Tag: Chicago

Modernist Inspired Lakefront Residence

For today’s design inspiration, we have a modernist inspired lakefront residence with crisp contemporary interiors. The residence, located on a wooded property on Chicago’s North Shore, features walls of floor-to-ceiling windows, a neutral and nature-based color palette, and clean contemporary furnishings.

The owners of this home were empty nesters looking to downsize and simplify their lives. They decided to sell their sprawling 1930s Colonial family home and build a smaller, smarter, and more streamlined home nearby. A scenic 90-foot-wide lot right on the waters of Lake Michigan with trees to flank the future home like sculpture proved a perfect site.

To create this new home for the next chapter of their lives, the couple enlisted Ernest A. Grunsfeld III of Evanston based Grunsfeld Shafer Architects, whose modern design inspired works they really liked and wanted for themselves. For the interiors, they enlisted Steve Kadlec of Chicago based Kadlec Architecture + Design. Kadlec specializes mainly in residential interiors and they admired his work, noted for its simple yet sophisticated design.

For their new lakefront residence, the couple did not want what had become the norm for lake homes of late, such as what they perceived to be, the grand statement-making exteriors and overly made-up interiors. On the contrary, they didn’t want a house that would attract excessive attention from the street at all and didn’t want huge rooms that they didn’t need and wouldn’t use. They wanted nothing fussy, over-sized, or too involved and that is exactly what they got.

Grunsfeld shaped the 5,000 square-foot home into a modified H configuration to give it the maximum amount of exterior wall space. The shape provides lakeside views from everywhere possible, which was the owner’s biggest request. The configuration also organizes the home into three zones: public spaces in the middle, mainly the living areas; private spaces to the north, including a study and master bedroom; utility spaces to the south, mainly the kitchen and garage. The architect topped the center of the H with a second level home gym and two guest bedrooms. This configuration allows the main living area, master suite, kitchen, gym, and a guest bedroom all to face the lake. These room’s walls of floor-to-ceiling glass, from the outside, create a fabulous two-story rear elevation.

The three photos above show the homes primary open living space which Kadlec quietly perfected while making the lake views the focal point. The room includes multiple seating zones arranged on area rugs. The dining area features a rift white oak table that seats sixteen normally and thirty when split and enlarged with leaves. White limestone floors flow here and throughout the entire ground floor and continue up to create the fireplace surrounds.

Kadlec granted the home owner’s request for sleek, contemporary interior pieces as well. Many of the items used throughout the home are his bespoke designs. The color palette inside draws from the same colors that you see in the views outside, further embracing and enhancing the homes natural surroundings.

In the master bedroom, Kadlec hid the huge walk-in closets behind cream-colored lacquered panels and had the bed custom created to float in front of the doors. There need be nothing to interrupt the peace and flow in the space. Bespoke designed custom furnishings create a calm low-profile sitting area.

Outside, Scott Byron of Lake Bluff-based Scott Byron Landscape architecture designed the lawns. In an eco-friendly move designed to conserve the bluff, Byron created wide ledges that terrace down to the lake. He employed clean, disciplined designs close to the home while maintaining the look of the natural surroundings further out.

This is, in all of its very refined simplicity, a Modernist inspired contemporary luxury lakefront residence. This is how the homeowners define luxury. Clean lines and open spaces, natural elements, beautiful views of the outdoors, sleek minimalist design fixtures, and custom-created, contemporary furnishings. It’s calm. It’s easy. I must agree. This is luxury for modern day life.

That concludes our design inspiration for today, my friend.

For more residences with crisp, contemporary interiors, be sure to see:

Modern Deco Interior Design: Chicago

Modern LA Residence: Minimalist Interior Design

LAKEFRONT RESIDENCE DESIGN

Kadlec Architecture + Design is a collaborative studio bringing together inspired design and management skills with over 25 years of experience in the practice of residential architecture and interior design as well as corporate and retail design.

Founded in 2004 by Steve Kadlec, Kadlec Architecture + Design provides thoughtful problem solving and exceptional design to residential, specialty corporate, and retail projects. The firm believes that successful design synthesizes the clients’ functional and budgetary requirements within a solution that reflects their style and personality. The firm’s work is simple, classic, and sophisticated focusing on usable and functional spaces.

Architecture: Ernest A. Grunsfeld III with Grunsfeld Shafer Architects

Interior Design: Steve Kadlec with Kadlec Architecture + Design

photographer: Tony Soluri Photography

Luxe/Chicago/Smooth Moves

Thank you so much for reading along with me. I hope you enjoyed this lakefront residence’s contemporary interiors with its clean lines, open spaces, and nature-based neutral colors. It certainly looks to be an oasis of peace and calm, and really, is there much luxury greater than that? Be sure to let me hear from you in the comments.

