As promised yesterday, today we are having a house tour of Mark Coy's previous apartment on Lakeshore drive. Located in a grand old building, the apartment has great bones but needed a LOT of work when he first moved in. Lets see the results!
The living room contains the same aesthetic as his new apartment, but in a traditional environment. Recognize the French armchair? The grass blinds are used here again to great affect. 
Another view looking back at the living room. Notice the beautiful black fireplace with unusual overmantel on the left. You see the entry through the arched opening on the left and the dining room through the cased opening on the right. I love that Mark chose a cohesive color scheme to tie all the spaces together. The apartment has a great flow to it and the color unites the rooms.
The dining room has beautiful moldings, a window bench and original sconces. I love the white painted trimwork throughout the apartment and dark stained floors! Another seagrass carpet is used here and recognize the fabric on the pillows on the window seat? Tying the rooms together through fabrics and color brings a modern flow to a traditional compartmentalized apartment.
I was crazy for this gorgeous chandelier and guess what....it's from the HOME DEPOT! Yes, such style for only $495 plus the added black shades which were used again on the sconces. The high and low real world decorating is used here to full affect: using what he had to work with (sconces), adding a 'low' touch from home depot (the candelier) and hanging it above a Milo Baughman dining table (the 'high' statement piece).
The master bedroom continues the same color palette but in a much more soft and subtle environment. It looks like it could be a room at a spa hotel, doesn't it? So relaxing.
The bathroom is probably my favorite room in the entire apartment. I instantly recognized the Ann Sacks Bellarita Travertine flooring in a herringbone pattern: I've used it in projects before and hope to use it someday in my own house! I'm all on board with white subway tiles, befitting the apartment's age and the glam sink and ebonized doors make me so happy. No seagrass blinds in here but the wallpaper (continued onto the ceiling I might add) tie in that aspect from the rest of the apartment.
The 2nd bedroom, used as a den, uses the same color palette in a darker tone: A perfect room to curl up with a good book and cup of tea. I love the blocky lamp in the background and again the seagrass shades.
The one room that does not follow rest of the apartment's color scheme is the kitchen. The wood floors were ebonized in here as well and it looks like an original built-in to the right was painted the same white as the trimwork. I love this cheerful paint, who wouldn't smile having their morning tea (or coffee!) in here? I always tend to prefer black over stainless appliances (yes I know i'm in the minority) - I think they tend to blend better into a room and not become the 'star' attraction. They also tie in nicely with the black granite countertops.I hope you enjoyed this tour of Mark's beautiful old apartment, I know I could happily move in tomorrow! Hopefully he'll share photos of his new space once it's completed!
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23 comments:
Wow. It is gorgeous.
Ditto on that bathroom!
I'm with you, I could move right in and be happy in any of those rooms. Really lovely.
I am so drawn to this - the paneled walls, the dark accents, the amazing olive leather sing chair. But hands down my favorite element is the lack of casings around the chic black bathroom door. Perfect! Marija
very Handsome. Love the bath and love the lime twist of the Kitchen, should be interesting to see the work in progress when complete.
Handsome apartment, but oh-that-bathroom. I'm in love.
I'm always pushing 'post comment' too soon. Both the terrific, and obviously very functional kitchen, and the bathroom show very strongly the value of keeping it simple and how UN=NECESSARY and tawdry some of the overwrought kitchens and baths of the last decade really are.
Down East -YES, you hit the nail right on the head! The bathroom and kitchen are both attractive but functional -they're not 'showpieces'. THANK GOD. I hope we see a return to normalcy SOON.
We were particularly proud of the bathroom renovation. Considering it was a mass of grey Corian & past-its-prime tiles & sliding frosted glass on alumimun track around the tub. Ick!
What you can't see in the photo is that the celing is covered in a silver foil. It's subtle yet striking.
The doors were a smashing success. My contractor & We hired a guy who took 11 layers of paint off & we sprayed the doors with Benajmin Moore, black. Glass-like smoothness. All the doors in the apartment were original - heavy as lead - yet lacked any detail. I had him add mouldings on the outside for depth.
Fabulous, I love the final results. The contemporary abstract art in the dining really make it!! Would love to see art over the master bed. Well done!!
Karena
Beautiful tour! Your blog is an inspiration and a shot in the arm every time I look, thanks.
I really enjoyed this. Those older
buildings alway seem to have more detail and they used better building materials. Most of the older ones have larger rooms too.
yvonne
As expected, you did not disappoint. And either that is a HUGE apartment, or the designer make it look so. Also, I want want want ebonized floors some day. And the bath door... Need it now!!!
Gorgeous! Another guy with style!
Very chic.I Love the dining room and the bathroom. It's all in the details!
The apartment is a scan 1200 square feet. For two men & a black lab, it was comfy. The living & dining room are exquisitely proportioned. Ebonized floors in Chicago were rather revolutionary. Most folks tend to a bland, blond oak. Snooze!
Thank you for the kind words.
I am a big fan of the woven wood shade. They are a wonderful "all-purpose" treatment that seem to fix a multitude of ills. I tried in vain to convince a client to use them to warm up a room with too many mid-century iconic pieces.
Love the bath too.
Stefan,
I'm with you on the bathroom...it is so tasteful and not over stylized, yet I could easily see it in a fine hotel or gracing the pages of Architectural Digest! Any way to get a shot of the ceiling...LOVE to see it too! The rest is all nice executed as well.
I love the civilized restraint, the personal choice of color, of being brave and bold while also letting the room speak for itself. Having the courage to do what one pleases always pleases me.
It is indeed beautifully executed; very simple and very functional. I'm taken with the panelling in the dining room, and I wonder if that was existing, or installed in the refurb. (I'm keen to use it in the next project I do. My only concern with it is getting the correct sizing and line up for picture hanging, as it works so much better if the pictures fit in to the panelling. But doing that is quite often difficult when there are a lot of pictures involved, and you have a keen sense of symmetry; and what happens when you change the picture layout?) Perhaps symmetrical pannelling is the answer.
The panels in the dining room are indeed original. The previous owner had painstakingly "restored" them and stained them in a horrid dark, flat stain which made for an easy stretch of painting once we moved in. The panels seem to follow the proportion & scale of the room/walls. It was my intention to add them to the living room following both the proportion & scale of the walls as well as the art. I think it would be an easily executed affect with minimal costs.
i like the bath also.
but the rest isn't too shabby.
i would live there. hahaha
xx
Your point about black appliances is compelling: know I'll mull that over for a long time. Thank you.
This is a wonderful apartment - so coherent. The bedroom, however, needed a shot in the arm: some color; less beige; some red; something vertical....something vital.
Was the apartment decorated to sell? Be honest.
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