Friends transform a North Barrington home

Unexpected color and one-of-a-kind antique lighting fixtures help transform a 20-year-old house into a 21st century showplace.

Crystals on the kitchen chandelier sparkle in glints of purple, picking up the color of the brand new aubergine range by La Cornue.

One second-floor bath is cobalt blue to mirror the adjoining bedroom, and red dominates another guest room.

Francine Spacek, a Chicago designer, helped Barbara Bradford, her childhood friend, update her Wynstone home in North Barrington.

Carved woodwork adds character, as do broken marble slabs on the wall in the bath off the Venetian bedroom.

Custom finishes include nature scenes hand painted on canvas for the backs of the chairs in the dinette -- which has some of the best views in the home.

"The chairs reference what we love about the house," said Bradford. "All of the nature. We can look at the back of the chairs and out in the back yard."

This project has taken almost a decade, with individual craftsmen carving the woodwork and painting the walls and even the ivory kitchen cabinets.

"We did one room at a time," said Spacek. "The contractor and homeowners and I worked together. We changed everything. Everything was ripped up and taken down to the studs for new electricity and heating."

Bradford and her husband, Robert Sherman, both executives at Serta International in Hoffman Estates, fell in love with an ancient cottonwood tree in the backyard -- one that does not produce seeds -- when they first toured this house.

Bradford had just finished rehabbing a townhouse in Oak Brook and didn't think she wanted to undertake another home renovation. But almost a decade later, she is very happy with the house, even though the redecorating is not quite done.

"It's been a labor of love," she said. "I go to work every day, so I don't have to live in it and see it and hear it 24/7."

The front entry, which will be one of the last rooms finished because so much construction traffic has to go through that area, shows the home's original décor.

The flooring is white marble, the walls white and the trim very simple.

"It reflected the tastes of the time," said Bradford. "Everything cream or beige. They avoided color. People enjoy color today."

Spacek and Bradford put the brilliant colors on the second floor.

"I think Fran has a unique talent when it comes to selecting beautiful colors," said Bradford. "I love red, so I asked her, 'Can we have a red room?' And off we went."

In the red room -- Spacek says think West Indies and Ernest Hemingway -- the heavy carved bed has a leather headboard and the windows are draped with black and white toile in an unusual zoo theme.

The ceiling is tented in white silk and coved with bamboo. The white wool Belgian carpeting looks like tone-on-tone crewel.

Just to make sure the bathroom covered with cobalt blue mosaic glass tiles has enough sparkle, a groove in the stainless steel frame around the mirror displays a single row of blue Swarovski crystals. The sink is a blue glass vessel, of course, above a white counter and floor.

Bradford found a glamorous Monte Carlo poster with a cobalt background, and that set the scheme for the room and bath.

She said she and Spacek lived together in an apartment years ago, and the designer painted her friend's room dark blue.

"I loved it. I love rooms with atmosphere," said Bradford.

The Venetian room with a crackle finish that looks frescoed includes an antique gilt chair with Fortuny silk velvet on the seat.

In the adjoining bathroom, two large slabs of marble come together at a corner.

"I told them to just break the slabs for the wall," said Spacek, explaining the ragged finish along the tops.

And why create such dramatic scenes in guest bathrooms?

"I love beautiful things," said Bradford. "I love a beautiful environment. It makes me happy to be in my home."

Not everything in the house is custom or expensive, said Spacek, noting she found sconces for one of the bathrooms for $200.

Most of the ceiling light fixtures are antiques refurbished by New Metal Crafts Inc. in Chicago.

The large, masculine but not clunky chandelier from Belgium in Sherman's office and library is pewter.

The doors to the room feature antique steel grilles with cherubs that were originally in French gates.

"I have a great appreciation for antiques," said Spacek. "I don't think they make things like the way they used to with the craftsmanship."

The new trim in the two-story family room includes a shield design and acanthus leaves.

An amazing new chandelier from Holly Hunt hangs there. It looks like a big tray of candles, and indeed the lights are sleeved in wax, but are electric.

"Barbara loves unique things -- things you can't go on the Internet and find," said Spacek.

And how does Spacek tell her friend when one of the homeowner's ideas just won't work?

"Her famous line is 'We could do better,'" said Bradford.