Have a great day!

November 20, 2015
Contemporary Beaux-Arts Penthouse: Jessica Lagrange

Today’s residence is a full-floor penthouse apartment on Chicago’s Gold Coast with Contemporary Beaux-Arts interiors created by Jessica Lagrange. The designer created a contemporary interpretation of the classic, opulent French style for modern-day luxury living. The interiors of this home are the source of our design inspiration for today. Come along and see!

The home sits at the top of a premier residential tower with 19th-century French detailing. The 26-story building features a limestone façade with a zinc-clad mansard roof and a corner turret topped with an illuminated lantern. Architect Lucien Lagrange designed the tower in the fashionable Streeterville neighborhood on Lake Shore Drive overlooking Lake Michigan.

Initially, the apartment consisted of just under 5,000-square-feet, from which Lagrange created a two-bedroom unit with plenty of formal space. It would serve as a second home for the owners to entertain. The main design idea was to capture the feel of the Beaux-Arts apartments in Paris. The owners prefer elegant formal rooms and traditional style. The designer commissioned custom millwork and architectural detailing complete with custom finishes. Intricate herringbone wood floors give each room a distinctive presence. Great care went into finishing the apartment with a high level of bespoke details and exacting luxurious finish.

The owners loved their new Contemporary Beaux-Arts pied-a-terre. They loved it so much, when the second half of the floor became available, they purchased it. This doubled their space, now 9,000-square-feet, and allowed them to transform it into a full-time residence.

The designer and her team returned to connect the units seamlessly and to continue the Contemporary Beaux-Arts style created in the first into the new, on an even grander scale. This lead to the creation of a 3rd bedroom suite, a billiards room, media room, exercise room, a wine storage hall, and a gift-wrapping room.

CONTEMPORARY BEAUX-ARTS DESIGN

In the formal living room, the designer combines classic French design with Modern. The glazed paneled walls show a patina that typically comes with age. Views of the lake and parks throughout inspired the use of watery blues and greens. The furnishings gather on a Tabriz rug from Hokanson, centered with a Louis XIV oak console and Kathleen Blackshear’s Dancing Along the Bridge. A pair of Rose Tarlow Melrose covered wing chairs from Dennis and Leen flank the marble fireplace, topped by Julio de Diego’s Vamba.

The open yet formal plan lends itself especially to elegant entertaining with style, providing plenty of places to mingle. The entire home radiates from a central hallway, punctuated at each end with a rotunda. Extensive millwork and custom detailing on the walls and ceilings feature throughout all the public rooms. Every detail received careful consideration.

The formal dining room occupies the round space created within the turret of the building. Tailored draperies frame the floor-to-ceiling windows that line the outer walls and provide unobstructed panoramic views. A Randolph & Hein table with the ability to sit as many as 26 gathers with Gretchen Bellinger upholstered dining chairs backed with Hermes leather suede. A magnificent Gilbert Poillerat inspired chandelier suspends in the center of the room.

For the kitchen, the designer collaborated with de Giulio Kitchen Design to create a traditional “old estate” look. Limestone set in a large basket-weave design covers the floors. The countertop is also limestone. Cream-colored subway tile lines the wall behind the La Cornue ranges and cabinets. The barstools are custom from Paul Ferrante.

The home’s cozy wood-paneled library layers warm chocolate and caramel tones to create a warm, inviting haven of comfort.

The designer assembled this brilliant vignette along the central hallway where the private elevator foyer intersects. The herringbone floors and paneled walls continue the full length of the hall. Those chairs are perfection!

Lagrange commissioned LA-based artist Scott Waterman to create murals in each of the home’s rotundas. She custom-designed the table and chandelier for this space. Note the intricate design of the handset inlaid floors.

The opposite end of the hall holds a custom wine storage area. Bespoke designed 24-karat gold leaf-backed temperature-controlled cabinets line the walls. An antique Persian (circa 1890) rug runs through the center. You can see the other rotunda just beyond, and the end of the passageway marked with the owners Bertoia resting on a custom stand by Soane.

Here we have one of the most exquisite powder rooms in the city. It sparkles like a jewel with its silver and gold leafing, glazing, and mirror effects, made perfect with those crystal sconces.

The billiards room’s handsome finishes include hand-glazed wall paneling, coffered ceilings, and hand-waxed oak floors. A full bar by Parenti & Raffaelli pairs with Nancy Corzine’s Waldorf bar stools. The chairs are by John Boone, and the ottoman is custom from ACM Furniture.

Here we have the home’s theater room complete with plush velvet sofas and ottomans. The video and acoustics equipment remain carefully concealed.

