Sometimes, home design is like comfort food. We surround ourselves with things that are familiar but, like that artery-clogging mac and cheese, are no longer what we really need—especially when moving from an apartment to a house with more space than we know what to do with. That was the case when one couple settled into a gracious Queen Anne/Eastlake residence in Evanston. What seemed grown-up and oh-so-appropriate, soon grew stodgy and stale. “We went from a one-bedroom to this house, and the things I had chosen when we moved in looked old as I grew older,” admits the homeowner. “I wanted something fresher, more vibrant for our family now.”

With a new addition to the home completed, the time was right to do something about those less-than-winning rooms. Turning to interior designer Julia Edelmann—who has a passion for investing older properties with a contemporary essence—the homeowners transformed their surroundings without sacrificing any historic appeal. “I am in the people business,” says Edelmann, “and the first thing I have to do is understand what makes the client tick. This client was very down-to-earth. I think even hiring a designer was hard for her. She’s not at all frivolous and did not want to appear as such, running out and buying all new things. She really wanted to keep as much of what she had as she could. She had two comfy chairs in the parlor, so I had two more made, and we put them in the living room with new fabric. This allowed her to feel more comfortable with the whole idea of redecorating.”

Even so, as Edelmann admits, steering her client to the best choice wasn’t always smooth sailing. While the two agreed that the existing chairs could stay once they were re-upholstered, the client wasn’t immediately sold on the idea of having two more made to replace the sofa. “My idea was you don’t have the sofa in the corner and the two chairs and a coffee table in between,” relates Edelmann. “But the idea of just four chairs was a bit of a challenge. It took me a while to get her there.” Laughing, the homeowner readily agrees. “Victorian houses are tricky. Sometimes, the rooms are narrow or, in this case, oddly shaped. We’ve tried the sofa in the middle of the room, we tried it in the window bay. Over the years, I had rearranged that room three or four different ways. And while it looked okay, it just didn’t work. But now, with the chairs focused toward the center of the room, the space is really comfortable, perfect for conversation.”

Before the couple bought the house 16 years ago, it had sat empty for a year and needed work. “It had crazy, crazy brown shag carpet when we bought it,” recalls the homeowner. “When we took that up, I must have pulled 1,600 staples from the foyer floor alone. In the first stages of renovation, we were so naïve. We jacked up the house and the plaster cracked and we had to redo all the walls. My parents came out and slept on an air mattress and helped us. We were in the middle of that for so long. We’ve put so much into this house, I feel like I’ve seen behind every wall, I know every nook and cranny. We laugh that when we first moved in, we thought we’d never need all the space we had and eventually we had to finish the basement and then now this addition. We have grown into this house, and it has morphed with our family as our needs have changed.”

For all the changes the 130-year-old residence has experienced over the years, thanks to Edelmann’s understated touch and the presence of the homeowners’ family treasures, this is one old house that wears its history well. Wide openings linking one room to another make for a very fluid layout, which Edelmann enhanced with wall colors in a soothing spectrum of gray. She highlighted the handsome millwork with crisp, white paint and punctuated the various spaces with an array of unique pieces: a lamp made from an architectural fragment; a dining table sporting silver-leafed metal legs; and a top spun from rough hewn wood. Art work by family members—her great uncle’s watercolors and marine pictures by his grandfather, Marshall Woodside Joyce, share wall space with pieces the couple’s three children have created. In the parlor, which overlooks the much-used front porch, bookshelves display a panoply of well-loved items, from pieces of coral to vintage volumes of the Bobbsey Twins stories. “My husband’s grandmother gave us a huge ceramic lamp in bright colors that sat in a closet forever,” relates the homeowner. “I loved it, but didn’t know what to do with it, until Julia pulled it out and put it on a table in the foyer. I love that we’re around it and we use it every day.”

More at home than ever in a house that means so much to them, Edelmann’s clients look forward to spending many more years here. “There’s something special about staying in a place if it works for you. And we like the idea of our children growing up in one house. There’s nothing this house doesn’t give us, and now, on top of that, there’s the added history of it being so much ours. It’s hard to think of ever leaving.”

LEFT: Anchored by a marble-topped island and paired with clubby stools from Ballard Design upholstered with durable vinyl fabric, the kitchen combines family-friendly functionality with a stylishness suitable for canapés and cocktails.

RIGHT: A wall painted with Farrow & Ball’s “Skimming Stone,” a gathering of treasured drawings, and vintage metal furniture combine to create a serene study in grey.

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SOURCEBOOK

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INTERIOR DESIGNER
Julia Buckingham Edelmann
Buckingham Interiors + Design LLC
Chicago, 312-243-9975, buckinghamid.com

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LIVING ROOM
Chandelier: found and repurposed by Buckingham ID
Four chairs: two from owner’s private collection, two provided and custom-designed by Buckingham ID
Chair fabric: Christopher Farr Cloth “Flower Show”
fabric, Holland & Sherry, Merchandise Mart
Tray: Love Train Antiques, to the trade only in Atlanta
Artwork on mantle: Francine Turk in Chicago,
312-674-1818, francineturk.com
Carpet: Oscar Isberian Carpets in Evanston,
847-475-0000, isberian.com

STUDY
Chandelier: Urban Totem in Evanston,
847-733 7507, urbantotem.com
Architectural fragment floor lamp: Balsamo,
balsamoant.com
Artwork: part of owner’s private collection
Ottoman fabric: “Casino” fabric, Donghia,
Merchandise Mart
Chair fabric: “Wool Herringbone” fabric,
Holland & Sherry, Merchandise Mart
Wall color: “Elephant’s Breath,” Farrow & Ball
Accessories on bookshelf: sourced and arranged
by Julia Edelmann

HALLWAY
Chair and table: Heritage Trail Mall in Wilmette,
847-256-6208
Art: part of owner’s private collection
Framing and floral design: Julia Edelmann
Wall paint color: “Skimming Stone,” Farrow & Ball, Merchandise Mart in Chicago, 800-677-6278, merchandisemart.com

DINING ROOM
Dining table: Annie Selke Home, annieselke.com
Wall covering: Phillip Jeffries damask grasscloth
in “Elephant,” Holly Hunt, Merchandise Mart
Chairs: Italian Fruitwood, circa 1910, Buckingham ID
Artwork: Francine Turk
Dining table accessories: Julia Edelmann, Buckingham ID

KITCHEN
Lighting: Remains Lighting, remains.com
Counter stools: Ballard Design, vinyl fabric from
the Summerhill Showroom, Merchandise Mart
Artifacts: The Find in Highwood, 847-266-1700,
thefind-antiques.com
Staging and floral design: Julia Edelmann, Buckingham ID
 

—Thomas Conners