Gosh, we love this home’s outdoor living spaces. Everything came together here in just the right ways for an end result that feels relaxing, special and purposeful.
In this project, we were lucky to start with gorgeous exterior architecture and expert landscaping, providing a striking backdrop in the outdoor living areas. This is such an excellent example of the impact landscaping can have on a project, as it lends natural beauty to the space, while also serving the critical function of creating privacy for the homeowners, as you’ll notice in the photos.
There are two distinct zones to the outdoor living areas for this home, the main patio and living room patio.
Main Patio via Park & Oak
Living Room Patio via Park & Oak
The main patio serves as a spot for entertaining guests, and also to relax while watching kids at play in the yard beyond. It’s accessible through the home’s kitchen and main family room, making for easy transitions when guests are over. Orientation of furniture in this space was carefully considered to allow the homeowners to entertain guests while also keeping an eye on kids.
We love the Summer Classics teak dining table and chairs for the warmth they lend to the space, and performance fabric cushions means guests can linger at the table and relax.
via Park & Oak
via Park & Oak
When the meal concludes, everyone can retreat to the sofa and chairs beyond, tucked into their own little alcove.
via Park & Oak
via Park & Oak
Where the main patio is meant for guests and everyday living, the living room patio is designed as a private retreat for the homeowners. It is surrounded on three sides by the home, and the beautiful architecture and privacy landscaping makes lounging in this space a treat. The homeowners can step onto this patio via “her” office, the living room or the sunroom, which means there are ample opportunities to duck outside for a few minutes of sunshine and respite throughout a busy day.
via Park & Oak
via Park & Oak
via Park & Oak
We are so glad the season of outdoor living is finally arriving in the Chicago area. Go enjoy those outdoor living spaces!
As you’ll see from the before photos, we started with a blank slate at the Glen Ellyn study. While that may seem daunting, our client had some specific ideas for what they wanted in the finished space that helped light the path. Bright, but masculine. Zoom friendly. And lots of built-ins for storage. (Plus a desk that doesn’t fold up!) With these elements in mind, we set about designing a study that would be both functional and beautiful.
The mixed wood tones we chose for the built-ins fit a neutral color scheme while still lending interest and depth. The dark tone helps camouflage the television, now a common office fixture in the age of Zoom. We like the way the contrasting tones in the built-ins also complement the dark wood floors. Don’t they make a striking focal point for the room?
With plenty of cabinet and drawer storage below, there was room to get creative on the built-ins’ shelves, using a combination of the clients’ own books and art, plus some of Park & Oak’s favorites (we love a bust!).
A comfy chair for guests (or the occasional brain break) was a must. And lots of bright light means a plant will flourish here and help give life to the room. A light rug helps balance the dark wood floors, and a classic, unfussy roman shade finishes the room.
Check out the photo at the top of the post and see if you can spy the bar cart – the age of post-work cocktails needn’t end just because we work from home!
We’ve been gradually making holiday decorations disappear back into their bins. Bye-bye tartan plaid pillows. See you later fair isle stockings. Till next year Christmas tablescapes. But, anyone else find the emptiness left in the wake of the un-decorating to be a little bleak? Here are a few tips for sprucing up your winter decorating after the last strand of garland has been tucked away.
1. Plants!
Just because the tree and garland are gone, doesn’t mean you have to forego the green again entirely. Visit your local plant shop (here in Chicago, we love our neighbors at Good Roots!), and bring home some green that lasts forever. A plant adds life to a room in a singular way. Even the teeny-tiniest plant can liven up a room that’s feeling a little naked after the holidays.
Refer to our blog post on Houseplants for tips on how to care for those beauties once you’ve got them home.
2. Accessorize
When we decorate for the holidays, we are basically accessorizing to the max. While you’d eventually grow accustomed to the pared-down version of your home after the holidays, there’s no reason you can’t still embrace the winter season through accessories. Light a candle with a winter scent. Bring some cozy texture to your throw pillows with boucle, velvet or chenille. Drape a fur or cashmere blanket over an armchair or sofa, or at the end of your bed. Change out your artwork or display books. This may also be a good time to switch up the patterns in your accessories; a change of pattern can make the whole room feel like new again. Bring in the outdoors by using the warm rusts, greens and browns found in nature. Little changes can make a big difference!
Use that fireplace to create ambience in your home reminiscent of the inherent warmth and coziness of the holiday season. Add a basket with blankets near the fireplace so you can really settle in. Change up your mantle styling to help things feel fresh. This is often the room where we spend our down time, so focus your attention here if you’re really wanting to amp up winter style after the holidays.
You may have noticed … we like a moody room at Park & Oak.
Now, we have no beef with light and airy (see some of our favorite whites as proof), but some rooms call for drama. We like to walk into a home, spy a jewel box room, and think … oooo, what’s back there?