The master bedroom and sitting area form a serene haven of luxury design. Colors and features soften in the private rooms. The St. George bed is from Lewis Mittman, dressed in hand-embroidered French linens. J. Robert Scott’s Super Kidskin leather covers the Niermann Weeks Elysee chaise. Jeffrey Grant’s Michigan Avenue hangs above the marble fireplace mantle. An antique rug from Oscar Isberlan defines the sitting area which includes a vintage French table and a Regency Sabre-leg armchair by Rose Tarlow Melrose House.

The master bedroom suite features a separate bath and dressing area on either side of the room so both can have their own. This one has antiqued mirror vanities with marble tops and marble floors. The glamorous bathroom also includes a soaking tub and a private balcony.

The other bathroom features rich dark woods and a dome ceiling. The dome’s design repeats in the mosaic design of the marble floor below.

The guest bedroom suite is equally comfortable and tranquil in soft shades of green and lilac, with a cozy bed dressed in French linens. The guest suite’s bathroom includes a soaking tub and a separate shower. Embroidered silk drapery panels frame the large bathroom windows. The dressing vanity sits deep in the window to take full advantage of the natural light.

Of course, the owners enjoy all the amenities provided by the building including 24-hour service, a doorman, and all the perks afforded by its great location. Jessica Lagrange’s Contemporary Beaux-Arts design marries the classic style of the Parisian apartments with modern elements and adds all the amenities for today’s luxury lifestyle. She tailored old-world grandeur into timeless elegance perfected for contemporary living.

“We create timeless, relevant designs with a collaborative and curated approach.” JL

That concludes our design inspiration for today, my friend.

For more Classic inspired interiors designed for contemporary luxury living, be sure to see:

Classic Mayfair Penthouse

Fifth Avenue Cl assical Design

CONTEMPORARY BEAUX-ARTS DESIGN IN CHICAGO

Chicago-based Jessica Lagrange Interiors’ designers create homes that are thoughtful, meaningful, and highly focused to meet their owners’ personalities, lifestyles, and aesthetics. More significantly, JLI’s projects are also beautiful, strategic and honor the architecture of each residence, regardless of its period, provenance, or owners’ decorative style.

Jessica Lagrange Interiors has been synonymous with luxury interior design and architecture since its inception in 1998. Today, the firm is recognized for its portfolio of projects that embrace a wide range of periods and styles, but always reflect the wants, needs, and lifestyles of its diverse clientele.

Interior design: Jessica Lagrange Interiors

Photography: Tony Soluri

Thank you so much for reading along with me. I hope you enjoyed the luxe interiors of this fabulous Chicago penthouse. Let me hear from you in the comments.

Have a great day!

August 28, 2015
Modern Deco Interior Design: Chicago

Our design inspiration today comes from a chic city apartment located within Chicago’s prestigious historic landmark Palmolive building. Inspired by the building’s Art Deco design, Kadlec Architecture + Design completed the interiors with a sophisticated Modern Deco style. This highly customized 4,000 square-foot, two-bedroom residence serves as a pied-a-terre for the owners. The polished bespoke interiors include soaring twelve-foot ceilings and stunning panoramic views of Lake Michigan.

The owners, a couple with a primary home in the suburbs, were initially looking for a convenient rental apartment in the city. They got word that one of Chicago’s most esteemed landmarks, the Palmolive Building, was being converted into residences, and their plans became a lot more ambitious. The renovation was just starting on the architectural gem and the spaces were still raw. The couple recognized the perfect opportunity to custom create what they wanted in the most ideal of locations.

Completed in 1929 to house the Colgate-Palmolive Company, the 37-story structure is world-renowned for its dynamic stepped design. The building lists among the finest examples of Art Deco architecture in the world. Its location along Chicago’s Magnificent Mile establishes it at the heart of the city’s greatest residential, entertainment, and business district. Today it reigns as one of the city’s most exclusive luxury residential addresses.

Though not a penthouse, the apartment sits high enough to clear the neighboring buildings and provides a spectacular view over everything. The couple desired a customized space completely different from the other units and called on Steve Kadlec and his firm to handle the interior architecture and décor.

MODERN DECO DESIGN INSPIRATION

Guided by the building’s design and the couple’s desire to keep the space open, Kadlec created a Modern Deco interior style. The architect-designed an updated French 1920s style and a floor plan arranged with rooms en suite. Each room opens onto the other in a constant progression eliminating hallways. Pairs of custom eleven-foot high, bronze and glass, French doors connect the formal rooms. The perfectly aligned passages create a long, light-filled vista of enfiladed rooms through the apartment.

