When your interior design clients have an impressive art collection, the best course of action is to create the perfect backdrop to show these priceless works to their best possible advantage. That’s the approach taken by interior designers Ana Nardi and Angelina Almeida when they were hired by international art collectors, who were about to move into a former barn and dairy distribution center in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood.
The beautiful building had plenty of attributes to work with: renovated by famed architect Vinci Hamp in 2011, the three-story residence boasts 14-foot ceilings, an open floor plan, and an interior courtyard. The designers painted most of the walls white, the better to highlight the family’s brightly colored furnishings and art, and kept most of the furniture in the common rooms simple: Olive velvet-covered sofas flank a white marble- topped oval cocktail table on which rests a small sculptured head, and the dining room is furnished with black Wishbone chairs, an Acacia wood dining table, and a pair of bubble chandeliers, a subtle contrast to the lush greenery and large-scale sculptures in the courtyard seen through floor-to-ceiling windows.
Throughout the house are pops of color, pattern and the owners’ personality, from a black and white graphic wall covering from Schumacher to a Nelson bench that the designers painted mustard yellow, a color echoed in the sofa in the second-floor TV lounge.
It was important to the owners that their bold aesthetic and unique personality shine through. “If we told her something was on trend, she wasn’t interested,” says Almeida of her client. “She favors a more chaotic approach. Nothing is neutral.”
Indeed, the house is full of unique elements. An Ingo Maurer chandelier over the breakfast table is hung with handwritten notes and drawings crafted by the owners and their children, a lovely personal touch in a sleek kitchen outfitted with white cabinets and appliances by Wolf, Sub-Zero, Gaggenau and Miele. The daughter’s bedroom is alive with bird and butterfly patterns on the walls and the bedspread. And a side table by JANUS et Cie on the second-floor terrace features a brightly colored graffiti motif, contrasting a neutral-hued modular sofa and rocking chairs by DEDON.
Says Almeida, “This project taught us not to be scared to do things totally outside the box.”
Dig deeper into this project in our partner publication, Design Chicago.
