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In the American Midwest, a hundred-year-old house is pretty much as historic as you’ll find. When these clients tapped me to design their 1924 home in the suburbs of Chicago, I was elated. The couple, who have three children under the age of five, both grew up in the area, and when this house came on the market, they jumped on it. It’s easy to see why: The home has incredible bones and, thankfully, had been beautifully restored through previous renovations, retaining its original charm.
Kaehler wanted to personalize the house without competing with it. That meant using soft textiles in natural tones, like the antique rug in the entry. Roman shade, Chelsea Textiles. Runner, Roger Oates.
Aimée Mazzenga
Since the entry vestibule is completely closed off from the foyer, Kaehler wanted to give it its own personality. The leafy wallpaper provides the perfect transition from outdoor foliage to the color palette inside.
Aimée MazzengaThe structure of this house was formal and traditional, but with a young family moving in, we were tasked with respecting the history of the house while making it feel fresh. As the wife put it, “We love the bones, but we want it to feel lighter, brighter, and more youthful.” As with many of my projects, we began with the question, How do you want to live in your house? Even though this family has young children, they entertain a lot. Since they are both from the area, they—like me—frequently host large family gatherings, everything from football game viewings to traditional Thanksgiving dinners.
In the living room, two sofas laid out in an L shape function almost like an elongated sectional, with plenty of seating for a large group to watch football while maintaining a note of formality. Kaehler pulled the overall palette for the room from Schumacher’s Betty chintz on the armchairs, which incorporates the perfect forest greens, soft blues, and neutrals.
Aimée MazzengaA big part of our strategy, then, was to embrace the history of the space while rethinking how it could best be used. For example, the home has a large, formal living room, and while we didn’t want to diminish that, we wanted to reimagine it in a way that invites people to really use it. The wife had grown up in a house with a living room that she never went into, and she was adamant that she didn’t want that in her own home. That said, long, formal living rooms are tough. People sometimes struggle to arrange them in a way that’s conducive to informal entertaining.
In the dining room, deep, paneled doorways —original to the house—are an architectural counterbalance to the elegant wallpaper. I love how the de Gournay paper reinterprets the blue, green, and neutral palette in a way that nods to tradition but feels fresh, especially when paired with a bold, velvet-upholstered mirror.
Aimée MazzengaWe probably tried 15 different arrangements. We presented several options to the homeowners that were nice enough, but none quite clicked. Then we went to my grandmother’s house in Michigan for the weekend. Her great room was a similar size and shape to the clients’. We were a big group that weekend—six adults and nine kids—and it worked so perfectly. We could all get comfortable. I came home, drew up a floor plan that matched my grandmother’s—two sofas and a pair of chairs surrounding a large ottoman—showed it to the clients, and they immediately, excitedly, approved it.
The antique dining chairs are upholstered in a hard-wearing, worry-free Perennials fabric. The chest is antique, from Projet Privé; Murano lamp.
Aimée Mazzenga
Kaehler wanted the sunroom to feel like an extension of the beautiful garden just beyond the windows, but also be usable every day for their family. Trellis by Fuller Architectural Panels.
Aimée MazzengaWith the living room layout settled, we wanted a fresh color palette to perfect the space. The walls were previously plastered in a deep, dusty blue, which made the room feel dark and serious. The clients love blues, however, and told me that, left to their own devices, everything would be a nautical blue-and-white scheme. While that didn’t feel entirely appropriate for this house and its decidedly noncoastal location, it served as a great jumping-off point for me. Pairing their beloved blues with rich browns and mossy greens gave us the ability to reflect the beautiful landscape outside, which is visible from most rooms of the house.
The sitting room opens onto the kitchen, which was designed for a previous owner. Kaehler's clients loved it, so she didn’t change a thing.
Aimée MazzengaThis nature-inspired influence was the impetus for the de Gournay wallpaper in the dining room —a forest of delicate flowering trees. It is a perfect example of a new, timeless take on a classic pattern. We added a playful starburst mirror upholstered in pink velvet—underscoring the successful juxtaposition of the classic, the elegant, and the fun.
The dining room leads into the family room and, just outside, the pool. In the family room, we wanted to create a beautiful space that would also stand up to wet kids passing through. Enter durable rug and performance fabrics. In this room, which is full of furniture in traditional shapes, we had a ton of fun layering colors and patterns.
The family room opens onto the white kitchen so we wanted to balance this space with lots of saturated color. The mix of color and pattern was both an aesthetic and a functional decision; every element—including the sectional and ottoman upholstered in Perennials indoor/outdoor fabrics and the Fibreworks rug—is super forgiving of tiny feet running and climbing through it.
Aimée MazzengaI always think that given the choice, people gravitate to small, cozy rooms. The sunroom, off the living room, was previously a forgotten space, but it opens onto a quiet courtyard on the side of the house where their kids play. It needed to be something really special to encourage its use. I wanted it to feel like part of the garden, so the treillage was a perfect choice for the space. The lattice also complemented the room’s beautiful barreled ceilings We added a mix of antiques and new pieces (a custom backgammon table paired with two-hundred-year-old prints)—which is really the theme of the house. I didn’t want anything to feel so old or so new; it was a constant balance.
This laundry room is just off the kitchen and pool bath and highly utilized. Although it is functional, Kaehler wanted it to also be beautiful. The skirted console (in Schumacher's Cabanon) conceals extra clothing for the kids to change in the mornings.
Mazzenga
The family spends a lot of time outdoors in the warmer months, so Kaehler extended the livability of this house by arranging areas for lounging and dining beneath the long pergola. An outdoor fireplace and upholstered furniture from RH make it inviting.
MazzengaThe final element for freshening up the home was adding contemporary art. The couple’s sister-in-law is an art consultant, and they loved the experience of working with her to bring their dream home to life. The wonderful pieces we sourced with her assistance became key visual and personal additions to the project, and the design encourages the family to carry on their collecting. You’ll notice that not every shelf or wall is filled in; I wanted to ensure that the family has ample space to layer over time, giving them the backdrop to build their own history into their home.
In the primary bedroom, the wallpaper pattern, which Kaehler designed with Merida, a local firm, presents a more graphic, modern take on a vine motif, striking a balance between classic and contemporary.
Aimée Mazzenga
Excerpted from A Welcome Home: Inviting Interiors by Alexandra Kaehler with Hadley Keller, and photographs by Aimée Mazzenga; styled by Cate Ragan. Reproduced by permission of the Monacelli Press. All rights reserved.
