Gina Bazer

Empty nesters (and frequent entertainers) who were overhauling a Wheaton townhouse wanted to carve out a fancy powder room from an impossibly tiny, oddly shaped entryway space. Schanstra had the genius idea to shoehorn a little bit of 18th-century France into the room. Read more

A busy family of five and a narrow, confining kitchen just don’t jibe. That’s essentially the problem that Polvere had to fix in this Oak Park home. Read more

Banish the traffic jams without adding square footage. That was the prime directive handed to Schanstra by her Glen Ellyn clients and their two busy sons, aged 12 and 16. Read more

Linda Larisch gave this Barrington Hills kitchen a total overhaul, starting with moving a staircase to the adjacent family room to allow for a more open floor plan. (The original layout was so congested that oven and dishwasher doors practically touched the center island when opened; a peninsula had cabinets hung so low over it that one couldn’t comfortably work there, let alone see into the breakfast nook beyond.) Read more

In this Oak Park home, Polvere’s objective was to combine classic elements with modern ones. Keeping in mind her clients’ request for both dark wood and white cabinets, along with varied countertop materials, she worked toward symmetry in her design to keep the finishes from looking cacophonous. Read more