Name: Abby Wynne & Jesse Hora
Location: West Town — Chicago, Illinois
Size: 1,600 square feet
Years lived in: 1 — rented
When Abby and Jesse were looking for an apartment they knew it had to be a place compatible to a live/work situation. As the creative forces behind ReadySetMake, their apartment needed to be a space where they could welcome clients while also allowing room for their own living quarters.
This West Town apartment perfectly fits the bill for a live/work scenario. The giant room in the front of the apartment serves as a meeting area and office for Abby and Jesse. The couple set their desks up near the large windows, where the sun can stream in, while a meeting area is set up in a corner deeper into the space.
That meeting area is adjacent to one of my favorite features of the apartment — the kitchen. To some the orange tile on the floor, bar top, and backsplash in this kitchen may seem dated and somewhat out of place. Personally, I love the tile! The orange is an unexpected bright pop in an otherwise subdued apartment. I can see why Jesse and Abby's friends clamor to play bartender!
While the front of the apartment is set up for business, the back of it is where Jesse and Abby truly live. One of the two bedrooms has been converted into a TV room, complete with a roomy sectional sofa. Being able to segment the space in this way makes it an ideal set-up for this creative team. With the living space tucked away from the main room, where all the business happens, Abby and Jesse are able to separate the personal from the professional. And it also means fewer rushed clean-ups before client visits.
To learn more about Abby and Jesse's design and illustration work, visit their website: ReadySetMake
Apartment Therapy Survey:
Our Style: Our place is artsy, colorful, playful, random and inviting, but most importantly — functional. We love to make stuff with our hands so inspiration and tools are always where we can reach them.
Inspiration: Well-designed, old, vintage, artsy, funny, quirky, weird, cool stuff.
Favorite Element: The combination of the spacious wood-floors and amount of natural light that comes in throughout the day.
Biggest Challenge: Doing the dishes. Isn't that always the case? Since clients are coming in and out, and since it's hard to get work done when you are sitting in clutter, there's no putting off the daily chores for tomorrow.
What Friends Say: Friends love to pretend to be the bartender, serving drinks and wiping down the retro orange counter.
Biggest Embarrassment: The carpet (yuck). If we owned the first thing we would do is rip that stuff out of there!
Proudest DIY: The quilt in the bedroom; made with handpicked fabric, hand drawn stitch pattern, and extra help form Mama Wynne.
Biggest Indulgence: Honestly we don't spend a lot of money on our apartment, but we did splurge on the letter-pressed Framers' Market prints from Yeehaw Industries.
Best Advice: Keep the classics, cut the cheap stuff. Things aren't made like they used to be, so find old stuff and make it new. That way it won't be lost forever in a landfill.
Dream Sources: An eighty-year-old hoarder's storage space and Salvage 1 on an unlimited budget.
Resources of Note:
• Ikea
• Thrift stores
• Found (alleys)
• Friends/Family
• Estate Sales
• Etsy
• Crate & Barrel
• Seek Vintage
• RR #1 Chicago
Thanks, Abby & Jesse!
Images: Jason Loper
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Love that fireplace!
Please explain how that cool "book light" works and does not ignite!
I'm obsessing over the book light. I see clear beads, but that's as far as I can figure out - please tell and/or sell me one!! :)
I actually like the orange tile in the kitchen, too! And of course the book light and those blue chairs are to die for. Just lovin' it all.
i don't know if it's photo illusion but that sectional is falling down :)
nice and simple. love the book light as well!
I too am fascinated by the book light! Did you make it; how did was it made? Is there a tutorial somewhere?
love those blue chairs in the front room - where did you get them?
Yes please explain book light!
The blue chairs are lovely. Against reason, I like the orange tile as well; however, the landlord's choice of adding oak cabinets and brown speckled laminate to all that orange is suable.
Book. Light. Good.
I too am fascinated by that book light! I love the rest of the apartment as well - very sunny and well set up.
Obsessed with that book light. Tutorial please please please please!!!
book light!?
