Press: Reddington Designs in Print
Chicago Home & Garden
Imagine you want to move and your real estate agent takes you to see a new listing. You walk in, look around, and it hits you. You’re home. That sums up Deirdre Nardi’s reaction when she first saw her perfect home, located on Lake Shore Drive and situated right behind The Drake Hotel. “I remember thinking, ‘This is where we need to be.’ The hardest part about this purchase was hiding my enthusiasm from the selling realtor.”
Finding the perfect place to hang your hat is not that unusual, unless you’re Deirdre and her husband Stephen, who shared a long list of must-haves. To begin with they needed a lot of space. Their previous suburban home was large, and although they wanted this move to a city apartment, they did not want the boxed-in feeling that city apartments often come with. Check. This new address includes two-floors, over 3,500 square feet, and plenty of space to showcase the couple’s artwork as well as an impressive collection of equestrian trophies. (Stephen’s a polo player extraordinaire and was for years the Oak Brook Hounds Master of the Hunt. Hence the foxes and horses.)
They also needed outdoor space—as much as possible—since Stephen was reluctant to give up his previous home’s big backyard. Check. This city apartment, located on the top two floors of an 11-story building, includes a large rooftop terrace overlooking Lake Michigan. With the installation of creative landscaping, a working fountain, and beautifully set tables, anyone is hard pressed to remember they’re atop an apartment building instead of dining alfresco in an expansive backyard.
Another item on the preference list was minimal re-do. As Deirdre tells it, “We were thrilled because all we had to do in this apartment was decorate. We didn’t have to do anything architectural—like tear down walls, redo floors, or change the floor plan. Everything permanent in the space was gorgeous. That left only the fun stuff for us to handle.”
Enter Carol Salb, expert in fun stuff, although she normally goes by interior designer. Right from the start, Carol considered this assignment an honor, since she knew well the historical significance of this early 20th century building, designed by famed Chicago architect Benjamin Marshal. His firm also designed such notable local buildings as The Drake Hotel and the Blackstone Hotel. Carol adds, “Mr. Marshal would begin with the characteristics of elegant French architecture, and his original layout in this apartment has a refined, classical order. Since the Nardis wanted a romantic, old world elegance in their new home, the floor plan worked wonderfully. Our job was to add personal details.”
One such detail, the home’s universal color palette, bows to the outside view. “We chose soft colors.” Carol explains, “because we did not want to compete with the view. Outside you have wonderful pastels—the lake water, the sky, the beach, the city skyline. To use intense coloration wouldn’t work for us.”