Agood renovation is like a crisp haircut—it looks effortless, but you know it took a skilled hand. This 1911 home in Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood was in need of some expert grooming. It had once been a three-flat apartment building with Italianate details, but an uninspired update had left it with dowdy finishes and an odd layout. The new owners’ mission: Return the 3,600-square-foot space to its original splendor, with a modern twist. The couple brought in local designer Erin Shakoor, who, working with Senga Architects, opened up the public rooms for entertaining, banished cheap aluminum windows, and swapped dated floors for hardwood sand tile with a mix of decorative styles from Art Deco to Brutalism, including a striking geometric mosaic under the kitchen island that looks like an ornate, period-appropriate rug.
Contemporary art inspired Shakoor’s concept for nearly every room. This is typical for the designer, who cites artists such as Mickalene Thomas, known for arranging colors and patterns in unapologetic ways, and Howardena Pindell, whose work has unique textural aspects, as her muses. Shakoor drenched the spaces in color to evoke a mood: Dusty mauve soothes the living room, and deep blue walls anchor the primary bedroom. Because the clients love blush tints, Shakoor also dipped into those. When the clients found a rose marble fireplace mantel, “We used that to inform other color choices in the house,” Shakoor says, nodding to the fluted pink vanity in the primary bathroom and metallic rose gold upholstery behind the bed. She’s not one to create a “literal translation” of anything; it’s more about the atmospheric effect. An underlying current of flora—a hand-painted mural surrounding the fireplace mantel, a vintage light fixture that looks like a gilded bouquet—reflects the clients’ love for gardening and the outdoors.
The quest to modernize the space went beyond aesthetics, with functionality as the primary driver. Shakoor’s clients emphasized that clutter was a no-no. “We had to find innovative ways to store and hide things,” she says. For instance, a window seat doubles as a hideaway for books that don’t fit on the living room shelves. “It’s not just about the details but also how people live in the space and how design enhances that lifestyle,” Shakoor says.
