Ten services, one way of working
From a two-hour consultation to a whole house or a lounge, the work runs in the same order and with the same four people. Take the parts you need.
Space planning
Walls, flow and furniture decided before anything is bought. The plan is where most of the money is saved and most of the comfort is won.
3D visualisation
Every scheme modelled and rendered before it is built, so decisions get made on screen in an afternoon rather than on site in a panic.
Finishes & materials
Floors, fabrics, stone and paint, sampled in the room, in the light they will live in, at the time of day you use it.
Installation
We are there on the day. Rugs rolled, art hung, beds made. You come home to a finished house, not a delivery.
Styling
The last ten percent: the objects, books and plants that make a room look lived in from the first evening.
Furniture sourcing
Trade showrooms, workshops and auction houses, in Chicago and beyond. Pieces chosen for the room, not the catalogue.
Lighting
A plan for daylight first, then layers of lamps, pendants and the occasional downlight. Faces look better at eye level.
Project management
Trades, orders and the schedule, run from one place, with one person to call and one number to call her on.
Custom millwork
Libraries, kitchens, wardrobes and the odd secret door, drawn by us and built by joiners we have worked with for years.
Consultation
A two-hour visit for a single room or a second opinion. You keep the notes; we keep the kettle on.
Five steps, in order
Every project, whatever its size, moves through the same five steps. Nothing is bought until step three.
- 01
Visit
Two hours at your table. We look, listen and measure. You get a note the next day on what we would do.
- 02
Plan
Walls, flow, furniture and lighting on one drawing. Revised until it is right. Nothing is bought yet.
- 03
Scheme
Materials, colour, joinery and the first renders. Samples in the room, in the light they will live in.
- 04
Build
Trades, orders and the schedule, run from one place. One person to call. Weekly notes with photographs.
- 05
Install
Rugs rolled, art hung, beds made. You come home to a finished house, and we come back a month later to see how it is living.
Samples, in the light they will live in
Stone looks one way in a showroom and another in your kitchen at four in the afternoon. We bring the samples to the room and leave them there for a week, so the decision is made by living with it rather than by looking at it.
Things people ask first
How long does a whole-house project take?
Planning and scheme usually take three months; the build depends on the house. A renovation of a family home is typically nine to fourteen months from the first visit to the last cushion.
Do you take on single rooms?
Yes. A kitchen, a bedroom, a study. Single rooms run through the same five steps, just faster, and the consultation service exists for the smallest jobs.
Do you work outside Chicago?
Most of our work is in the city and the North Shore. We travel for the right project, and we have run projects at a distance with weekly site visits.
Can we use our own contractor?
Of course. We work well with builders we have not met, and better with the ones we have. Either way the schedule is run from our office.
What do we need before the first visit?
Nothing but the space. Photographs of rooms you like help; so does a sense of when you would like it finished. We bring the tape measure.
Tell us about the room.
Which one, what it is for and what is not working. We reply within two working days with a time to come and see it.
Enquire