apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Drool.

Choosing the loft over the car was the right idea.

Lovely.

It's just wonderful. I love the Adam Siegel painting. What shade of yellow paint is that, may I ask? (I'm not generally a fan of yellow, but that's a great color!)

Hi Kathryn:

Great loft! Where did the chairs from the dining room come from? They are fab!

Cyril

Hi Kathryn,

Great place! I'm from TX as well and wish there were more lofts here. The dining chairs are quite cool. May I ask where you got them?

I'm an idiot. On the slide show, it says the chairs are from West Elm. Please disregard my question =)

For the record, Chrome Yellow (see above) is actually still open in Lincoln Park. I was just there last weekend. Just in case anyone was worried.

Fiona,

It's called "Costa Mesa" but I can't remember if it was Benjamin Moore or Behr. It's sort of a yellowish-green in person. Hope that helps!

Wow, Chrome Yellow is back? Is it still on Lincoln near Belden?

Great space!

Fantastic!!

I think your loft is simply gorgeous. I love, love, love the bed...where did you get it?

Obviously my opinion is biased since I've been here many times, but this quite the SWANKY BACHELORETTE PAD. Clean and sparse yet warm and inviting with great attention to detail.
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This space is simply breathtaking. I just love it. Marvelous! It looks and feels so good in the pictures -- I can only imagine how it is in person. I'm keeping this one on file. Something to aspire to!

What a beautiful place and judging by your roof deck photo in a FANTASTIC location... Just off Lincoln and Wellington correct?

It is perfect. Fantasy loft. Thanks for the pictures. The view from the deck is incredible! Does the church bells ring?...Is it loud?

Sweet loft! Lookin' for a boyfriend by any chance?

DId anyone notice the sly product placement of the cap in the kitchen? :) That's awesome.

It's a really great space Katherine. I love it! Thanks for sharing....

Although - I would love to see the green in the pillow in the bedroom splashed onto one of the walls. But that's just me, and subject to change at any moment.

My opinion is biased like luigi above since I have been to the loft many times as well. But it has surely been a work in progress for a number of years. I love the paintings much better than what you had before. Although some lofts are cold and sterile the addition of color and the painted yellow wall in the living room have added nice warmth. I do love the bed as well. It is a great space and truly reflects Kathryn's personal style. Yes, I love the AT product placement. Great job Kathryn!

Kathryn great place. I love the new paintings. Where are your bar stools from?

Kathryn, your loft is is just so lovely!!! Warm and inviting, slick and elegant! Those paintings are just gorgeous! Wow! What a great bold piece of art, nice to see that. I like how you take your time to find just the right piece. Oh and the lighting in your place is fantastic. Not to mention the wood flooring, so nice! Goodness, everything is just great!

Thanks, everyone, for the kind comments! I wanted to respond to some of the questions:

The bed: I bought this probably 10 years ago at a place called "Chrome Yellow" that used to be in Lincoln Park. Unfortunately, it is long-gone. I've looked on the bedframe and can't find any brand ID. Sorry!

Location: It's on Lincoln Ave just north of Wellington, above an antiques store called the Gold Coast Gallery. The church (St. Alphonsus) is quite beautiful and the church bells don't start until about 10AM on Sundays, which is really nice. The windows are well-insulated so it's not noisy at all.

AT Hat: courtesy of my good friend, Kathy L., who was a finalist in the Gardening Contest last summer.

Boyfriend: Thanks for the offer, MikeH, but I'm taken :)

Bar Stools: They are called "Jamaica" by Pepe Cortes. They are available at Retromodern.com http://www.retromodern.com/item_detail.asp?3438 although I got mine locally at the European Furniture Warehouse. Jeremy, I'm hoping to see your place on a future House Tour!!

Thanks again,
Kathryn

I'm in love with your floors. Skinny, wood slats, near ruler-width = so great! I enjoy your embrace of orange especially in suede (right?). That's commitment. And the vintage ski prints above the white couch make me one glad girl.

Kathryn thanks for the bar stool info. Maybe after we get a new rug and paint the walls we will be up for the house tour. We are in decorating limbo right now trying to figure out color schemes as we just got some new chairs and can't figure out what way to go with the living room now!

Hi Kathryn,
Great use of space and color. Thanks for sharing. Great job!!!

I have to be honest and say that it's posts like these that cause me major anxiety.

I just moved into my little apartment in East Lakeview two and a half months ago and the only area that's fully furnished is the living room/tv area. The hallway is bare and my bedroom is just sad.

It's almost like my fear of making bad furniture buying choices has crippled me! My stereo is sitting on a big plastic bin full of books and my phone is on the floor in the hallway. I'm still hiding moving boxes in a closet. I'm surprised I was able to furnish the living room without a month's worth of deliberation.

*breathes*

I guess I should vent about this on my own blog ;)

Anyway, this loft is gorgeous and exactly the kind of *feel* I'm going for in my own place... if I ever get far enough along in my choices to create a feel.

