...such as the examples pictured above. All three photos feature a material (glazed brick, concrete, glass) that we've all seen used many times before in a way that is fresh and unexpected.
1. The foyer walls are lined with shiny white glazed brick, often an exterior finish. It's mixed with floating oak treads and glass lighting tubes for a one-of-a-kind design feature.
2. An alcohol-fueled minimal fireplace and accompanying ledge are made from concrete.
3. The walls of the master suite bathroom are made from glass.
Click over to Chicago Home + Garden to see the full slideshow and read Lisa Cregan's article on the home or pick up the June/July issue for a hard copy to hang on to.
Images: Andreas Larsson/Chicago Home + Garden
Tina Wilson's Striking Style 
30 DIY Projects for the 3-Day Weekend
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Dunes & Duchess Can...
20 Scrumptious Brunch Recipes 
Magic One-Ingredient Ice Cream 5 Ways: Peanut Butter, Nutella, and More
Comments (13)
Everything but the glass-walled bathroom. Just--no. And no door either! Good thing the bathroom doesn't share a glass wall with the kitchen.
There's a way to make the glass-walled bathroom work. In some neat trendy bar in Brussels, locking the doors to the bathroom stalls frosts the glass. Something like that would make the bathroom idea above workable.
Is there no good way to get into that space underneath the stairs to clean and dust (without banging around awkwardly with a long-handled broom)?
Also, it seems like anything that falls back there would be a pain to get out, again involving much poking and scraping with a long stick in between each stair tread.
Correction, looking at it again it seems like you can get to it from behind. The floating lighting tubes don't go all the way back to the brick wall. Still a bit inconvenient, but much better than no access at all.
The glass walls are disturbing, not home-like. Looking at it makes me uncomfortable.
I can see walking into the edge of that glass wall at night.
Would you really want to roll out of bed and see someone sitting on the toilet?
I love the floating stairs in the first picture - but I don't love the walls or the rest of the decor.
i LOVE those floating stairs, and the shiny bricks around it. not a fan of the glass walls either - don't seem very practical for reasons mentioned already. i'd always love to see places like this when they are everyday-lived-in. very cool place.
I agree cyli, my first impression was 'cute, but how do you clean behind those stairs??' in about a week they're going to look mighty dusty
I always visualize the family being sick, throwing up and every one having to watch - give me a solid door everytime
Sharon
Is this house by Jeff Funke? He seems to use the white glazed brick a lot. Glazed brick should be recognized as Chicago Vernacular.
I love the creative and honest use of materials - far better than typical sheetrock interiors...
However the bathroom bugs me too: If it were my home, I'd prefer the commode be partitioned off in it's own little cubicle than out there in the open - but I have a problem w/ using commodes out in the middle of large bathrooms anyway...
...I have a tough enough time with someone in the stall next to me - I'd have to have the entire upper floor evacuated if I were to try to make poo in that bathroom!
The sound must echo like crazy in that house! All of those surfaces reflect an incredible amount. Must have to be very, very, quiet.