Out with the old, in with the new(ish)
Elbow grease, vintage furnishings add polish to a 1930s bungalow
For Claire Staszak, the attraction was immediate.
“This house has an art deco or old Hollywood feeling that I responded to right away,” she says of the 1930s Tudor-style bungalow in Chicago that she and husband Luke, a high school history teacher, renovated together over his summer break in 2016.
After touring many houses, the couple fell hard for the charming four-bedroom abode’s stained-glass windows, coved ceilings and other intact original details.
“You would never get vintage charm like this in a house built today,” Claire Staszak, 32, explains, pointing to the glass doorknobs. “I knew it was the right house for us from the moment we first walked through the door.”
While the Staszaks hired contractors for plumbing, electrical and the installation of the kitchen backsplash, they were more than willing to get their hands dirty painting walls, ripping up the old linoleum and refinishing the original hardwood floors.
Aided by his mother, Luke Staszak, 33, also completely demolished the dated kitchen, a laborious process that involved using a jackhammer to remove a tile backsplash that covered the bottom three-quarters of the walls.
“I was covered in cuts and scrapes by the end of it all,” he says. “(It) was the toughest day of labor I can recall, but I knew we only had the dumpster truck for one day, so I worked as hard as I could to get the job done.”
The result is a brighter and much more open kitchen outfitted with black-and-white cabinets, butcher block countertops and a white diamond-shaped tile backsplash with black grout. Other elements — brass fixtures, a custom movable wooden island with a vintage enamel top and an antique-painted cupboard with glass doors — reinforce the home’s old-timey vibe.
“The (cupboard) is partially a cost-saving measure, but it also adds so much more character, and it’s just so pretty,” Claire Staszak says. “You probably would have seen something like this here in the ’30s or ’40s.”
Infusing a home with character isn’t simply a pastime for Staszak, an interior design student with her own business, Centered by Design. Her quasi-Bohemian aesthetic is apparent the moment one enters the intimate foyer. Graphic blackand-white wallpaper from an independent studio and an assortment of small brass mirrors complement the original tile floor and arched wooden door, which has been painted black for contrast. A blackened, metal Moroccan-style lighting pendant adds international flair that reverberates throughout the interior.
“I appreciate a worldly look that’s almost but not quite Bohemian,” Staszak says. “Words that describe my personal style are vintage, organic, global and classic.”
In his basement workshop, her husband built a modern desk base for her office and a handsome, white storage-and-display cabinet for the living room, which is peppered with an eclectic array of pieces. These include a $25 thrift store sofa that she recovered in velvet, along with a Moroccaninspired black-and-cream wool rug and a high-end marble-and-brass cocktail table.
“I’m such a huge fan of brass,” she says. “It’s becoming hugely popular again, but to me it has an older feel that’s perfect for this house.”
To brighten the interior of the north-facing dwelling, which felt oppressively dark and gloomy in comparison to the couple’s previous sunny corner apartment, the pair made the agonizing decision to paint much of the original woodwork white. As a compromise, however, they left the casings around the stained-glass windows in the entry and living room untouched.
“It was difficult to cover up beautiful century-old oak,” Luke Staszak says, “but painting the trim white was the right choice to brighten up the entire house and also allowed me to add additional trim and match it more easily.”
The marriage of old and new permeates the interior. A graphic ceramic floor tile in the mudroom, which resembles far more expensive concrete material, pairs perfectly with a rustic painted bench. And in the master suite, blue walls create a soothing backdrop for a ’70s-era wicker headboard, a rosewood dresser with leather straps and a colorful array of artwork — prints, photographs, water color paintings — by up-and-coming artists.
“It’s not about just going out and buying stuff,” Claire Staszak explains. “Things that have a story are so much more meaningful.”
Beyond their four walls, the Staszaks are finding much to enjoy about life in their new home, including neighbors who have embraced them graciously, introducing themselves with a bottle of wine, leaving a handwritten list of their favorite neighborhood restaurants on the door or simply signing for packages. And putting so much sweat equity into the project has made them appreciate the result all the more.
“I’m so impressed with everything Luke did, and I think that he appreciates my design,” Claire Staszak says. “It’s just really nice to create a home with somebody that you love.”