The sleek Walnut burl paneled foyer opens to the living room where the formal procession begins. The high ceilings and smooth, flush-mounted walnut wall panels direct the eye to the gorgeous lake views. The windows could not alter for obvious reasons. The designer placed silver-leafed eglomise mirror panels above them to create faux transoms. This design trick gives the illusion that the windows continue up to accentuate the verticality of the rooms. A Chai Ming Studios sofa covered in Cowtan & Tout silk velvet pairs with a coffee table from Dessin Fournir. The couple worked with an art consultant to choose smart contemporary works to highlight the rooms. The horse is by Deborah Butterfield.

Slender rift white oak flooring, much more narrow than the building’s standard 2.5 inches, covers the floors. Bespoke designed furniture with profiles that echo the period, but edited to their contemporary essence complete the rooms. In the dining room, a cabinet for tableware along one wall features wood-framed doors encasing creamy quilted leather panels. Such luxury design details continue throughout to conceal functional items and utilize available space. Matching Paris chandeliers from Holly Hunt suspend above an RB Gorman quarter-sawn ebony wood table, surrounded by Christian Liaigre Barbuda chairs. The painting is by Bob Nugent.

The contemporary kitchen features white oak cabinetry from Poliform, with stainless-steel counters and back-splashes, along with commercial-grade appliances. Calacatta gold marble forms the center island which took two years to find. The couple was tenacious in their pursuit of quality. Promemoria’s Caffe stools provide seating for the bar. Custom shades accentuate the window height in this room. Lacquer cabinets along the outer walls provide extra storage. A Christian Liaigre table with Promemoria’s Caffe chairs gathers in front of the window for taking in the view with breakfast.

Rich, dark wall-covering from Knoll Textiles covers the walls here in the handsome media/family room. A plush linen rug from Bartholomeus covers the floor. Rift oak pocket doors conceal the television and audiovisual equipment. Dark shades on the windows lower as needed. A custom sofa from Estudio Furnishings upholstered in Holly Hunt suede gathers with a lounge chair and black sculptural tables by Christian Liaigre.

For the master bedroom, Kadlec bespoke designed a wood-and-bronze-mesh screen which you see placed behind the Anees bed upholstered in J. Robert Scott suede leather. A Promemoria bench stands at the end. The art above the bed is by Janis Pozzi-Johnson.

The sitting area includes a Christian Liaigre Opium daybed, and a pair of Snooze chairs from Ochre gathered around the Xilos Simplice coffee table from Maxalto. The rug is from Fort Street Studio. The master bedroom and guest bedroom are positioned on opposite ends of the apartment for optimal privacy.

Even the master bedroom closet has a fabulous view. The private quarters edit the design creating a crisp, contemporary mood for modern living. The master bathroom features a clean and simple, minimalist design with loads of natural light.

The guest bathroom has the same no-nonsense minimalist design with clean contemporary shapes and sleek designer fixtures. Gotta love that soaking tub! The building includes a state-of-the-art fitness room, spa, sauna, and steam room.

The spacious guest bedroom is a dream with warm colors and soft fabrics, including imported designer linens on the bed. The copper silk draperies draw closed when desired.

A wall of bespoke walnut cabinetry created on one wall of the guest bedroom allows it to double as a study. This last detail completes the apartment giving it everything the couple wants for their pied-a-terre. In addition to the beautiful, sophisticated interiors, the couple enjoys all the gracious conveniences and amenities provided by the building. Kadlec Architecture + Design completed this Modern Deco-inspired residence with signature elegant simplicity.

That concludes our design inspiration for today, my friend.

“We believe design should elevate everyday life and be grounded firmly in place. It should speak softly and resonate deeply.”

For more residences with Deco-inspired contemporary interiors be sure to see:

Art Deco on Park Avenue: Penny Drue Baird

Beverly Hills Deco Villa: Joan Behnke

MODERN DECO DESIGN

The collaborative studio of Kadlec Architecture + Design brings together inspiring interior design and management skills with over 25 years of experience in the practice of residential architecture and design, as well as corporate and retail design. Their simple, classic, and sophisticated work focuses on usable and functional spaces. The Studio is disciplined in pursuit of the personal. Their design philosophy is reflected in who they are. Quietly confident, enduringly accessible, casual, yet thoughtfully considered.

Interior Architecture and design: Steve Kadlec, Kadlec Architecture + Design

Photography: Tony Soluri

Luxe Magazine

Thanks so much for reading along with me. I hope you enjoyed these Modern Deco-inspired contemporary interiors within the historic Palmolive building. What do you think of this Chicago residence? Let me hear from you in the comments!

Have a wonderful day!

August 19, 2015