The den has been painted Railings by Farrow & Ball. It is a sophisticated color and makes for a cozy room! A flashback to where we started:
Remember where we started? The original listing photo was a bright gray bedroom.
And, where we are today. A completely refreshed base for what will be a den.
The choice of color was an easy one, working with the fireplace surround, but I was in suspense leading up to the big reveal and wasn’t disappointed. Walter and his team from Tapia’s Works did an impeccable job.
Den painted Farrow & Ball Railings matches the fireplace surround nicely
You may recall that a prior owner had painted around the mirror, leaving the space beneath a surprising shade of pink! We cleaned that up this time around.
The windows are original curved glass from the late 1980s
We sprayed paint over the fireplace with Farrow & Ball Wimborne White for a beautiful finish
A sprayed finish is the way to go for smooth surfaces like doors, and detailed surfaces like molding, with a brush sprinkled in as needed for more detailed trim. I must say that I am a true Farrow & Ball subscriber after seeing the finish compared to the prior paint.
The bookcase will provide great visible storage once we are in decorating phaseThe radiator will be left uncovered. It didn’t look as bad as I was expecting
We still need to identify a good spot to hang a television and make a decision on drapes.
The finished color is so sophisticated relative to the gray we had previouslyCozy plaid draft stoppers filled with balsam pine by SewSixThree on EtsyThe mirror from prior owner is back in place and the perfect fit!
Now that the base is complete I am considering furniture ideas and searching for the perfect plaid rug. Let me know if you have any ideas!
The kitchen of this apartment is in great condition, but feels a bit dated. That being said, so many elements of this kitchen are timeless, so I want to preserve the beautiful Bolhuis cabinets, the Sub Zero and Miele appliances and the Perrin and Rowe hardware while giving the kitchen a bit of a lift.
Here is a reminder of what the kitchen looked like:
Listing photo
Here is a photo of what the kitchen looked like this morning:
Taken on an iPhone 🙂
In person, and somewhat illustrated by the non wide-lens camera, the space is a bit cramped. The area between the hanging cabinets and the sink is only the width of a four burner stove. I want to visually open this space up by removing the hanging glass cabinets.
The space feels cramped (and not just because the ladder is there)
Of course my biggest mistake was not taking more “before” photos, but everything moved quickly once the work got started! My dad is helping me here! He built the house that I grew up in, laid all the floors and spun every spindle by hand.
Part of the challenge of the hanging cabinets is that they took up a lot of counter space. If you refer back to the first photograph you can see that 1/3 of the counter space was monopolized by the base of the cabinet. At the base was a hollow opening that included an electrical strip. The opening was suited for storing breads, but a microwave would not fit.
The first step was to remove the heavy glass cabinet doors
First, we removed all cabinet doors and shelves. Since these cabinets were more decorative, and less everyday, the hardware was in perfect shape. We will replace the more tired hardware in other areas of the kitchen with these. This will save money since each of these knobs cost $45.
The “like new” cabinet knobs and hardware will be repurposed in other areas of the kitchen
Next, my dad removed all of the small lights running through the cabinets. We tossed the lights (one already had broken glass) and kept some of the electrical elements for use on other projects.
Dad hard at workCabinet doors carefully stowed away
We removed the crown molding around the center cabinet in order to drop it down. The molding was an interesting recovery for two reasons. First, it can be re-used to patch now remaining gaps from the hanging cabinets. Second, it appears as if each of these little teeth were individually nailed to the molding (wow! so much work!).
Recovered molding will be used to finish the gap left by the end cabinet we removedIt appears as if each of the teeth on the molding were applied individually (wow!)Once the molding was removed and stored, we took down the cabinets
This project took almost a whole day, but it made a big difference. We successfully removed all the hanging cabinets and opened up the kitchen.
This made a huge difference in opening up the space!
The only thing we changed was removing the hanging cabinets, and the kitchen looks dramatically different. The work that remains includes: replacing any tired door hardware with the knobs that we retrieved from the glass cabinets, professionally re-painting the kitchen cabinets, updating the backsplash and countertops and incorporating the La Voliere chandelier so we can eat breakfast with the birds!
I discovered high shine “Wendy’s Green” paint from Farrow & Ball while searching for the perfect olive paint. The store actually does not carry a true olive paint but good news!, the custom mixed Wendy’s Green is available, with a 2 gallon minimum. This is the same green that designer Wendy Labrum used at the 2017 Lake Forest, IL Design & Garden Showhouse. I love it!
MY CHICAGO HOUSE. 