Below, we’ve shared some of our favorite dark and moody rooms. You’ll see that a large number of them are cocktail rooms, and with good reason. For us, a cocktail room is the ultimate place to inject a little mood. To settle in, let the room envelop you, and breathe easy after a long day. Oftentimes, in older homes, these cocktail rooms were once formal living spaces. Today’s families live a little differently, so instead of entertaining in a room you only use for guests, why not make it an inviting space for everyday? For reading, having your morning coffee, planning a vacation, or, of course, cocktails.
But, dark and brooding doesn’t have to be the domain only of the cocktail room. Teenager’s bedroom, perhaps? Or as the enviable real-life zoom backdrop of an at-home office? Touches of dark, rich hues in a kitchen are a bold departure from all-white. And in a pantry or mudroom, they can help disguise all manner of messes.
Our homes come alive in the details. A beautifully furnished room can be lovely to look at, but until someone lives in it and adds a special touch here and there, it will lack character, warmth. One of our favorite ways to add that life to a room (literally!) is with plants.
We are so lucky that our main studio is around the corner from plant purveyor wonder-women Ashley and Lindsay at the top-notch plant shop, Good Roots. Their shop is gorgeous, filled from floor to ceiling with the very best houseplants, in a cozy, welcoming space. If you are local, you really should pay them a visit. Dare you to walk out without at least two plants. We can’t.
If you are not an experienced plant owner, buying a plant can be overwhelming. A huge part of the benefit of buying a plant from an expert at a small shop like Good Roots versus a big box store is the advice that comes with it. Here are a few nuggets we collected from Ashley and Lindsay:
First and foremost, do not put a square peg in a round hole.
If you have a specific spot in your house that needs a plant, get the right plant for the spot. For example, fiddle leaf figs are all the rage right now, but they are extremely fussy, needing very specific light and watering conditions. They don’t like to moved. Or ignored. Or looked at the wrong way. This is not a plant for the faint of heart. Or for sprucing up your newly remodeled basement.
Shop for your light.
Building on the first tip, know where the plant you are shopping for will live in your home. More than any other care need, different plants can require radically different light. One of our team members has a giant sansiveria fernwood (a type of snake plant) that lives in one of the darkest rooms of the house, yet it flourishes. The same would not be true of a calathea, which needs an abundance of bright (but not direct!) sunlight to thrive.
Leave that plastic pot alone.
Your plant comes in a plastic pot. Don’t remove it! Feel free to buy a gorgeous cover pot, but pop it right in there in its original pot. The built in drainage is very important for the long-term health of your plant.
And finally, understand how to water.
Here’s where those all-important drainage holes come into play. Overwatering is watering your plants too frequently, NOT, as many may believe, giving too much water in one session. Each time you water your plant, you should see water flowing out those drainage holes at the bottom of the pot. This may seem like a lot of water. It’s not! Your plant does not want a spritz. It’s thirsty. Once you see water coming from the drainage holes, stop. Re-visit again in a week, or 10 days, or a month, depending upon the watering needs of your specific plant.
The ladies at Good Roots have plenty of other great advice and the plants in their store are all labeled with their care needs to help you along. Ready to shop? Here are some suggestions of plants that may work for you based on your plant-owner comfort level.
I can barely keep myself alive.
It’s ok. You’re in good company. We’ve all been there. Lucky for you, there are lots of plants that, as Ashley and Lindsay will cheerfully tell you, “want to be ignored.” Any of the plants in this gallery make good starter plants, are forgiving of missed waterings, and will tolerate most light conditions.
Most of us fall into this category. Ready to take on something a little more challenging? These plants will need more frequent watering than those in the previous category, but are generally still forgiving of human imperfection.
Monstera deliciosaDracena
It’s a jungle in here.
Go crazy. The sky’s the limit. Be prepared for the sometimes fickle needs of these beauties. May we suggest a spreadsheet for tracking your watering schedule? Your plant kingdom will thank you.
There are dozens of other varieties that fall into each of these categories. Find a local plant shop and let them help you choose the best plant for your space AND your plant-loving capabilities.
Check out the gallery below for houseplants playing the star (or sometimes just offering color commentary) at Park & Oak.
One of our longstanding clients recently moved their growing family from a Chicago brownstone we helped outfit to a larger home in the suburbs. We consulted in the beginning stages of their new suburban build, which allowed us to direct choices for the bones of the home that reflect their unique needs and make their new home one-of-a-kind. We love seeing things come together from the ground up!
Here are a few of our favorite highlights:
The original kitchen plans had windows only on the sink side, and while the light from these marble cased west-facing windows is gorgeous in the evening, alone it would have left the kitchen looking a bit dim in the early part of the day. Adding south-facing windows not only brought beautiful day-long natural light into the room, it made a great offset for the arched cabinets.
