This is a relatively tiny kitchen in a downtown Chicago condo. The ceilings are tall, but that is about the only luxury of space this unit has. When we started this client’s main concern was that the kitchen not feel claustrophobic.

Do you have the same problem in your home – a small kitchen that feels cramped? Here are a few quick designer tips to make your small kitchen feel huge:

See that space behind the range on the far side of the photo?  It looks like a pass through to another room, right?  Wrong…it is just a trick of mirrors.  But it makes it feel like this room has some inviting space beyond it — even though you consciously know it is just a mirror, subconsciously it feels like the room extends beyond the boundaries of the walls.

Designers often solve the problem of  tiny spaces by using color intelligently.  You can make a room seem large by using bright and clear colors like white, ivory, cream, and pale soft shades, and that is the standard approach most designers take.  But my client readily admits that she is messy when she cooks and feels nervous and hemmed in by a white kitchen, so that solution didn’t work for us. Instead, we tried to keep everything in the room the same tone and depth, which also creates the illusion of space because the eye continues to flow from material to material –stools to walls, walls to cabinet doors.
I chose a horizontal grained zebrawood veneer for the cabinets and had it stained a dark chocolate gray.  The horizontal glass panels in the cabinets are softly frosted and the countertop is a very budget friendly New Venetian Gold granite.

Behind those cabinet doors we’ve hid spice racks, a trash can,  a cookbook organizer and slide out pantries.  Today’s last tip for small kitchen?  Hide as much clutter as possible and customize your storage!

Hope you’ve enjoyed this quick tour!

Do you like our work?  Bailey Fox Interiors does plenty of kitchen renovations and remodels.  Check out our portfolio and send us a message here.

Taken during the Chicago Botanical Gardens Spring Flower Show

The weather man is saying that Chicago is going to have a mighty cold winter this year, so you can find me getting my inspiration at the Chicago Conservatory in Lincoln Park. I visited last year with my mother and grand mother while they were in town, and they thought it was so wonderful that we returned for a second trip on their last day here.

What I like about flowers is that they are warm and lush, dramatic and simple all at the same time. They have contrasting textures and perfect proportions. I also like to draw my inspiration for color schemes from flowers, because those color combinations are at the same time fresh and familiar.

To show you how wonderful color palettes based off of flowers are, I’ve taken three botanical photographs that I’m really drawn to and pulled out color schemes from them. You could use these colors as wall paints, fabric selections, wood tones, the list goes on and on…

The Family Room – Picture via MLS

The Trib said that Rosie is purchasing the home fully furnished, which was a deciding factor for her, but I’m a bit disappointed with the idea that she will keep the decor as is. The home is a bit dated and lacks the fun personality that Rosie is known for.

The dining room is one of the saddest little rooms I’ve seen in a while, with a mish mash of objects and no oomph to it. The dark blue walls swallow the light, and in Chicago brownstones where you can reach out your window and touch your neighbor’s house, natural light is at a premium. So the dark blue walls have to go, but the wainscoting can stay. This geometric wallpaper from Brewster Home comes in six colors and I’d choose the yellow to pump up the volume of brightness in this dining room. Added bonus – it is vinyl, and since Rosie has children, that means hand prints on the wall that need to be wiped down daily.

Next, the ceiling is really ho-hum, with a standard paint job and a hand painted medallion around the light (or is that a shadow?). I’d make it more interesting by doing a coffered ceiling treatment similar to what you see in the adjacent family room here. I would paint the beams and ceiling the same creamy white and center a new chandelier over the dining room table.

Here is my choice for the rest of the furnishings:

I’d make drapes out of this great Thibaut print and place the white buffet against the window wall, topped by a sturdy green ceramic plate that brings out the green in our chairs. The chairs would be made from durable velvet, stain guarded of course, and placed around this marble Saarinen table. Underneath the table is a wool rug with stripes of yellow, green, ivory, and blue that will both define the eating area and soften up the wood work.

The door to the kitchen on the right hand side would be flanked by a set of display shelves finished in green lacquer to match our dining room chairs. Add a family who likes to have fun, a good meal, and your done.

To see the rest of this home, check out the MLS listing here.

