Name: Mike & Stacy Gall, Madeline and Sophia
Location: Historic Riverview, Kankakee, Illinois
Size: 1,900 square feet
Years lived in: 3 years; Own
I've known the Galls for years. My husband grew up with Stacy and Mike and they are one of the funniest, happy families I've ever met. The first time I went over to their house Stacy had a chalkboard sign in the entry advertising "Fall!" and her home looked and smelled like the season. I was in college and it was the warmest, most welcoming place I'd set foot in since leaving home.
Stacy lives and breathes style (and comedy), so three years ago when the Pineapple house was up for sale she knew she had to have it. For a very long time, its exterior was painted two shades of pink, and she would drive past and admire it daily. Since moving in, Stacy has unleashed her color powers on the Spanish Revival and risen to the domestic goddess level one can only dream of. Immersed in the area's rich history and bounty of historic homes, she is also vice president of the historic district board.
The Galls are committed to their community, and continually strive to make it a better place to live and raise children. Whether it's involvement in the local music scene, or running for local government, they realize and accept the social responsibility of making your community what you want it to be.
Apartment Therapy Survey:
Our Style: I think our style is vintage mixed with a little modern, with a frenchy twist.
Inspiration: Kate Spade is a huge inspiration for me. I love her use of colors. It's quirky, but still classic.
Favorite Element: The entryway! It has a 12 foot ceiling, enough space for a fun chair and side table, a gothic hanging chandelier, and a winding staircase! I love the first impression it gives when friends come to visit!
Biggest Challenge: The style of our house is "Spanish Revival", and a common trait of these houses is textured walls, which took us forever to paint, and it makes me dream about all of the wallpaper that I will never have because it will never work!
What Friends Say: "I would never think of putting this together!" "Can you help me pick out paint colors?"
Biggest Embarrassment: Definitely our garden area. There is a huge garden carved out with bricks in our yard, and we are just now learning how to take care of it. I dream of being one of those ladies who wears a huge gardening hat and floral print gloves, and carries my coffee out in the morning to get to work out there… someday it will happen!
Proudest DIY: The paper wall art that is hanging above the fireplace! I got the idea from a friend that made one, and when I was finished I was SO PUMPED, I made a few more and gave them away! It was also the cheapest thing to make! (And we all know wall art can cost an arm and a leg!)
Biggest Indulgence: I would say the antique square grand piano that I bought from a Frank Lloyd Wright home in my neighborhood. The home is used for tours, and events, and they were selling it because they had a different piano being donated to them! It was my lucky day! — but a bit of an indulgence. They are very rare, and the piano dates back to the late 1800's. I like to picture what some of the people who may have played it were wearing at the time!
Best Advice: Don't play it safe. Paint can be repainted if you don't like it, but the payoff is amazing when you do something risky and it turns out great! Also, style doesn't have to be expensive — I think it's something we are all born with.
Dream Sources: Dwell Studios, flea markets
Resources of Note:
PAINT & COLORS
- • Living room Valspar: Grand Hotel Mackinac Blue
• Entryway-Valspar: Woodlawn Blue
ENTRY
- • Frenchy photo frame: Ikea
• Vintage chair: second hand store
• Chevron print lamp: Target
• Fur Rug: Marshalls
LIVING ROOM
- • Bench: Pier1
• Vintage speakers: second hand store
• Brown and Green area rug: Pier1
• Square floor lamp: Pier1
• Circle print chair: Pier1
• Painting: World Market
• Gold Mirror: Secondhand, I spray painted it Gold
• Curtains: Ikea
DINING ROOM
- • Square Grand piano: Estate sale
• Table: Pier1
• Red and white dinning chairs: Marshalls
• Paintings: Frank Gonski (Local Artist)
• Curtains: Ikea
KITCHEN
- • Fabric for DIY Curtains: Hobby Lobby
• Step stool: Ikea (plus DIY Mod Podge)
BEDROOM
- • Couch: Pier1
• Lamps: Marshalls
• Comforter: Dwell Studios for Target
• Sunburst wall art: DIY
BATHROOM
- • Shower Curtain: Dwell Studios for Target
Thanks, Gall Family!
(Images: Ashley Poskin )
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I love the chocolate brown room with the birdcage!
Stunning. Courageous use of color. That sweet looking beagle needs a diet though!
oh, wow; i, too, would be happy in that space!!! to start, what a beautiful exterior and what a great arrangement of rooms!!! add in that mix of older- and newer-looking furniture, all the art and accessories ... wonderful!!! especially love the art (okkervil river poster, the daughters' adorable notes ...), the paint choices and other colors in your home, the bench/settee in the living room, that 'ham' of a dog, the bicycle, the entry way/stairs, that the whole place looks and feels lived-in and well-loved ... again, love it! and glad you have it.
thanks for the tour!
would you be willing to share the source of that okkervil river poster in your stairwell, please? (haven't found it online yet.) thanks much!!!
kathy
Ahhhh that piano is over the top amazing!! Love the house too :) Colors make such a huge difference and this is done well.
ps: by 'ham', i don't mean your sweet dog needs a diet because i wouldn't know about that. he or she just looks like a scene-stealer posing for the camera ... so cute!!!
kathy
The last picture, of the casement window opened inward with the outside painted that strong green, has given me a great idea for my own place since I have the same type of windows in a very small space. This helps me to realize that they require an "indoor/out door" treatment since that side of the window spends time and is highly visible and present in both places. It never really registered with me until seeing this. Now something that was a visual liability indoors can become an asset when the windows are open. I'm glad I saw this tour.
