GLENCOE HOUSEWALK: Marriage of Old World Charm with Modern Day Taste and Lifestyle

Sonya and David purchased their 1914, hybrid of Prairie, Craftsman and Bungalow style home eight years ago. It took them two years to completely gutted it and move their pre-suburbia/post city lives to Glencoe. They kept the house true to the original facade, while adding more space throughout and gave it much needed love and attention. Sonya remembers walking through the house for the first time afraid of falling through the second floor. It needed a total overhaul, but the couple wanted to sustain its early 1900 charm. The house has the historical certification through the Village of Glencoe. While keeping the old allure present, they perfectly marriage it with modern day taste and lifestyle. Without hesitation, I blurbed out to Sonya upon meeting her for the first time, "this is the kind of house everyone wants to grow up in." It's true and you'll see why.

When you first walk in, Sonya eclectic style strikes you immediately. You are welcome with a desk that has traveled many years with her and sentimental trinkets sent from her mom who lives in Africa, scattered around it. There's a stack of mail in one of the slots and automatically I knew, "there is real living in this house." It's unpretentious - it's exactly the feel you want to greet your guest with.

The common correlation in her home, room to room, are these picture rails. Though the rails are not original to the house itself, Sonya wanted to keep as much history by adding this very common detail from the early 1900's. I'm still scratching my head about this one. Why did we ever fall off the tracks with this practical system? Sonya said the picture rails "allows us to move art work around and actually, we move them around more than we thought we would." You can find picture rail systems at: http://houseofantiquehardware.com/

As I wander around, I noticed all the fascinating artwork on display. Artwork that is, like the feel of her front room, unpretentious. It naturally welcomes you to ask. Sonya likes supporting local, young and emerging artists. These still-life prints are two of her favorites. They are by an artist named Jin Lee. http://www.jinslee.net/ I asked her "why support young artist versus well known ones?" She said, "I like the stories about the art and for me, I like to connect with the artist." Good point, art shouldn't end at the last stroke of a paint brush or the click of a shutter speed, but after the story has been told.

One of Sonya's favorite furniture piece is the dining room table. A new addition to the house; the process in finding a table best suited for the space and had the durability that could withhold natural child's play took awhile. She wanted a table that was airy and light, that wouldn't suffocated the room with added wood. She enlisted on a reliable source for the hunt: Lawrence Converso at The Merchandise Mart who specialize in finding mid-century furniture. http://www.conversomod.com/search.php

Another favorite artist is Noelle Allen http://noelleallen.com/home.html. What Noelle does is truly spectacular. For this particular piece, Noelle spent a good amount of time at the zoo and went behind the scenes to study the decay of a bird. She sketch the process of what is normally disturbing and interpret into a beautiful and peaceful story.

I noticed and inquired about this colorful piece in her family room. It was created by William O'Brien. Sonya originally found William's art through David Devening, a director and artist himself, who helps local and young artists by exhibiting their work at his gallery. After her purchase, in 2005 William scored an exhibit space at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. He later created the album artwork for Grizzly Bear, a folk rock band's 3rd album. A true testament on discovering talented artists well before their career takes off. http://deveningprojects.com/

In my opinion, some of the best artists are those who work in two. Husband and wife, Nathan and Amanda Grubich "create soda-fired ceramics that bridge the gap between sculpture and function." When she purchased the team's creations, the creating duo was kind enough to come by on their travels and help hang the pieces in Sonya and David's home. Particular about his work, artist Nathan, even created a special addition to add to the installation to perfect it. http://www.ludingtonreddoor.com/about_red_door.html

I'm weak in love with breakfast nooks. Probably because I know it's the area a family uses the most - not just for eating, but for doing homework, working on projects and playing hours of board games. This one earns extra points for how much light it gets. Can you believe it? How could you ever leave this room?

I love meeting other moms that are DIY's. (do it yourself-ers) Not only to exchange ideas and share creative juices with, but to know I'm not completely insane or too old to still craft and tear out magazine clippings of projects I want to tackle on. When I peeked through Sonya's "space", I wanted to sit and start cutting, sewing and stamping. What I admired most about this room besides her representation of what she's capable of, but that she includes her girls as part of her space. A picture perfect setting is when you see a Victorian chair next to a crate of building blocks. This simply says "whatever is mine, is yours."

Some women speak to each other through their shoes, their purse, political views, sometimes even through their Starbucks order. What speaks to me? When another woman has an inspiration board. I automatically hope we can be friends. There's something special about the breed of women who clips and pins pictures or words that inspires them. It's a humbling act, because like them, I'm still gathering, absorbing, learning and collecting.

My main reason why this is the perfect house to grow up in? The art and craft room! The lucky girls, Claudia and Vivian who get to grow up here not only share a room packed with potential projects, but it is completely kid-directed. There are two saw tables for each girl to have their own space. It was important to Sonya to "create a space that they can work in and leave the projects without being interuppted." Incredibly thoughtful.

Not only creative kids, but enviromentally friendly, too. Underneath the table, you'll find a crate full of no longer needed egg cartons, boxes, toilet rolls, etc. She encourages the girls to work with raw materials and be creative with the less obvious choices. And boy do they! They use painter tape (a well-loved item in this house) to showcase their artwork and outline one of the girl's full body in the picture below.

Finished with a pair of shoes her daughter made from scraps paper, tape and string. How talented is that?

Completely amazed at these little girls' creativity, I asked Sonya "is art your girls' strongest talents?" She said "no, they enjoy it, but it's not what they are strongest at." Really? Just to show how a home environment can fuel a child's creativity and make it a part of her everyday life.

Behind Every Talented, DIY, Treasure Hunter is a list of favorites, Sonya was kind enough to share hers with us: