"When a family of four city dwellers fell in love with the original horse stables and sprawling backyard of a historic home in Lake Forest, IL, it felt, to them, like being in the country so near to Chicago. They enlisted Claire Rose Staszak, an interior designer and blogger at Centered By Design, to help set up a 700-square-foot coach house as their own homestead during renovations of the main house. The 1919 structure, which will function as a guest house in the future, was built over a large garage, and includes a first-floor entry with a second-level porch, small kitchen, lounge, bathroom, and two bedrooms. Claire, who worked her magic in another Before & After: A Logan Square Stunner for the Color-Averse, used local vendors and vintage finds to meet her tight, eight-week deadline. “The look we were trying to achieve was one part bohemian and one part modern,” she says, “With a dash of campy (think Wes Anderson Moonrise Kingdom).”
Claire went the semi-custom route by choosing several key pieces from MegMade‘s extensive warehouse of antique furniture, which were then altered to her specifications. She also commissioned reclaimed wood open kitchen shelving and a new bathroom cabinet from Foundre Made, which served to update the existing IKEA kitchen, for the time being. Finding appropriate lighting at the correct scale for the small coach house with its low ceilings proved to be a challenge, but sourcing from a mix of retail stores, Chairish vendors, and the Randolph Street Market turned up just the right fixtures. The custom kilim rug runner in the entry, the home’s most unique decorative feature, makes a bold statement about the relaxed retreat ahead as guests enter the space. Sourced from Alapash New Home, Claire had two very large rugs cut, and their edges serged and pieced together during installation, to create the look. “It was a bit of [a] giant puzzle,” she admits, “But everyone loves the results!” —Annie"
Photography by Everyday Charming
