energy saving mode automatically.

Gallery of Energy Saving Devices

During our Fall 2011 trip to Singapore and Bangkok, our first stop was at our hotel in Singapore. Hotel 1929 is a great little boutique hotel at a great price, however one strange thing about the room is that they combined the walk-in shower and toilet to save on space.  Having yet to see an actual residence in Singapore it’s hard to tell if this is an exception to interior design or if this is the norm for smaller studio apartments.

I thought about the Pros and Cons to this design, however I am still undecided if this is a good idea, or a bad idea. What are tour thoughts?

Pros

Cons

The Shower/Toilet Gallery

This month Kathryn and Bill are taking some time off to travel to Singapore and Bangkok Thailand. After our 14 hour flight from Los Angeles we ha a few hour layover in Hong Kong and had some time to explore their beautiful modern airport.

What amazed me most about this airport is the way they utilized the different levels to create an intricate modern space. When we arrived from LAX, we arrived on the lower level. When walking towards the baggage claim, you could look up to see the departures level of the airport through an opening the ceiling. The top level of the airport included world class shopping and a food court with many Asian restaurants, McDonalds and Popeyes (yes, the fried chicken from the US Popeyes).

I think the biggest compliment I have for this airport is the fact that we landed in China and could easily find our way around the airport.  That says a lot about the design of a space on the other side of the world.  I really wish airport designers in the US (I’m talking to you O’hare) would take a look at this airport for some suggestions.

So, this leads me to the question of the day.  What is your favorite airport?

Images from Hong Kong International Airport

Some images courtesy of: http://www.hongkongairport.com

For a project we are currently working on in the Chicago South Loop neighborhood, the client asked for our assistance with decorating their daughters bedroom. Abigail, one of our talented designers, took on this task and designed a beautiful layout with decals and butterflies spread throughout the little girls bedroom. The result is a beautiful array of color, texture and movement that really turns this ordinary bedroom into a energizing room for our client’s daughter.

Video Walkthrough

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwP4zfqTQm4

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I usually like to keep things positive, however pointing out bad design can help people learn good design.  This past weekend while at a hotel in Michigan I noticed that the interior designer or contractor decided that it would be a great idea to use the same ceiling sconces that they used in the rest of the hotel room as the bathroom wall sconces.  Not only do they look comically over sized, but they simply look silly.

From this bad design idea, we can learn a important lesson: No matter how much money you would save, always use the appropriate fixture in the appropriate place.