I was so sure that I'd seen that book-light just recently. I wasn't insane, though it was a sconce and not a pendant....
Having just helped clear out my eighty-ish grandmother's attic...I must respectfully disagree with this as a dream source.
Or maybe just not MY grandmothers'. :)
OMG! Can we get a HOW TO for that awesome Book Pendant Lamp?!? :)
They have some cool items, but their style is a little too shabby and not enough chic for my taste but to each their own.
I like your style, but I would like to see more on the walls. Also, as someone pointed out, it does look as if your sectional might be sagging. Def. check that out, I had a couch break once (I had diy-ed "modern" legs on it - bad idea!) and it was destructive as well as embarrassing.
Cute home. The kitchen is a bit much for me, and aren't the tiles slippery? Still, I appreciate the strong personal statement of the red tile.
I really like the pain light blue paint color. Subtle but effective!
This is what my Chicago apartment aims to look like! But mine doesn't hold a candle this cute setup. I would love to know where I can find prints like the Farmers Market ones here, and the blue chairs.
I once had an orange kitchen and hated it. Why do I not hate this one?
Seriously, I love your place. It's light, bright and airy, as well as looking spacious (probably due to lack of stuff everywhere).
Great job!
I'm adding my voice to the Book Light Love. More info, please! Is this blurry dog part of the household? Lucky pooch--you've got lovely bits of sunlight for napping.
I really like the orange tiles - I don;t think I would have taken the tour if it was not for the tiles in one of the front photos.
What is the other counter top made of?
The instructions for this type of book shade were featured right here on AT four years ago! It's been bookmarked for a while while I find a way to incorporate it. ha
You're welcome, book light fans. ^_^
Oh my gosh, are you from Knoxville? Those look very much like Knoxville, TN Market Square Farmer's Market posters on your wall!
Haha, I got excited and posted a comment before I read the article. I see you got the prints from Ye-Haw! I am just down the street from their shop. If you're in Knoxville you should visit the Farmer's Market on a Saturday or Wednesday morning.
Where did the cute Farmer's Market posters in the frames come from? I love those!
For those wanting to know about the farmer's market posters you can find them here. The money goes to help support our local farmer's market in Knoxville, TN. And the posters are designed by Yee-Haw Industries, a local print shop that we are rather proud of around here.
*Also, I am not the home owner of this lovely home. I am a Knoxville local who just happened to notice the posters.
Yea--I've got to ask about the couch too. Not to point out the problem, but to ask because I *think* that's an Ikea find, no? and we've been looking at getting one of those... is this normal?!
Very nice place. I like the layout and the fireplace with the hands lined across the top. The art above the sofa is beautiful, but to me it seems too small for the wall. I think a really big piece of art...or several pieces arranged cohesively would look better.
I love the fireplace hands as well. Love as in I would steal them.
I see that I'm not the only one who ordinarily wouldn't like the kitchen...but for some reason I love it here.
Interested in your desks. Did you make them?
would love this kinda like. live and work at the same place, make sure the place is pleasant to look at yet homey... can travel all the world i ever wanted (in case i feel bored living + working at same space) but always come right back home to this spot... like that for 30, 40, 50 years, i dont mind =)
rear a coupla grandchildren,
fight my battles here (ie, earn dough),
live, lie, rest here,
travel and come right back home, host parties..
I dont mind living and working from the same spots, and/or having the same space for yearsss.. (sorry... must be "after effect" of reading another post where the poster asked if we ever returned to the places we rented/lived in before..) so to that question - I DONT MIND LIVING, WORKING and STAYING at a same space for 50 years !!
(my biggest record is 30 years, at my childhood place)
love this kinda "LIFE", not like, whoa, whats happening to my typing *grin
more of that small dog plz.
Love, Love, Love your blue chairs!
A light blue chair is my dream.
Nice to see an actual apartment. I love the stuff you made and the vintage stuff. The ikea not so much.
Lovely and creative details.