apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Remember this light-filled living room? It's from the prefab LVL home of James and Rui, designed by Midwestern architect Rocio Romero and featured on AT last January. The couple recently hosted an open house, inviting visitors into their home for a day while their friend Traci (author of design blog Girl in the Green Dress) took some amazing photos. Traci was kind enough to share her pics with us - click below for a second look at this warm, sunny living space...

Name: Ronnie, Viktoria and two teenaged kids
Location: East Lakeview, on Roscoe
Size: Don’t know. Never really thought about it. Big by AT standards, I suppose. Maybe 1,500-1,600 sq. ft. per floor?
Years lived in: 15; Owned since 1993 (when the price of our single-family house—originally a working-class three-flat, and then a 1970’s-influenced duplex with a rental until when we moved in—cost what a decent Lakeview condo costs today).

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Ronnie and Viktoria and their two teenagers live in a home full of surprises. With enough space to experiment with how it's used, the family plays with a traditional dining room by making it home to a ping-pong table. Shelves and surfaces are covered in favorite books and magazines, toy collections and sculptures, stickers and buttons (looking like an atmosphere that engages, not a chaotic space in need of tidying). With an equal balance of shape and color, texture and calm, old and new, this East Lakeview home shows 15 years in the making - and living.

Name: Ernie & Drew
Profession:Flight Attendant & Waiter
Location: Chicago, IL
Size: 1450 sq/ft 2BR
Years lived in: Owned for 5 (but recently sold)

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Ernie and Drew sent us these photos of their two bedroom loft for two reasons: they love reading AT and their friends kept insisting that their place would be a perfect fit. To this, of course we must first say thanks for the AT love, Drew and Ernie. Secondly, you two have some pretty astute friends.

We’re thrilled to post photos of this home because it's proof of a budget-conscious remodel and we hope it provides a fond adieu...

This month we're focusing in on the "room" that doesn't get used in Chicago for most of the year - our outdoor spaces. But that doesn't mean we don't LOVE them - we have to pack a whole bunch of outside time into a few short months and that means making the most of our balconies, patios, porches, roof decks, gardens and lawns. We've pulled some shots of the great (Chicago) outdoors from our Tours - click through to the full tour from any of the photos that pique your fancy...

(Hello again to Julie, trying out from Minneapolis for a spot on the AT: Chicago team. Enjoy the house tour she put together - comments are welcome!)

Name: David & Kirki
Location: Minneapolis
Size: 2300 sq. ft.
Lived In: 5 years

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What’s the age of your décor? Mine clings to 29. But this 2 parents/kids/cats household lives like grownups and still remembers who they were in the day. Friends hang as easily as kid art. Mementoes represent sans kitsch. Sure, there’s the influence of recent good tastemakers. But having shot more crannies than slideshows allow, we can say there’s more David, Kirki & co. than the ghost of Martha past.

Lesson: never take yourself or your kitchen table too seriously. And ditch that old college print in the spare room.

Name: Alan Shull, owner of Patina
Location: Andersonville, Chicago
Size: 1400 sq. foot loft
Years lived in:4

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Early this year, we stopped in at Patina, the new-ish antique and home shop that Alan owns. Located up on Damen, it's a cozy ground floor space filled with very good finds. Alan does all the searching for the shop, bringing together a well edited mix of vintage items from auctions and sales across the Midwest. It was obvious that he has a great eye so we asked about his home, hoping to possibly share it with the AT community through a tour. As you can see, it all worked out (it turns out he's very nice, too!).

(Sarah is back with her third post during our tryouts for a new member of the AT:Chicago team. Please enjoy the tour she put together - comments are welcome.)

Name: Matt and Amber Mills
Location: Independence, Mo
Size: 3 bedroom, 1900 sqft.

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When Kansas City based artists Matt and Amber Mills were deciding where to live, they came across the same dilemma most of us do. Should they live downtown in the ultra hip urban areas closer to where they work? Pros: Great places to eat, not of the chain variety...Cons: Paying for parking and no where to walk the dogs. Or should they live near family out closer to the suburbs and have a daily commute like most people in our metro? Pros: Stones throw from family and good schools... Cons: Packed full of big box stores and fast food.

(Hello again to Maya from Cincinnati, who is trying out for a spot on AT:Chicago team. Enjoy the tour she put together - comments are welcome!)

