Logan Square Cottage gets a big facelift!

Yesterday was picture day at Carla and Andrew’s sweet Logan Square house, as we get ready to go on the market there soon. {if you want to see more about how they transformed the interior, click here} While they did a lot of work on the interior of their house, one of the simplest, but biggest impact, projects they did was replacing the siding on the exterior. The house looked okay with it’s original grey siding, but didn’t really stand out. And when you got closer than just looking at a photograph, you could tell that it had ‘been around…

Brick & terra cotta ~ you’ve stolen my heart

April 25, 2018April 25, 2018 Categories: architecture · creativity · design · energy · inspiration · interiors · styleTags: architecture · brick · brick flooring · design · earth tones · flooring · interiors · style · terra cottaLeave a comment

I love a good vintage space. And I love finishes that aren’t necessarily the ‘hottest’ or ‘trendiest’, but are beautiful, classic, timeless or even just unexpected but make a space really stand out. One thing I’ve been seeing pop up here and there a bit lately is brick and terra cotta flooring, and I’m in love. It’s not super trendy {and that’s one thing I love about it}, but it’s beautiful, and moreover, it’s timeless. So a house that has 40 year old {or more} brick or terra cotta flooring is suddenly in again, without changing a thing! I love…

Oak Park renovation ~ progress house tour!

March 21, 2018March 21, 2018 Categories: architecture · design · interiors · real estate · renovationTags: architecture · construction · fixer upper · four square · home stretch · in progress · interior design · interiors · oak park · renovation · transformationLeave a comment

Rebecca and Ryan have made a ton of progress on their house, and I’m excited to share a new video tour with you today! Right now it might not look like they’ve made as much progress as they really have, since all of the kitchen cabinets are still in boxes in the living room, but they have come a looong way since they started, and the project is just about at the point where all the sudden you blink and the space looks almost finished. I’ve even heard whispers that they are even scheduling movers for the end of the month!…

Some spaces are better to renovate while you live in them…

February 22, 2018 Categories: architecture · bathroom · buying · creativity · design · interiors · investment · real estate · renovation · vintageTags: architecture · flip · investment property · renovation · vintageLeave a comment

A couple of weeks ago I found the most amazing place that had just come on the market. It hasn’t been sold in 40 years! It’s a massive condo in a vintage three flat and is a massive 2400 square feet on one floor. A sprawling three bedroom two bath space with tall ceilings and gorgeous original trim, it even has a picture rails in the dining room {be still my heart}! And of course it needs a lot of updating {that’s part of what makes it so great, in my opinion anyway!}, but has all the vintage charm that…

Video House Tour of the Oak Park Foursquare!

January 28, 2018March 21, 2018 Categories: architecture · design · interiors · investment · real estate · renovationTags: architecture · demo · demolition · design · four square · interior design · interiors · oak park · progress · real estate · renovationLeave a comment

If you don’t follow my Haven by Design Facebook page you probably missed my LIVE video tour of Rebecca & Ryan’s new house, which is still very much in-progress. If you want a real live peek into a renovation by real humans, with full time jobs and kids and dogs, just like the rest of us {who might be thinking a renovation is too much to take on} then click here and see where they are now and learn a little more about renovations and as-is sales! I’ll share more mid-renovation pics this week, until then, have a great Sunday!…

If I could buy anything ~ vintage highrise edition

September 25, 2017September 25, 2017 Categories: architecture · creativity · design · energy · inspiration · interiors · real estate · vintageTags: architecture · building · highrise · real estate dreams · vintage · vintage highriseLeave a comment

There are so many amazing places that I would happily buy. So welcome to the first of who knows how many ~ If I could buy anything ~ posts. . . today’s debut edition is all about the vintage highrise {drool!!} Guys, Chicago has some AHMAZING vintage buildings, but one specific type that I’ve always been completely crazy in love with are the vintage high-rises. Seriously, breathtaking, stop you in your tracks beautiful, outside and in. The rooms are huge, I take that back, they are normal sized, you know, from the days when you had a dining room and a living room… and…

Please don’t buy {or build} an ugly house

October 21, 2015 Categories: architecture · creativity · energy · intuition · moving · real estate · renovationTags: architecture · energy · real estate · renovationsLeave a comment

When you’re buying a new house it’s important that the inside space really works for you. But it’s also important that the outside doesn’t look like shit either. Sometimes I look at a building and I honestly don’t know – 1. what the person who designed it was thinking, or 2. who on earth thought it was great looking and what an awesome idea it would be to buy it. In one way I can totally get behind the idea of ‘to each their own’ and that everything is beautiful in some way… to someone… but also – some buildings…

Hang out with me today at the Pullman House Tour!

October 10, 2015October 17, 2015 Categories: architecture · energy · real estateTags: architectureLeave a comment

I’m heading to the Southside today for the Pullman House Tour! Pullman is a really beautiful historic neighborhood founded by George Pullman, a railroad magnate. He was a trailblazer in his time and built an entire community for his employees. There are different types and sizes of house for the different levels of employees and they each had certain distinct characteristics and were grouped together in different areas. There are row houses for the workers in three widths, twelve feet, fifteen feet and seventeen feet. Yes, you read that right, can you even imagine a twelve foot wide house?? One of my…