Suburban designers add edge to Gracious show house

Looking for dramatic urban design — edgy even? Turn suburban interior designers loose on a north-side Chicago home. You'll get hot pink artwork that could take over a room, artistically shredded wall covering and a beaded chain chandelier.

Despite the city location, designers working on Chicago's Gracious House Designer Showhouse, open through Tuesday, Sept. 30, have roots firmly in Arlington Heights, Grayslake, Libertyville, Oak Brook, LaGrange and Hinsdale. Proceeds benefit Prevent Child Abuse America.

The edgiest space features dark green walls that appear lacquered, highlighted with a 6-by-7-foot hot-pink painting — the second-floor master bedroom by Donna Hall of Savvy Interior Design in Hinsdale.

“Beyoncé and Jay Z were my fantasy couple when I designed this room,” said Hall. “I wanted opulent and dramatic and sexy. Both genders like a room if it's sexy.”

The walls are really a special technique achieved by her plasterer, said Hall, and the abstract painting by Chicagoan Francine Turk is valued at $40,000.

“It makes quite a statement,” the designer said of the painting. “I knew I wanted one piece of art here with nothing else on this wall, so I really, really needed a bold statement. Another wall is layered with art pieces.”

Items to notice in this room: Hall designed the dark walnut bed with the leather-and-gold headboard she says men seem to love. Another creation by the designer is the pair of oval Lucite side tables inspired by a bracelet. The drapes show a vertical ombre pattern from golds to greens to blue and drape onto the floor along with the gray sheers.

“I'm not a fan of puddling,” said Hall, “but we've done so many clean, simpler drapes for years and these seem more decadent.”

And the dark paisley pattern burned into cowhide for a rug presents Hall's touch of the baroque.

One of the brightest rooms in the house is the first-floor family room by Susan Brunstrum and Sweet Peas Design of Libertyville.

“Boutique hotel” is the stated feel for the house, and Brunstrum says her space with its clean lines could be the lobby of a small hotel as well as serve the residence for family and friends.

The wall covered with paper in three different parchment-colored patterns from Harlequin demands attention because some of the paper is torn and applied so it curls above the top of the wall.

“I wanted to make a quiet statement,” said Brunstrum. “I didn't want to compete with anything going on in an adjacent space, but I wanted it to be elegant. We put one layer on the wall and then we layered the others and ripped and tore and curled them.”

Glass heads in red, green, gold and purple by Pearl Dick of Ignite Glass Studios provide pops of color in the neutral room where the palette is represented by high-gloss gray walls in a paint C2 calls pavement. The trim is the lighter paper clip in a satin finish.

Faced with an outdated fireplace front, Brunstrum boxed it with white marble-look tiles that climb all the way to the ceiling. And she is very proud of the thick piece of tempered glass that serves as a screen in front of the fire box.

“It's a great idea if you have an odd-sized fireplace,” said Brunstrum. “Simpler than looking all over for the right sized screen.”

It is impossible to resist touching the long, silky white locks of the Icelandic sheepskin covering the bench in front of the fireplace, a cozy place to watch the fire if we ever admitted that winter might come again.

Mary Susan Bicicchi of Mary Susan Interiors in LaGrange thinks everyone should entertain in their homes — even when their budgets or energies don't match the “updated Downton Abbey” that Bicicchi says styled this dining room.

Also inspired by the theme “boutique hotel,” the designer displays her collection of hotel silver, silver plate used on railroads and steam ships as well as in hotels until stainless steel took over in the 1970s. She holds out a small 1910 coffee pot from the Saint Paul Hotel.

“Items were often smaller because they were just meant to serve one or two at your table,” she said.

The first item Bicicchi selected for the room is the chandelier. In a classical shape suited to any Victorian manor, at first glance it seems the drapes are tiny crystal beads, but those strands are chains like on your necklace.

