Process of elevating historic home to 'delicious' result requires a bit of intestinal fortitude
Designer Melinda LaFrey (left) and Mimi Collins have worked to give Collins' 4 E. Fifth St. a makeover consistent with the home's historic heritage. "Mixing the old and new is really a challenge sometimes," Collins said. (Jim Slonoff photos)
The square footage of the kitchen will stay the same, but space is being reorganized for better storage and functionality. Upstairs, electrician Mike Konieczke installs new wiring in the guest bathroom.
Sometimes a classic English cottage can have too much of a wood thing.
The dark-paneled walls work in the masculine-leaning library at 100-year-old 4 E. Fifth St. In the dining room, however, they projected "austere castle" more than "inviting gathering space." Endeavoring to revitalize yet preserve the home's core character, Mimi Collins turned to interior designer Amelia Canham Eaton for a solution.
Once found - an antiqued wallpaper with a green leafy motif - Eaton tried to build the anticipation. Collins wasn't having it.
"She wouldn't let me see it!" Collins exclaimed during a tour of the home with The Hinsdalean last month, prompting laughter from Canham Eaton. "I need to know. I have to have vision."
Collins initially struggled to fit the choice into the frame of her aesthetic lens before coming around to it.
"It's really not about what I would pick out sometimes. I'm making the house cohesive, and I'm decorating for the house," said Collins, using the moniker "sophisticated English" to describe her style objective. "She found exactly what I want to give it an aged look for the dining room.
Melinda LaFrey, Collins' collaborator on bath and kitchen design, expounded on the sophisticated English look as, "Not, like, dry biscuit English. Delicious biscuit English."
Canham Eaton suggested preservation projects need to leave room for touches that appeal to today's style appetite.
"I don't think the paneling in there is as integral to the charm and the history as other elements," she opined.
Elements like the original windows and wooden beams that architect R. Harold Zook employed to bring the Cotswolds spirit to Hinsdale. The team began developing the plan for renovating the home even before Collins closed on it in June, which carried a caveat.
"We didn't even know if we were going to be able to do it," LaFrey related.
Once they were able to peel back layers of legacy, that's when reality set in design-wise, not to mention the implications for the budget and construction schedule.
"When you open up these old homes, you don't know what you're finding," LaFrey said.
She was tasked with reworking the tight master bedroom suite into a comfy and contemporary retreat. She likened the process to playing the puzzle game Tetris.
"It's about making sure everything fits - removing doorways to make the bathroom larger, taking a closet and making it part of the bathroom, then taking a bedroom and making it her closet," LaFrey said, and in a way that feels natural "so you're not walking into a discombobulated space that we retrofitted."
The bathrooms upstairs will feature exposed pipes for an old-world vibe. Radiators will stay, but leaks in the 1920s technology need to be repaired. Creating a bathroom in a converted attic space may also present complexities.
"We have to open up the ceiling in the garage to figure out the plumbing, which might be a little tricky," Collins said.
But magical moments happen too, such as finding mint condition original built-in cabinetry.
"Every knob is here - there's not one missing," Canham marveled.
The kitchen will remain an efficient size but is being overhauled to maximize storage and incorporate touches like a French stove that speak to the home's European-inspired provenance. Collins' said it's become a hallmark of her restorations.
"I'm going to do a smaller white one this time," Collins said.
She tries hard to keep the final result in her mind's eye in the midst of the current upheaval. Rooms have been stripped down to the studs to accommodate electrical upgrades and new runs for the HVAC system. They won't get noticed when all is done, but they impact the budget and the schedule considerably.
"It doesn't sound like it's a big deal, but it's a big deal," Collins quipped. "It's mass construction. It's depressing."
In the meantime she and the team are submitting orders for sofas and other furnishings that aren't off the shelf and take time to procure.
"In my last house it took a year for a light fixture. It's all custom and it takes a while," Collins said. "You can pick out run of the mill stuff, but it doesn't have the same look.
"That's the fun part for me," she added.
Canham Eaton expressed admiration for Collins' tenacity to in the face of adversity.
"While a lot of people dwell on why (something's) not possible, she's on to figuring out what is possible," Canham Eaton said.
LaFrey praised her commitment to achieving an authentic result.
"She's open to new ideas but always stays true to what's best for the home," she commented.
Toward the end of the tour, Collins and LaFrey estimated when the kitchen cabinets would be installed.
"Early March," LaFrey projected.
"Early February?" coaxed Collins, ever the optimist.
Either way, Collins will see it through.
"I think you have to accept certain things in a old house and embrace the quirkiness," she said.