Thanks, Kathryn! You may have just veered my dining room wall away from red...

I'll have to swatch and see!

Kathryn,
Not to sound like a broken record, but I love your place - very nicely done :-)
Question - is the building relatively new, and who is the developer? Looks like a really nice layout.

Love your dining room chairs. Love the whole place.

Apartments like this are what make this website.

Hey Kathryn, I feel like we have a bit of history - at least when it comes to the Charles sectional - so even though I've said it before, I will say it again, your loft looks superb and I love seeing each new thing to do to it. The Adam Siegel paintings are great and you have inspired me to look for more and different pieces of art for our place. I will show my wife these pics because I'm sure we wil be on the same page when she sees them.

Verrry nice loft!! It is so spacious compared to many newer lofts in Chicago.

I was curious about the cute roll of shopping list notepad. Would you mind sharing where you had purchased it?

Gerald: the building went condo about 10 years ago; not sure if that qualifies as new, old or somewhere in the middle?! Most units have had 3-4 owners at this point. I think Wolverine was the developer - not sure what else they have done in Chicago.

Nancy: I bought that paper roll holder in Denver last year. I'm not in Chicago right now, but I'll look for a brand name on it when I get back. Check this thread again on Tuesday; I'll post it.

jamie pup: Thanks again, it's always great to hear from you!! Janel's pictures are so much better than mine!! Do you live in New York? We should really make plans to meet the next time I'm in town!

Kathryn--
Every minute you live there, the place looks even better, if that's possible!

Congrats, and thanks for the tour!

Colleen, you raise a good point. When does waiting for just the right piece spiral into apathetic indecision? But fear not! At 2.5 months, you are nowhere near the latter. May Kathryn's place give you hope- she deliberated for 4 months, and it seems that after her first important purchase everything started falling into place.

Fall into place it certainly did, Kathryn! Thanks for sharing and for answering everyone's questions. Can you also advise us on your lighting? Thanks!

Hi Anna,

All of the lighting was done by Atmosphere Lighting on Western Ave. The track lighting is low-voltage halogen with brushed stainless steel spotlights. I also bought the sconce, the Arco lamp and the Le Klint hanging lamps from them. They do excellent installation work, as well.

Colleen, if it makes you feel any better, I made a few mistakes along the way. The first sofa I bought never looked *quite right* in the living room. I ended up moving it into the guest room and starting from scratch with the sectional.

It was an expensive mistake and I wanted to kick myself over it, but at the end of the day, it's just a sofa.

Kathryn - your space just gets better and better!

Oops Kathryn, I just checked this thread after posting on the sofa thread on the nyc board and yes, we should make plans to meet when you are next in NYC. You've still got my email address right?

I want an AT hat!!!! Great apt too

Sorry, but this is a really boring design that looks like something out of a catalog. There is no mixing or matching of styles, no indication of personal taste. Seriously, it's like some West Elm window designer got a hold of this place. Sterile. People are in such a hurry these days to get a place entirely furnished early in life instead of taking time to furnish. What you get when you spend some time is a place that looks like the unique self you are instead of a furniture showroom.

Mary, Are you kidding? Not everyone wants to live in a schizophrenic mix of styles. I'm sure it took Kathryn a long time to get her loft just right. Maybe you should crawl up your ass because that's obviously where your taste is.

Hey Kathryn, I was particularly interested in a tiny element of your (overall amazing) place - the little roll of receipt paper hanging on a metal frame on your wall.

What is that? Where is it from? Can you easily rip off the paper?

Thank you!

sara lynn,

Mine doesn't have any information on it, but Blomus makes something pretty similar:

http://www.greenergrassdesign.com/blomusmuronotepadholder.html

I've also seen a more expensive wooden version at Stitch http://www.stitchchicago.com/stitch/product.asp?s_id=0&dept_id=3067&pf_id=PAAAIACPBGDMBGAO&

Hope this helps!

Hi Kathryn,
I love your place, very creative mix of different pieces and nothing is overdone. I was wondering if you could tell me where the living room rug is from. Thank you.

Lea,

The rug is from Danskina http://www.danskina.com/
I bought mine at Luminaire. One of the neat things about this rug is that you can order it in a custom size. Mine is 5x11.

KW - where are you? Please get in touch with me. D

What a really really fabulous loft. I absolutely love the dining room. The painting is stunning. Who is the artist?
iris

Hi Kathryn,
I know I am late on this post, but your loft is BEAUTIFUL! I read that the dining chairs are from West Elm, but I did not see them on the site. Do you know of any place else to purchase them? Thank you.
Kim

Thanks kimm,

I haven't seen those West Elm chairs anywhere else. CB2 has something similar though.
If you're in or near Chicago, I'd be willing to sell these to you - I've got my eye on something new :)

email me at kcweiss (at) yahoo.com if you're interested.