“The softness offsets some of the straighter lines, she said. “It's edgy and transitional. You could use it in so many settings. It's unpredictable.”

The designer also owns Mary Vincent Fine Art Gallery in LaGrange, and one picture she chose for the room is Sylvain Roberge's stunning blue and green painting of a tree with white wax dripping on the surface.

Glass lamps add to the glamour of the room, as does the Lapchi brand wool and silk rug that shades from silver to charcoal. The silver drapes are silk and polyester, a fabric less expensive than the Thai silk it resembles, said Bicicchi. And they hang from a new style pleat that requires no tape.

Always seeking one more touch of luxury, Bicicchi finally found grass cloth wall covering with a touch of silver.

The horizontal artwork above the dark brown leather headboard in the second-floor guest suite looks like five pierced metal palm leaves curved together in a line. But it's really individual pieces of felt on a frame, says Loren Reid Seaman, who works with Arlington Design Center in Arlington Heights.

The closet could be used for many things — dressing table, work space or perhaps even clothes storage. But Seaman installed a large mirror that turns into a computer-operated screen for morning news, Internet or movies.

The taupe tweed menswear wallcovering is from D.L. Couch's commercial line.

In the adjacent sitting room visitors will notice the large tilted ceiling light fashioned from short strips of mixed metals with mica balls actually holding the lights.

“It throws interesting shadows,” said Seaman. “I think this shows what you can do with a smaller space. It is important to have proper and different lighting.”

The coffee table in front of the light taupe tweed sectional features a metal top on a slab of wood and bark that was a section of a tree.

Seaman chose a Robert Allen fabric with a gold and taupe geometric pattern for the linen drapes, and installed a gray and gold commercial vinyl wall covering on just two walls.

“People ask ‘Can I really do that?'” he says. “A designer helps give ‘permission.'”

Seaman also redid the bathroom across the hall from the suite, including three sparkling crystal pendant lights.

Lauri Venema from Oak Brook worked to create a sophisticated sanctuary or city garden in the master bathroom.

Appropriately enough for a getaway, a blue, green, orange and red painting by Michelle Gordon of Chicago is called “Seascape” and includes real grains of sand. But it's the abstract female nude named Timeout by Lara that Venema hopes lures visitors into her space.

The plush pewter rug provides texture and sheen, the faux mink bench is an inviting spot to sit, and the ceiling light fixture is stainless and crystal against the ceiling of C2 Paint's dark blue sorcerer.

For a touch of whimsy, a whole swarm of green butterflies painted by Jen Talbot of Riverside fly as a mobile from a silver branch in the shower. Venema serves as a designer on call at Chicago's Merchandise Mart.

Suburbanites with two-story living room could get ideas from the one decorated by Michelle Rohrer-Lauer of Grayslake.

The bay window soaring the height of the house brings in natural light and inspired the champagne shimmer faux finish on the walls. Rohrer-Lauer softened this daylight with layered sheers, including a dotted one, then finished with bronze velvet drapes.

She enlarged the fireplace, surrounding it first with gold tiles, then adding what is almost a contemporary sculpture of dark wood.

Pieces that attract attention include a pair of chairs with bronze velvet seats and backs in a large brown and green floral and a small barrel chair with a rosewood finish.

Chicago designer M. Grace Sielaff, who set up an organization called Gracious House to raise funds for children in need, decorated the eating area off the kitchen with orchid-color sheer drapes to fit the group's signature color.

Gracious House Designer Showhouse

What: Gracious House Designer Showhouse

Where: 4035 N. Hermitage Ave., Chicago

When: Through Sept. 30.

Hours: Daily 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and until 8 p.m. on Thursday.

Tickets: $25 online and $35 at the door.

Benefits: Prevent Child Abuse America, <a href="http://www.preventchildabuse.org/">preventchildabuse.org</a>

Information: <a href="http://www.graciousshowhouse.com/">Graciousshowhouse.com</a>or call (773) 206-3539