Name: Mason
Location: Brighton, Cincinnati, OH
Rent or own: in the process of buying
Size: gallery: 1000 sq. feet, loft: 1000 sq. feet
Lived in: 3 years

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Mason is an artist, art collector, and gallery owner who lives above Synthetica, his gallery in the Brighton area of Cincinnati. Like his neighborhood, Mason's home is a bit rough around the edges and constantly evolving, deftly combining vintage with new, scavenged with hand-crafted. We especially love the "custom window treatments" made of locally scavenged windows.

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Yesterday, we trekked down to the Museum of Science and Industry to do the press tour of architect Michelle Kaufmann’s MK Solaire, which officially opens today. It was stormy, but we wouldn’t have missed it - we are very familiar with Michelle’s homes from photos, but spending time in one of them was a surprise and a treat. Even on a rainy, grey day, the light and air pouring in through the many strategically placed windows was wonderful.

Name: Susannah, Artist and Interior Decorator (former Structural Engineer) and Jeff, Architect and Jazz Drummer
Location: Hyde Park
Size: 550 sq. foot Vintage Condo - circa 1907
Years lived in:1.5

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One of our favorite things happened recently - we got an email from a reader, offering to share their home with the AT community. Susannah and Jeff's southside condo (our first Hyde Park tour!) is warm, unique, filled with artwork , interesting pieces and lots of good karma.

Transplants from South Carolina, the couple seems to have settled into a chilly city by making their small corner of it warm and cozy, summed up wonderfully by Susannah: Two rather tall people with way too many books and a love of dinner parties sharing a tiny space with a Great Dane...

Name: Marilyn and Peter (The Franks and F2)
Home Then: Ranch Style House in Skokie
Home Now: 2 bedroom Duplex Condo in Albany Park, Chicago

Marilyn and Peter's former home is one of the 40 featured in our new book: Apartment Therapy Presents: Real Homes, Real People, Hundreds of Design Solutions.
We first saw their great sense of style when they entered and WON the 2006 Fall Colors Contest with photos of their great home and studio in Skokie. As much as we loved what they did with a traditional suburban ranch style home, we were excited to hear that they moved into the city...

Note: Due to the server crashes yesterday that made the slideshow for this tour unviewable for much of the day, we are re-publishing today - Enjoy!

Name: Amy
Location: West Rogers Park, Chicago, IL
Size: 900 sq/ft in 1920s building
Years lived in: 1 yr, 8 months, owned

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Our first-ever house tour (run as a trial post over on AT:NY) was of Amy's Ravenswood apartment. It was always a personal favorite, and we're happy that Amy can get the same feel with an entirely new "backdrop." While the bones of Amy's home may have changed since moving, many of Amy's personal touches like the science charts, furniture, and a cat that likes to be in photos, have all gone with her. The big change is that Amy is now...

Name: Melissa and Matt
Home Then: 550 sq. foot rental apartment
Home Now: Same home but with new paint, colors and a few new pieces

Melissa and Matt's home is one of the 40 featured in our new book: Apartment Therapy Presents: Real Homes, Real People, Hundreds of Design Solutions.

We first saw this wonderful space when Melissa entered one of our contests - she sent in photos of her blue and yellow bedroom as an entry in the 2006 Fall Colors Contest. Something about the room stuck with us, and when we were looking for homes to include in the book, hers seemed like a natural...

Name: Jessica, a graphic designer and Alex, a packaging engineer
Location: Evanston
Size: 1920's 3 Bedroom Condo - (Don't know the square footage; too lazy to measure)
Years lived in: 2

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Though we have yet to meet in person, we feel like we know Jessica a bit - we "discovered" her colorful Chicago home through her blog and sent her an email asking if she'd be up for sharing it with the Apartment Therapy community, and happily she agreed. She and Alex both work in visual fields, so it comes as no surprise that their home is vibrant, attractive and full of nicely composed areas. Their workspace is one of the most cheerful and well organized we've seen...

Name: Pam
Occupation: Rug Designer
Location: Albany Park in Chicago, IL
Type: 2 bedroom in a rehabbed 1920’s building
Size: 650 sq/ft
Years lived in: Owned for 5

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The first thing we noticed about Pam's place was all the birdcages. When asked of their significance, she said, "I like they way they define space without blocking it up and the Chinese ones make me think of deserted environments - the birds got out and left everything behind..."

Homes are very personal, private spaces, which is why we're always grateful to AT:Chicago's House Tour participants for letting us take a peek inside. The mediator between that public and private space is the landing strip, the spot in a home where we meet the outside world and filter the junk: city grime, unwanted mail, and the odds and ends that we collect in our pockets. Some of our favorite house tours include beautiful and efficient landing strips that keep these homes healthy on a daily basis. More photos and links to tours below...

