Our client had a vision for a soft, serene, and chic home, yet the finishes in her Lake Forest Estates house were dark and stuck in the early 2000s. And despite it’s great layout, the home was in dire need of a upgrade throughout the main level.
We focused our transformation on the primary living room off the kitchen, a mudroom off the garage, and a powder bathroom.
Our goal was to create an airy, stylish, yet classic aesthetic that would incorporate traditional architectural details with a modern application.
To achieve this, we used marble and marble-like materials throughout, as well as brushed golds, soft grays, and jewel-tone blues and purples to create a lighter, curated feel. We replaced several light fixtures on the main level and installed throughout a rift-sawn white oak flooring, finished in a natural stain to highlight the beauty of the oak planks. In the powder bath, we installed new hexagon porcelain tiles resembling marble, complemented by a gorgeous floral wallpaper, and a new vanity with a floor-to-ceiling mirror to improve the vanity’s placement on the small corner wall.
Painting the mudroom cabinets a fresh white, replacing the countertop and backsplash, and repeating the hexagon porcelain tile from the powder bath on the mudroom floor helped update and refresh the space. An unusual, cloud-inspired wallpaper with hues of purple and pink gave the room an extra layer of interest.
The living room presented some of our biggest challenges, as its size made it difficult to scale furniture appropriately and the fireplace felt uninteresting and flat. We updated the fireplace with custom millwork details, a gray marble mantle, and mosaic tile to give it depth, making it the statement feature in the room. A large-scale sectional sofa now helps balance the room’s scale and draws the eye into the space. Violet and blue-toned pillows on the sectional provide a pop of color in the room.
Overall, the renovation transformed the home from dark and dated to a unique Midwest chic design that met our client’s desires.
Designer Courtney Otte with The Modern Hive was recognized with a Silver award for her work on this project at the 2022 Nebraska/Iowa Chapter ASID Awards held in September 2022.
This article originally appeared in the July/August 2023 issue of Omaha Home magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