This cane back chair is painted a shimmery silver with new metallic turquoise damask upholstery – $120

These end tables appeared to made from a high lacquered burled walnut.  I love the waterfall shape.  And yes, those are rooster lamps on top.  They are almost so ugly I want them.  – $150

I have a soft spot in my heart for this dresser, because my bedroom is decorated in Hollywood Regency Bamboo.  I’ve paired it with a soft spa blue for a great effect. – $120

How clever!  This table is made from a sewing machine base topped with a Dark Emperor marble slab.  It would be great in an entry way or with a small chair for a writing desk. – $65!

This dresser is perfect for an entry way.  The top can hold mail, give you a spot to drop your keys, etc.  I’d paint is a glossy charcoal and replace the hardware with simple but dramatic ring pulls in gold. – $120

]]> http://baileyfoxinteriors.com/blog/2011/09/chicago-style-cheap-chic-craigslist/feed/ 0 http://baileyfoxinteriors.com/blog/2011/09/chicagos-style-review-of-the-bedford/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagos-style-review-of-the-bedford http://baileyfoxinteriors.com/blog/2011/09/chicagos-style-review-of-the-bedford/#comments Fri, 09 Sep 2011 06:49:10 +0000 admin http://baileyfoxinteriors.com/blog/?p=1318 My husband is a member of a private cigar club here in Chicago.  I joined him tonight to watch the opening game for football season, and the place was definitely what my husband calls a “Men Den”.  It has mahogany paneled walls, heavy leather furniture, and miles of ornate wood molding.  It is definitely the perfect place for a quintessential “man’s” night out.  It reminded me of a contrasting experience I had last weekend where I gathered up some humorous, successful women to meet for dinner and drinks at a girl’s only party.

The gals and I went to a new restaurant/lounge in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood called The Bedford.  We arrived for a late supper at about 9:30 and the mood was really set by the building’s exterior.  The Bedford is tucked in the basement of a defunct bank, behind heavy Bedford limestone walls. Can you see where this place got its name?  Walls in muted colors flank the staircase to the restaurant and the lighting used here is fabulous in person, creating a soft glow throughout the room but giving off a star burst pattern on the dark wall.  I loved the humor of it – a bit of bling at the entry to the old bank.

Once you reach the restaurant a smooth expanse of terrazzo covers the floor in patterns of green, beige, terracotta, and black. Top this with ornate ceilings and shiny marble walls, and you have the recipe for a restaurant reminiscent of Mad Men.  The Bedford kept as much of the original structure as possible, and the design firm Gettys even reused marble from the teller booths upstairs  to form a mosaic feature wall.

The first thing you see when you come into the restaurant proper is a huge vault door  that was either too expensive to remove or too good of a design opportunity to pass up.  People cluster in groups around the door, staying back from it just a bit as if in awe, but their bodies are always turned towards it -  this is definitely the focus of the restaurant.

I bellied up to the bar for a drink they had on the menu – a twist on a Caipirinha called “Edison’s Medicine.”  This mix of basil, agavee syrup and Cachaca was amazing and right on point for the restaurant’s design, sophisticated and hip while still having that old school feeling. The other girls were ordering old-fashioneds and french martinis so it was easy to see the vintage atmosphere inspired our choices.

As we walked to our table from the long bar I got a glimpse of one of the lounge areas that sits behind that big vault door.  Safety deposit boxes line the entire room, their surface polished to a high shine.  No need for art here.  Mid century couches and chairs in rich hues and vintage patterns make up small seating areas with oriental carpets under foot.  At one point during the evening I popped in to see if there was room for us gals to sit and sip, but the room was full, a testament to how comfortable and cozy it feels.

Our table was at the top of an walnut-stained wooden platform and consisted of a horseshoe booth big enough to seat 10.   The booths are all tufted leather, so you feel like you are eating dinner on a posh friend’s sofa.  Those safety deposit boxes made another appearance behind our table, and the dim lighting hitting the nickel surface cast a glow throughout the room.

We ordered plates to share and settled in to take in the view.  I had a great line of sight to a double-sided fireplace wall that divided the restaurant.  There were upholstery pieces in garnet, turquoise, emerald, and sapphire throughout the space, and after a few drinks I really felt like I was sitting inside one of the safety deposit boxes – surrounded by shiny, sharp edges and jewel-toned treasures.