Name: Glorily and Jeremy
Location:Wicker Park
Years lived in: Almost 3 years, until the owner sold the building

Glorily took amazing photos of the apartment she and Jeremy shared before they (sadly) had to move, cataloging a really well put together, totally original third floor perch high above the city in a Victorian in Wicker Park. We especially like the photos since they show a bit of history of a great place evolving over time - all the changes and improvements, additions and edits as the rooms take shape and change. We got in touch with Glorily after seeing that she tagged the photos with "apartmenttherapychicago" in Flickr and asked her if we could turn them into a tour - along with a few nosy questions to get the scoop on the great looking old place and their plans for the future...

By now, many of you have enjoyed touring Arthur's new home in Chicago - if you haven't, be sure to check out the full tour here. When arranging the tour, we found out that Arthur had photos of the "before" and he kindly shared them with...

Name: Arthur
Location: River West
Size: 1000 sq. ft.
Years lived in: 10 months

We met Arthur at the AT: Chicago House Tour Party last December. He has recently moved to Chicago - nothing unusual about that - but what is quite out of the ordinary is that this design- minded person was able to shop for and purchase his new home remotely. The first time Arthur stepped inside his place was after the closing! He then proceeded to keep the long-distance "romance" going by designing the space from afar; as he says in his questionnaire, he "relied primarily on photos taken and measurements recorded during occasional weekend visits". That takes nerves of steel and the ability to really be decisive - and the results seem totally worth it....

Name: Dave (you may "know" him from his old apartment)
Location: Chicago
Size: 900 sq. ft.
Years lived in: 8 months

Welcome again to Dave! His previous home was the subject of of this Andersonville House Tour, he heads up the Brown Elephant window project (which is expanding and can always use more creative and fun folks to get involved), he works as a pro designer, and as an fyi...(in his own words) he's "single again (the bastards)"!

He recently wrote to AT: "I found myself trolloping around my old place in Andersonville all by myself and decided that it was silly to have so much unused space. I would also wander around late at night dusting things with my nightshirt...not a healthy situation.
With the help of a fantastic AT blurb, I managed to sell almost everything on Craigslist (although I could not find a buyer for my old Latrine chair) and started over for the new flat. Ironically, I have seen several of my old pieces of furniture on other house tours on AT...the day I saw my old nightstands living by another persons bed I got a little sad.

So on moving day the truck was loaded with a bunch of boxes of 'stuff', enough clothing to outfit the Gabor sisters, and about two hundred pieces of art."

Name: Christy and John
Occupation: Public Health Project Manager and Publishing Sales Rep, respectively
Location: Logan Square
Type: Wood-frame bungalow, circa 1904
Size: 1500 sq ft
Years Lived In: 6.5 years

Christy and John are hard workers. They buy most of their furniture second-hand and then lovingly restore or reupholster it. They hold out for the right item, and each piece works perfectly in its space. Using local craftspeople and vintage furniture sellers, they've spent the past six years transforming their Logan Square bungalow into a home that fits all their needs.

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Today we are revisiting one of our favorite house tours, which we photographed in the summer of 2006. Zoka's home is featured in the new issue of Domino (page 91) which got us thinking that we should share our tour with you again...Enjoy!

Name: Zoka
Location: East Village
Size: 3000 sq. ft.

I met architect Zoka Zola when I toured her home as part of a Great Chicago Spaces and Places event last month. Zoka led the tour of the house to a group of about 50 enthusiastic visitors. I wanted to share the experience with Apartment Therapy so I approached her afterwards with a request to photograph her home. She kindly agreed...

Bedrooms - One of the more private rooms in the house, it is not the usual spot to present your design style; one often feels more comfortable decorating it just as you like, with less thought to how it will be received by others. We have gathered some of our favorite bedrooms from our House Tour Archive into this roundup, which allows us to turn this idea upside down by viewing the bedrooms first and then clicking through to see the more public parts of the home in the complete tours. Lots of photos and links below...enjoy!

Name: Sa, Scott and Theo
Location: West Ridge
Size: 1700 sq/ft
Years lived in: 3 (rented one year, then bought the 3-flat)

Sa fell in love with her apartment. After years of East Coast living, she and her husband made the move back to their Midwestern roots. On sabbatical from her photography teaching position and pregnant with their first child, they were in a hurry to settle in somewhere accessible and affordable in the city.

They found their place in the Tribune classifieds - the light, location and price (including heat!) were right and they moved in. With a HUGE park to the north and an open lot to the east, their very urban home has unusually green and open views.