Merchandise Mart’s DreamHome shows off fabulous wallpaper, textured finishes and more
Just because I am crazy about the smoky teal wallpaper with a bird and floral design is no reason it should be your favorite wall treatment in the Merchandise Mart’s DreamHome.
However, you should be able to find a few ways you like to decorate walls in this year’s showcase for Mart products, which opens to the public Friday, April 13, after a gala Wednesday, April 11.
A smoky lacquer over hand-painted colors gives the fabulous look to the wallpaper Vincere chose for a small area off the master bedroom.
Designers Michael Stornello and Tom Konopiots started their room with a reproduction of an 18th century East Turkestan rug in muted jewel tones of rose and blue. Other features are a mahogany four-poster bed and a walnut armoire with a Jacobean flavor, both from Dessin Fournir’s showroom.
Antique and vintage artwork in the room includes a long, narrow painting of men working on sails that George S. Hill entered unsuccessfully in a 1930 contest to illustrate the book “Moby Dick.”
While Vincere’s partners mix styles, textures and finishes, they’ve got nothing on Kenneth Walter of Gray & Walter. That designer dramatically combined wall coverings along with formal and rustic styles in the first Game Room shown in a DreamHome.
One treatment is metal panels painted with a silver faux finish that resembles concrete. Another is a dark finish with a crosshatch of a lighter brown.
Consider the very rough-hewed backgammon table flanked by gray suede chairs and the smooth leather chairs and sofa.
Fun things in this room include photographs of cowboys looking at a Prada “store” on a desolate highway in West Texas, not to mention Jean de Merry’s creation that wraps silver metal mesh tubes around light bulbs, giving it a snakelike look.s
After all kinds of texture covering on walls in most of the rooms, the simple gray paint of Richard Abrahamson’s Living Room is relaxing.
“My design philosophy is people make the room,” said Abrahamson. “Those walls are great in the morning, afternoon and for a cocktail party. They’re comfortable and don’t scream and are pretty subdued.”
Textures are important to him, too, and he designed a tailored leather mantel for the fireplace and tried myriad rugs before choosing a pale, pale celadon wool floral from Stark, which through a new process looks like the antique it copies.
The art over the fireplace is tree shadows that Abrahamson photographed, arranged in a grid and painted with house paint bought at a discount because other buyers had rejected it.
Many guesses were wasted trying to figure out the objects the designer matted and framed in white on the opposite wall. The four pictures are not deconstructed fabric or photos of cross sections of walls but the insides of book bindings flattened and pressed by artist John Fraser, who is featured at Roy Boyd Gallery in Chicago.
The first room visitors enter in the DreamHome is the Foyer where the wallcovering appears to be silk-screened charcoal, brown and gold on linen. Jillian O’Neill started her design with the silk rug of flowers in gold, blue, red and lavender.
Next is Robyn Shapiro’s Study with grass cloth on the wall under a large textile with a curvy design in natural indigo and walnut dyes. This hangs above a chaise covered in faux white cashmere.
“I chose the artwork because it represents elemental materials and forms,” said Shapiro. “The purpose was to reinforce the interior’s link with natural materials and textures and to provide objects for contemplation.
Artist Frank Connet of Chicago created both the textile and woven copper baskets decorating shelves in the room.
In Fernando Soler’s Wood-Mode Dressing Room, the wallcovering is gray snakeskin. A great touch here is the chandelier with gold glass flowers from Kenneth Ludwig.
Brian Snow put two tables in the Dining Room with Maya Romanoff’s new Kyoto Weave of hemp with a ribbonlike effect throughout on the walls. Guests sit on clear crystal acrylic chairs around a round table or a plush purple velvet Henredon banquette or sofa at the rough-hewed rectangular one.
Brandy Cohen of Plain & Fancy by Dandamudi’s also chose a warm, soft gray for the walls of the Kitchen to coordinate with the even lighter shade of gray on the perimeter cabinets.
She topped the island with polished white marble with golden veins called Imperial Danby. The same marble covers the backsplash, but a honed finish keeps splashes from being overly obvious.
Thomas Bucherie chose a realistic-looking faux stone wallcovering when he brought the indoors out for Outdoor Dining.
Merchandise Mart DreamHome
When: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Saturday, starting April 13 and closing Dec. 7
Where: First Floor, Merchandise Mart, Wells and Kinzie streets, just north of the Chicago River in Chicago.
Admission: $5 suggested donation to Almost Home Kids
Preview gala: 6-8 p.m., Wednesday, April 11. Tickets are $75. <a href="http://www.martreg.com/reg/dreamhome/party/">martreg.com/reg/dreamhome/party</a>.
DreamHome online: <a href="http://www.merchandisemartdesigncenter.com/dreamhome/">merchandisemartdesigncenter.com/dreamhome</a>