Unfortunately, upon a trip to the ladies room, I found the only disappointment in the restaurant — the beautifully wallpapered anti-room had multiple light fixtures hanging over a mock borne settee.  The proportions and placement were off kilter and the style of the chandeliers left me shaking my head — I even spy one from home retail giant Uttermost (two points if you can tell me which of the five). This was a missed opportunity to do a luscious mixture of vintage lighting.  Heck, even an amazing refurbished chandelier would have looked more in-tune with the rest of the restaurant.  At least the charcoal wallpaper with the pink furniture was pretty, and the old teller vaults made into bathroom stalls were a nice touch.

After dinner we made our way back outside to hail cabs, and the girls commented on how lovely and sophisticated the space was, and we vowed to get together soon….and THAT is the hallmark of good restaurant design, inspiring us to return quickly and reminisce on our wonderful evening.

All photographs are via The Bedford website.

Although blue is often used in a boy’s room, it doesn’t necessarily have to be ho-hum boring.  The way to make the color blue in a boy’s room feel fresh and new is to choose furniture with that is unexpected.  By pairing the color blue with some incredible fabric patterns and an ultra modern bed, I’ve upgraded this color scheme from seen-it-before to now-that’s-interesting.

This will be the fifth boy’s room that I’ve designed and I’ve learned that the most important thing in a kid’s room is:

Storage, storage, storage!

You can never have enough storage in a child’s room, no matter what the age.  For this bedroom I’ve utilized the space beneath a long window for a built in bench.  The top will be upholstered in a new fabric by Dwell, while the bench underneath will have sliding doors to hide clutter and books.  At the foot of the bed I’ve placed a really amazing trunk by Pottery Barn Teen that can be used for even more storage.  I imagine these nooks will be filled pretty quickly, so we are going to have a built in closet system made that can house not only clothes but books and school supplies.

I’m going to paint the walls a soft slate blue and pair it with ivory and walnut.  We’ll be tearing out the existing carpet in the room and installing wide plank walnut floors – I really prefer hardwood floors for children’s room as they are easy to wipe up spills and difficult to stain.  Beige Carpet + Kool-Aid Spills = Mad Mommy.

The bed is low profile, with a platform design that will make it easy for the boy to make his bed.  We’ll put a wall sconce right beside the bed to save precious room on the beside table — speaking of which, our bedside table will be incorporated into the window seat bench with room for an alarm clock behind the sliding doors underneath.

One of the things I really love about this boy is that he’s a budding artist.  His only request for his room was that he have somewhere to display his drawings (pen, pencil, and oil paints), and that he be able to change the artwork frequently.  His mom’s request was that he not be able to put holes in the wall.  This really made me smile, and my job as a designer is to find a solution to make mom and son happy.

We’re going to be placing the below cork tiles, stained in a walnut color to match the floors, on the wall that the desk is pushed against.  We won’t do the whole wall — probably just an 8 foot long section from floor to ceiling.  The tiles are much thicker than the average push pin, so the artwork can go up and come down easily and without mess.

For the other accessories in this room we are going with darker shades of blue, brown, cream and yellow.  The amazing artwork is from Heidi Vaught, and I’ve used her fractal prints before with great success.  We’ll frame them out in walnut frames with simple white matts (Ikea has a great option for this!) and place them above the bed.

Our Jonathan Adler sconces are in:

And we’ve changed out the hardware on the table for a custom look:

I can’t wait to show you pictures of the rest of the home!  Stay tuned.

I generally start kids rooms by finding a rug.  Unlike adults, kids spend a lot of time sitting on the floor or running around barefoot, so a sturdy comfortable rug is a must.  From there, I’ll pull out paint colors and fabric sample, investigate wood tones and find a motif.

my local rug showroom, where you can definitely break the bank

Sometimes you want a really amazing heirloom quality rug for your home, but in kid’s rooms that normally isn’t the case.  Choose a rug that won’t break the bank!  For a rug in a family room or a child’s bedroom, I look for 3 qualities:

1.   Is it durable?  Can you run plastic dump truck wheels across it without the threads pulling?  Are there enough knots per square inch for the child (and all of his friends!) to run across it thousands of times before it begins to show wear and tear?  Are the fibers sturdy and hearty enough to stand up to a full bookbag dragging across it?  This means that looped carpets are out as they snag easily.