And speaking of those cabinets, being involved in the early stages of the build allowed us to mirror that same arch in the kitchen and dining room entryways…
Working with a repeat client has so many advantages. This particular client is an avid art collector with an incredible eye. We knew it would be important to highlight their enviable collection, and this guided many choices from the very beginning phases of the build. For example, the millwork in this soaring entry was measured to make space for specific pieces from the clients’ collection. Also, in the lofted second story of the entry – which was originally intended for built-in bookshelves – we created a gallery-style display instead to capitalize on another opportunity to showcase the collection. The family room includes some of the clients’ own vintage pieces, along with more beautiful artwork.
In their previous home, the client loved the moody office we’d created for them there, so we used it as inspiration for an even more dramatic version in the new home.
In the mudroom, the dark slate tile floor brings drama and practicality. High ceilings allowed us to add extra interest with hanging pendants. The clients’ own beautiful vintage chest was a perfect fit in the rear hall and another natural spot for gorgeous artwork. And check out the charming mudroom bath!
Don’t say it. We know…it’s not *really* a color. And while technically it is true that white is the absence of color, the white paint colors we use in and on our homes all are pigmented with other shades, even in just the slightest amounts: blue, green, red, black and everything in between. These white shades can work magic when used in the right ways.
Our work often draws attention for dark and moody spaces, and we do love a jewel box. But white has just as important a role for us. White is what we often turn to as the backdrop in kitchens, where we like our dark and moody to reign on cabinetry. We love white in a hallway with wall moulding. Often, white is the right foil for bathrooms, where beautiful tile and hardware is the star. You need white to sit alongside dark paint colors or black windows to draw attention to the drama. And if your furnishings vary in colors and textures, you’ll want at least a little white to balance things out. So, while white gets a bad rap for having the potential to be cold or sterile, when it’s used thoughtfully, it is the perfect way to highlight other design elements.
We’ve been visiting the 1920s a lot through our work lately and are really loving it. Having the opportunity to revive homes with so much inherent character and really highlight their unique features is so gratifying. In this 1922 Winnetka Georgian, you see how striking the effect can be when you take a moment to consider the details that make a home special and shine a spotlight on them. While thinking about how to best highlight the arch and the existing molding in the vestibule of this home, we studied some classic Georgian homes and really loved the way they incorporated botanicals and foliage in their designs. This wound up serving as the inspiration for the wallpaper that covers the stunning arched ceiling. Check out the before and after:
You barely noticed that arch before, right? And now it stands out as one of the defining features of the home. It was always there, waiting for its moment, and just needed a little attention. In addition to highlighting the arch in this vestibule and refreshing the paint colors, we added classic tumbled stone tile to the floor and a pendant light fixture with just the right touch of modern flair. The demi-lune table that our client already owned was a perfect fit to finish off this charming little space that every guest will get to experience.
At the Winnetka Georgian we also made over the office space and master bedroom pictured below. We love a dark, moody office. Doesn’t it feel soothing to work in a space that envelops you? Rooms like this with plenty of natural light are prime candidates for indulging your dark side. We like to add sconces and lamps to be sure as winter evenings roll around there is still plenty of light. In the bedroom, we added molding to create consistency throughout the house, and, as always, mixed contemporary elements like the black steel bed with more traditional pieces like the elegant chair with carved wood legs. The delicate balance of styles will keep the decor in the home feeling fresh but will not put a time stamp on the work. Timeless. Classic. Always the goal for us at Park & Oak.
We’ll be working on additional spaces in this beautiful home in the coming months, so stay tuned for more updates! #POWinnetkaGeorgian
One outcome of the past year has been a space reckoning inside our homes. Suddenly, homes that seemed plenty big enough to work, play, cook, entertain and study started to feel very cramped. Much the same time we started to reassess space-planning in our own homes, our clients also began to reach out, trying to figure out how to squeeze home gyms into a little-used guest rooms, children’s workspaces into closets and full-fledged offices into whichever nook and cranny that was available. Spy the desk peeking out from the corner of the laundry room in the photo above?
Helping our clients find space for the things mattered during a difficult year was incredibly rewarding. And like many of you, as our lives are starting to return to normal, we are so grateful to have transformed our homes into more functional spaces for the various needs of our families. Need some inspiration for a little creative space-planning of your own? See some our and others’ solutions below.
Last week, we installed the dining room at our Kildeer project. The first phase of the project was the dining room, entry, and office.
The dining room was a pretty dramatic transformation, so we wanted to share the photos with you. The first phase was refinishing the floors, add beams to the ceiling, add a wall to define the room, paint, and new lighting. What a difference!
At this point, the room was ready to furnish. We chose an oval table to go with the Gabby dining chairs and a black credenza to store our client’s collection of dishes. Neutral drapes soften the room and the beaded chandelier add a feminine touch.
