A big heartfelt THANK YOU to all those who came out to visit The Lake Forest Showhouse 2017. It was an honor to be involved along side my design collaborator for the event, Relativity Textiles. The showhouse benefitted the Infant Welfare Society of Chicago, and it was an honor to work among top design talent in the greater Chicago area. I was definitely the new kid on the block and everyone was gracious and welcoming!

I thought it would be fun to show the before and after pictures of our space, The Back Hall and Bath. Even I was a little stumped when trying to come up with a beautiful design for this very cramped bathroom and hall. This section of the house was likely the servants quarters back in the early 1900s, so it was customary for the space to be tight and not as grand as the rest of the home. HERE you can read a little more about the historic home built in 1922 by Howard Van Doren Shaw.

For the design story, we imagined a pastoral and whimsical secret passageway where a little girl or boy could get lost for hours reading perched in the stairwell, hiding from whomever was asking them to do their chores!

This is the digital design board we created as inspiration with final selections. The wallpaper is a custom print, “Arabian Nights” by Relativity Textiles. Lighting is by Circa Lighting and the paint color on the ceiling is Oval Room Blue by Farrow and Ball.

Here are the HALL BEFORE photos:

Here are the HALL AFTER photos (photos by Dustin Halleck): 

Here are the BATH BEFORE photos:

Here are the BATH AFTER photos (photos by Dustin Halleck):

The next showhouse will be in 2019 – they do it every two years. Thanks for taking a peek at this project, let me know if you have any questions on sourcing or materials in the comments!

XO – CLAIRE