2.  Is it mess-friendly?  Can Joey come in from soccer practice and plop down his cleats without the dirt ruining the rug?  Does it have a pattern that can hide stains?  If not, can they be easily washed out?

3.  It it touchable?  Is it soft enough that you want to sit on it? Could you lay down on the rug to watch TV without feeling scratchy afterwards?  Will it be inviting to put your bare feet on it in the morning as you dash to the bathroom?  Although some designers recommend going with polypropylene indoor/outdoor rugs for a child’s room, I really think that the fibers are uncomfortable and, well…crunchy.  There’s no better word to describe it, and no one wants a crunchy rug.  I like the feel of a soft wool rug under foot, and wool is durable enough to take a bit of a beating.

I’m also not a fan of themed rooms.  You’ll never see me design an underwater aquarium bedroom for a child or decorate walls with a princess theme.  Themes don’t stand the test of time and are only relevant for the amount of time that the child is interested in that topic.  With that in mind I steer clear of rugs with motifs like ponies or race cars.

My go to source for inexpensive but decent quality wool rugs is Overstock. Overstock is a weird mix — I’ll be honest, sometimes the rugs they have are crap and you can find them cheaper elsewhere.  But occasionally they have real gems, I’m talking designer rugs that are $4000-$5000 retail for less than a grand.  The key is to know the current offerings of most rug companies.  I’ve got this down by now, and I can quickly weed through Overstock to find the real bargain.

Below are my top 5 Overstock rugs for boy’s rooms.  Tomorrow I’ll pull out my favorite of these five and show you the room I’m designing around it.

I love the colors in this first rug — the soft pale gray with yellows, oranges, and greens is an unexpected departure from the standard blue used in a boy’s room.  The pattern is fun without feeling like there is a specific theme or gimmick.

Well, Thom, what are you doing here?  This green, brown, and cream rug is by famed interior designer Thom Filicia, so imagine my surprise in seeing it at Overstock!  I saw this rug used in a showhouse last year, and the movement from the pattern is really fun and makes a room feel exciting and dramatic.  The green is a citrusy lime green that is very current and modern.

I love the mixture of aqua, yellow, and navy blue.  There is something fresh and clean about this rug and I can see it working in many different design schemes.  I’d probably use it in a pale gray room with lots of pops of yellow.

I love this rug!  I’m really drawn to the barely-blue grays and navy in the pattern, and I think this rug would be really fun for a little boy’s room.  Can’t you just see a boy using the stripes as a race track?

Although this rug is less colorful than the others in this list, I’ve chosen it because it has a really fun vibe.  It’s another great design from Thom Filicia. I used this rug in a living room I designed last year, and the homeowners still get comments on it when they have guests over.  I would use it in a boy’s room because the pattern is really vibrant and striking in person, and you could easily change accent colors in the room as the child grows.

We’re working with a palette of slate blue, gray, white, and burgundy. Stay tuned for some more pictures as we wrap up the project.

Now that the season has ended, I have to get my Million Dollar Decorators fix somehow, so I was thrilled to see a new collection by cast member Mary McDonald.  Mary has been voted one of House Beautifuls “Top 100 Designers” for good reason.  She quirky yet elegant, and her rooms use color in the most decadent ways.  Robert Abbey, the famous light manufacturer, is representing a line of lamps, ceiling fixtures, and wall sconces designed by Mary.  Here are some of my favorites:

This Margaux Table Lamp is beautifully monochromatic, which gives the traditional shape an edgy feel.  I love the metal lamp shade!

The Directoire Flushmount comes in either natural brass with black or Silver Plate with Gray (shown).  I would use several of these in a long hallway done in a highly grained veneer.

The Josephine Lamp comes in a floor or table version, with crystal stems and a rectangular shade.  I really like the delicate swag.

And finally, my favorite piece from the collection — the Spence Sconce.  I die for the faux ostrich inset.  I’ve ordered a pair for a client’s room and can’t wait to see how they look installed.