Designers go brilliant and bold with Lake Forest Showhouse
From the water-tinted lacquer ceiling in the dining room to the raspberry furniture in the family room - and the high-gloss dark olive paint in the space way too elegant to be called a mudroom, the Lake Forest Showhouse & Gardens demonstrates how to decorate with color.
Whether you want to add pops of vibrance to a neutral scheme, to go all-the-way bold, or to capture rich combinations of blues and greens, inspiration and tips abound in this home, which Howard Van Doren Shaw designed in 1922 as a summer residence for a prominent lawyer.
The Infant Welfare Society of Chicago will hold it open to the public through May 21.
The dining room also reveals this is not your grandmother's Lake Forest home. Designer Shelley Johnstone of Lake Forest chose a tablecloth with a large crewel-looking floral pattern and rattan chairs - much more casual than show house visitors might expect.
You probably won't see more vibrant color in the home than the outdoor raspberry fabric that Paul Klug of Lake Forest chose for the sofa and chairs in the family room. Notice the perfect match with the large, delicate piece of coral. But any visitor interested in playing it safe with color will notice the walls are white. And Klug's choice of Farrow & Ball's Amime wallpaper for the ceiling - an example of how important this home's designers consider that "fifth wall" - resembles grass cloth in subdued blue.
In the mudroom (Family entrance? Solarium? Retreat?), Soledad Zitzewitz of Lake Bluff started with Farrow & Ball's very dark green Pantalon, then added Latin names of herbs just under the ceiling. She also created living walls of edible plants and spices by hanging groups of pots near each gothic window.
If more neutral is your style, welcome to Sweet Peas Design Inc.'s master bedroom with its grays and other soft tones inside white walls. Susan Brunstrum, owner of the Libertyville firm, made the custom upholstered bed literally the center of the room, which she said creates "a vortex for dreams and imagination."
Other surprises in this master retreat include a round glass table rather than a chest or bench at the foot of the bed, and the pop of color she created by painting an antique Asian chair yellow. Brunstrum concentrated on texture, including metals, wood, horsehair, several fabrics and even a touch of crystals and pearls. Instead of night stands, very clever little oak C-tables (glamorous versions of hospital trays) slide up on either side of the bed to create stable spots for laptops, books, drinks and even breakfast.
A 1940s Swedish sofa upholstered in a bright green leafy linen named Celotocaulis by Josef Franks stars in the "tree house" Annika Christensen and Lois Blazsanyik of Midnight Sun Ltd., Mundelein, created for the second-floor "Coach House Living Room." The walls here are darkish Inchyra Blue, which Farrow & Ball, donor of paint for the show house, says can read gray or green.
No visitor could miss the green Algue by Vitra, a plastic vine or twig-like concoction that meanders across the walls and windows. The designers say the wood and black African drum tables reinforce the organic feel.
Besides other natural or organic accessories like tables with wood or marble slabs, a chandelier of silver tree branches, exotic animals present their own theme in various rooms. These include wall coverings like Clarence House's classic Tibet - with what might be a cross between a dog and a tiger - in the "Young Gentleman's Room" by Liz McEnaney of E. Claire Design in Northfield. And in the coach house solarium, Lori Lennon of Lake Forest displays African animals not only on a small collection of porcelain but even on some of the tableware, not to mention the tiger on the plush blue rug.
This project offers 27 interior spaces in two buildings, along with several large gardens packed with ideas. Designers offer items in their rooms for sale, and the estate itself is available for just under $4 million.
If you go
What: Lake Forest Showhouse & Gardens
When: Through May 21. 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.
Tickets: $37, available online at
www.lakeforestshowhouse.com/eventtickets.htmlParking: Free shuttle. Weekdays: Christ Church, 100 N. Waukegan Road, Lake Forest (northwest corner of routes 60 and 43); Saturdays and Sundays: East Lake Forest Train Station, 691 N. Western Ave., Lake Forest (north parking lot between Westminster Avenue and Scott Street.Benefits: Infant Welfare Society of ChicagoEtc: No wheelchair access. No children younger than 8, including infants. No strollers.Email: showhouse@aol.comOnline: www.lakeforestshowhouse.com/showhouseinfo.html