Inside Houzz: Taking a Dining Space From Plain to Polished
Suzanne Hosticka knows what she likes when it comes to furnishing her house. She’s confident in purchasing pieces like a sofa, dining table and even accessories. She just doesn’t know how to put it all together.
When she and her husband, Mark, downsized from their home in Florida to one in a Chicago suburb, she spent eight months buying furnishings and lightly decorating, but she needed help with the finishing touches that would bring warmth to her collection.
She searched Houzz for local interior designers and found Jamie Crose. Looking through Crose’s portfolio of projects and reading reviews of her work, Hosticka felt a connection with the designer’s style. She also was able to hire the designer by the hour, so whenever she faced a challenge, she’d have Crose come to the rescue.
Crose helped with drapes, paint colors, bedding, a kitchen backsplash and new custom cabinets, an à la carte approach that not all designers do. “I do it because a lot of people think when you hire a designer, you have to have a minimum amount to spend on a project, or there are other stipulations to go with it,” Crose says. “Some people want a lot of help; others just need direction. I feel both kinds of clients deserve the same amount of my attention.”
Hosticka’s original dining area, shown here, was driving her crazy. She already had the dining table and chairs she wanted, but was having trouble finishing off the space and making it work. She loved her open floor plan but missed the intimacy of her dining room back in Florida. “She wanted it to have a nice, natural flow with the main living space, but cozy like its own room,” Crose says.
AFTER: Crose immediately knew from experience what to do. She used wallpaper to delineate the space, in a warm, moody color inspired by Hosticka’s, deep purple dining room in Florida. She then turned the table so Hosticka could add extra chairs or a bench on the end for holiday dinners when her two grown boys were in town.
The shelves were made by Hosticka’s grandfather. Crose found them down in the basement and had her client give them a silver rub from a local hobby shop. “They were simple but had meaning,” Crose said.
Crose then had an electrician remove the single ceiling fixture and put in two openings for a pair of fixtures that gave the table more dimension and character. The large mirror reflects light from an adjacent window in the family room.
Table: Moderno in White Milpa, Walter E. Smithe; mirror: Pascual, Z Gallerie; lights: Lotus Flower Chandeliers; wallpaper: Seabrook, in Silver Damask; chairs: Canadel; chest: Arhaus; wall paint: Revere Pewter and Kingsport Gray (hallway), both by Benjamin Moore
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