Interior Design for the Individual: Incorporating the Client's Lifestyle

After Photos:

Get a virtual tour of Joe's man-cave designed by Deb Reinhart Interior Design Group through our feature on Open House or read the full article in Modern Luxury Interiors.

After photo: custom mill work with red top cabinets

After photo: pool table area converted into lounge

Our client asked us to design a masculine man-cave to provide more comfort and function. For Joe, this meant highlighting his love of hunting. We took this former pool table room and added a seated bar, TV, and comfortable seating with indoor/outdoor fabric making it dog-friendly.

Before Photos:

Before photo: bar area

Before photo: pool table area

A bedroom was created in the adjoining room and a new lounge allowed for entertaining and relaxation. Our design team (with a skilled general contractor) added a custom bar for seating and in doing so, added more storage and function. We then eliminated the top cabinets for a more open feel.

Contemporary wood wallpaper

We love when clients present us with unique challenges. In this case, it's a young Chicago professional who wants a media room that reflects his love of hunting, nature and the outdoors while fitting with his modern urban home. No overt hunting lodges or folksy cabins here. The look is to be upscale, contemporary and comfortable with subtle winks towards that more rustic aesthetic.

Wood wall coverings are a perfect material for this challenge. Not panels!  This is not your 1970's basement wood panelling! Modern wood-look wall coverings and wallpapers are made of phthalate-free vinyl with the grain of real wood. They're amazingly realistic and versatile, ranging from sleek finishes that work beautifully to emphasize architecture to more rustic styles full of grooves and knots and color variation. The samples above are from Innovations USA Hudson line but we also love....

the Renaissance line from Concertex which comes in a variety of stains and grains...

 

and Maya Romanoff's Ajira collection which comes in grain patterns like the Ajira Chevron above.

Stay tuned as this project develops! It's such a fun concept, the final product is going to be amazing!

Accenting the ceiling with unique materials: Part 2

Let's peek into the kitchen of our luxury Chicago bachelor pad. And like last time, we're focusing on the ceiling. (Clearly, we love ceilings around here!)

We chose to replace the hood with an updraft (which can do the job just as well and, in this home of a bachelor with little interest in cooking, the 'gourmet kitchen' didn't fit with his lifestyle) surrounded by a soffit and inset lighting that shows off this beautiful antique carved panel.

Just like a chandelier over a dining table, this panel grounds the space...plus the slight drop of the soffit and the warm detail of the panel creates a more intimate feeling space, a special nook rather than just kitchen overflow.

 It's architectural detail, visual art and functionality all in one! Ceilings can be wonderful things!

Accenting the ceiling with unique materials

Poor old ceilings. They're so often neglected in the design of a room.  There's no quicker way to take a space from "Oh, that's pretty" to "Wow!" than to add detail to the ceiling. After all, it is the 5th wall of any room!

Let's take a trip back in time and look at some pics of this Chicago condo (whose powder room was featured on the blog last week) before we got our hands on it.

It's a great space... a big fireplace focal point, tall windows looking out onto the Chicago River, and thirteen foot ceilings.

Everyone loves high ceilings. It's open and airy and grand, no doubt there. But there are challenges when dealing with all that height. The large volume of empty space created by high ceilings can dwarf furnishings and just feel cavernous. Add to that the special challenges of this room...the small footprint which made that  height feel out of balance, and the raised dining room and kitchen to the left, whose view of the river ran right through the vast emptiness above the living room, and we knew we needed to address the ceiling.

We began by building out a rectangular soffit, mirroring the shape of the room and defining the living area from the rest of the open plan first floor.

Already, it's looking better.

Since the goal was a warm, textured room full of art and artifacts and beautiful details, additional detail was needed to bring the ceiling up to snuff. Four beautiful wood panels were installed in the soffit with recessed lighting glowing softly behind and can lights around the perimeter for flexibility.

Now the rich wood draws the eye up and pulls the "5th wall" down, allowing it to become a part of the composed space. As Deb said, "We could've fill this room with treasures and you would never know. They'd be swallowed up."

Now the ceiling itself is a treasure.

The Design Team at the Circa Lighting Opening in Chicago

Our Design team was able to attend the opening for the new Circa Lighting showroom. Located at 444 North Wells Street, right in the heart of Chicago’s Merchandise District, this showroom was filled to the top with unique handcrafted top of the line fixtures. Some of the Designers pieces we were able to "awe" over were legends such as Sandy Chapman, Thomas O’Brien, Alexa Hampton, Barbara Barry, Suzanne Kasler, Eric Cohler, Clodagh, J. Randall Powers, and an extensive studio line.

Along with Circa's stunning fixtures in their showroom, it  also featured a number of unique characteristics. Clients will find innovative merchandising displayed and meeting spaces to help keep the designers creative juices flowing.

Circa Lighting - David Easton, Snow Mass Double Sconce

Circa Lighting -Sandy Chapman Spherical Cube Pendant

Most all of these gorgeous pieces can be offered in a variety of finishes. This is great for meeting our clients needs, I know I hate when I fall in love with a piece for a client and cant get the right finish. We also found out they can have some pieces made to be customizable so you can get the proper length, height etc... how unique!

Brooke Hubbuch, CS Interiors; Gale Singer, Principal of Circa Lighting; Allison Cooke, CS Interiors

Look at this beautiful display they have in the back of the showroom. What a great place to bring clients as well see one of Circa Lighting's chandeliers in use.

Overall, we are so excited for this new location and cant wait to find new exciting trends through this showroom. Congrats on a successful event.