Cool Comfort
Abrams Valenti Interiors kits out a striking, loftlike home in Printers Row.
In the dramatic, double-height living room, a sectional sofa by Vladimir Kagan, through Holly Hunt, is covered in anthracite-colored fabric by Perennials. Its lucite base sits on an ivory wool rug by Watson Smith. The cluster of coffee tables, also from Holly Hunt, have tops in Serendipity, Gioia, and Invisible Grey with burnished brass legs for shine.
It’s probably safe to say that when most homeowners decide to shake things up, they don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. Sure, they’ll shop for nice new things, but instead of jettisoning the dining chairs, they may opt for new upholstery. Or reface the kitchen cupboards, rather than ripping them out and starting over. But when packing up and moving to a new house, all bets are off. Especially when where you are going looks nothing like where you’ve been.
Fifteen years ago, Michael Abrams and Gina Valenti of Abrams Valenti Interiors helped a young family get settled in their Lincoln Park residence. “It was very traditional, dripping in millwork with a curved staircase,” recalls Abrams. “This was the one and only job I ever did with magnificently tasseled drapery.” Fast forward to Printers Row, where these same clients are living in an ultra-modern single-family home, sharply outfitted by Abrams and Valenti.
Mark Albrecht Studio side chairs and backless counter stools provide ample seating for the dining room and kitchen. Through Holly Hunt.
Three stories tall, with extensive outdoor space (including a pool), the property is the polar opposite of their previous digs. Studded with enormous picture windows and anchored by a monumental, wood-clad staircase, it is a home whose architecture cannot be ignored. “Often we’re solving problems that no one even knew existed, but in this case, the architecture did not need any fixing,” shares Abrams. “Instead, our challenge was, “how are we going to furnish such an impressive space?”
Describing their approach to these interiors, Abrams says, “It is more about what is unsaid than what is spoken, being thoughtful with singular pieces versus maximalism—like the way the Lucite leg floats off of the sectional in the living room, making it feel incredibly airy.”
Left: In the den, a sectional sofa covered in tfabric from Perennials, makes a cozy place to curl up with a book. The cocktail table has a cream-colored leather accent, through Holly Hunt. Pillows in fabric by Stroheim, through Fabricut. Carpet by Watson Smith.
Opposite: Abundant light flows into the living room, adding a dramatic aspect to the architectural, and monumental, wood-clad staircase.
Abrams and Valenti mediated the almost overwhelming volume of the home’s gathering space with new lighting fixtures (Marco Spatti’s Japanese-inspired Levant pendants), suspended to add intimacy to the expansive living room while creating a visual boundary in the soaring space above it. Throughout, the designers’ furniture choices—such as Vladimir Kagan’s low-slung Omnibus II Sectional sofa and Caste’s Benton Cocktail Table in the living room—both from Holly Hunt—harmonize perfectly with the forceful geometry and generous scale that defines the home. “The oversize table in the dining room can seat fourteen, even though it usually serves a family of four,” notes Abrams. “While it was chosen to serve as an activities hub for the couple and their teenage children, it was also selected to balance the scale of the space.”
Tailored with a minimalist sensibility, the home is anything but preciously cool. Vibrantly colored abstract art hangs in the snug den, which is centered around a custom, leather and wood ottoman-cum-cocktail table from Holly Hunt. The ceramic-topped dining table is paired with sturdy, stainless steel and woven Polystrap chairs from Mark Albrecht Studio. Easy-going, sage-green stools designed by Franco Poli surround a worktable on the mezzanine overlooking the main floor. Angle-embracing, orderly yet inviting—contemporary through and through—the home is a wonderfully articulate expression of stylish restraint.