House Tour in Illinois


Beneath a crystal chandelier, a small table off the kitchen provides an intimate dining nook.

The straight lines of the bookcase offset the curves of the carved and gilded sofa. A painting hangs somewhat eccentrically above.The sofa is upholstered in linen, similar to the linen-bound volumes on the shelves. Silk pillows.

Tasseled, buttoned "ball-gown slipcovers" dress up gilded dining chairs. Their opulence is underscored by the bare oak floor, outlined in walnut parquet. The Drexel claw-foot table was dark brown until owner Annie Brahler coated it with Sherwin-Williams "Pulmonaria" semigloss paint, deliberately avoiding a precise match with the slipcovers.


Eight-year-old daughter Isabel's bedroom has a bedstead that belonged to Princess Lillian of Belgium.

A slipper tub in the master bedroom.
All images and information from here.
This entry was posted on October 4, 2009 at 12:14 pm, and is filed under
Architect Howard J. Backen,
architecture,
House tour,
houses,
Illionois,
inspiring blog,
Jacksonville,
sophisticated,
The William Howard Thompson House
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