#84 The world’s best dining room table
After a big renovation, my Chicago loft finally feels like home.
I renovated my loft in Chicago. Next time you’re in town you should come by and see it.
It was one of the most stressful projects I’ve ever done—which is really saying something considering I’ve spent my entire career roasting in the bonfire of ideals that is independent media.
The renovation, originally planned for three months, took close to a year and skyrocketed to nearly triple the original budget. I stressed myself and my family out while we lived patiently in a cramped rental, as numerous vendors and tradespeople squandered each day, working at a snail’s pace and ignoring common sense at every turn.
Almost every aspect of this project had to be redone. Walls were installed, tiled, finished, then torn back out because the plumbing was done backwards. Custom items were made upside down or broken during installation. Supplies were shipped to random addresses across town. When we moved back into what was still a very active construction zone, we had the pleasure of living with contractors who would leave trash in our kids rooms. Half eaten, rotting lunches were hidden just out of reach, tucked under piles of tools and building materials. When I got home at night I would race around the house covering live electrical wires that were carelessly left dangling from walls and picking up used knife blades and power tools. Dust covered everything.
Please, please, remind me to never live with children in a construction zone again.
Construction nightmares aside, there were many beautiful design changes that happened, too many to point out in this short letter. Our managing editor Gianna Annunzio nicely captured most of the design details in this story, but I’ll share a few of my favorites here.
My first stop in this project was at my friend Aimee Wertepny’s design studio, PROjECT Interiors. The project began with a simple ask—I needed to renovate my failing kitchen. It was previously designed by Snaidero, and for nearly a decade it lived up to its task of keeping a bachelor fed and the beer cold.
But then I had kids. I got a Costco membership. I needed a big dishwasher, room to store bottles, wipes, and food pouches of all types. PROjECT’s Karin Wowk came to the rescue. She’s an expert in kitchen design. The kitchen, thanks to cabinetry from Nobilia and her clever design, now offers more storage space and function than the typical single-family home.
My favorite piece of furniture in the renovation is the Materic Ovale table designed by Piero Lissoni and published by Porro. Last week we had ten adults over for dinner and we all fit comfortably. The craftsmanship is amazing and when you sit at it, you can tell someone tried to make something really beautiful. They make the best dining room tables you can buy.
My favorite story behind the renovation is certainly the wallpaper in the “secret” bathroom which was built behind a custom hidden panel in the kitchen. The wallpaper was made custom by Astek from an ink painting I made with my daughter. I will force everyone that ever visits my house from now on to admire it.
RIP Brian Wilson from The Beach Boys. I went to my first concert sometime in the mid ‘80s and The Beach Boys played. It is one of my earliest memories and launched a lifelong love of music. As a music critic for nearly 20 years I consistently argued that Pet Sounds was the best pop album ever made and that The Beach Boys were far better song writers than The Beatles. Paul McCartney admitted that “God Only Knows” is the best song ever written. I agree.
PAVED STATES, a loose idea I formed several years ago, finally took shape this year thanks to the generous support of NeoCon and the endless creativity and hard work of our amazing brand marketing director Abigail Grohmann. There’s a nice recap available from Ben Dreith over at Dezeen.