Also, second all the praise for Stacy's fine color sense. The colors in the downstairs all seem to flow and lead so nicely from room to room.
Thank you for the sweet comments! I love it! The Orkerville River poster is from http://heroandsound.com/store/
Hope that helps!
Stacy
Okkervil River... sorry, that's what I get for commenting from my phone! spelling mistakes!
You are killing me with mentioning the diy wallpaper art over the mantle, then not showing a closeup or tutorial!! Looks like a great project.
This house is adorable, inside and out. I love it.
There have been so many great tours lately, please keep them coming!
I agree with Desingert.... I am very curious to know abt the wallpaper art as well.
Please share...thanks :)
Lovely house!!!! and that piano....aha!!!
aw, shit...I'm moving in
Absolutely one of my fave house tours. The house (and its owners) have a definite style that is accessible and inspirational. Love the colors--it just feels like a happy place.
Thanks for sharing!
And I third the request for the wallpaper art!
p.s. What is the story on the blue flooring? LOVE THEM, especially with the dark walls.
I LOVE your home!
Thanks again for the nice comments! The blue floor was there when we moved in! Probably not a color you would think to put in, but since it was already there, I realized I LOVE it!
As for the wall art on the mantle, I searched and found a tutorial pretty similar to the one I made! (although I used a round cardboard cake circle for the base of mine, and after I rolled the paper I stapled it, and then hot glued it in place! It was seriously the most fun thing to make in the whole world! I got the idea and the how-to from a friend!
Hope this helps:
http://desire2create.blogspot.com/2011/02/book-page-wall-artwreath-maybe.html
You have a very charming, beautiful home. I love the color combinations and really got a kick out of the cute little notes from the children...Thank you for sharing!
That piano is a show stopper! You're so lucky to have such a piece of history : )
I love this house! I love the staircase and the accent lampshade in the foyer. Also the chair at the piano is fantastic. I love it when everything comes from different places and just kind of goes together but isn't matchy-matchy. This is totally my style.
Now that's how you do color! Amazing! I love how each room is a different vibrant color! Love, love, love!!!
*Stunning* I love the dog, too!! The bluish floors are to die for!!!
Courageous use of color. You have done a really nice job creating an interesting home.
Personol Bisnes!! Love it!
Beautiful home ~ thank you for sharing it.
Amazing piano ~ have never seen one like that ~ so nostalgic!
Around when was your home built?
What a joyful home!
Apartment Therapy deserves some praise for the photo arrangement too. I felt as though I was walking through the house and the photo sequence gave me a sense of how the rooms flowed together. Keep up the good work!
Agree with Erikakn, best photos by AT for a long time. Got a real sense of the layout for a change. I love everything downstairs, I feel that the girls' bedrooms look bare, but maybe they are are not collectors like my own crazy daughters!
The front door and windows in the living room are absolutely stunning. Very lovely home.
And I love the chubby beagle :)
I love your home and your fun style. I also have a 1925 Spanish Colonial, and I'm always looking for alternative interiors to be inspired by, rather than the traditional Spanish interiors to "match." I enjoyed the tour...thanks!
Wonderful home. Thanks for sharing. The hot pink bathroom is killer.
I have the same bed from Pier 1 and have been at a loss for years regarding what bedside tables to pair with it! Please share what you used (hopefully not matching ones from Pier 1 b/c that means I'm out of luck!:)
Thanks! The side tables are those cheep-y ones from Ikea! I think they might have only been $7.99 each or something like that! haha! I have seen the same tables at target too!
Also, to answer a couple of other questions:
* the house was built in 1925
* The girls have a playroom in the basement so their rooms stay somewhat organized... of course I made it look the best I could for the pictures! It's almost impossible for a kids room to look perfect, as we all know!
*My sweet cuddly beagle is 13 and doesn't move around like a young dog anymore, so yeah, she is letting it all hang out in her old age! :)
Thanks for the nice comments!
How sweet it is to see a fireplace without a big, hulking TV over it!
I agree with the others that the photos were well done on this tour. Beautiful home, so inviting...thanks for sharing.
Gorgeous, fun house! The style looks so effortless in the best way possible.
I recently inherited a piano almost identical to yours that's been in my family since the 1860s. I grew up with it in my house and have never seen another one like it that wasn't in an antiques shop. Seeing yours made my day!
Yay, I was pleasantly surprised to see a home featured from this part of the country. Beautiful home.
Oh the green eyed envy monster is shaking me down on this one. Beauty inside, outside and then there's the house.
Great house. The kitchen and bathroom, however, miss the style altogether.
Although it's not my style, I can tell that this is a home that they actually live in! It's their aesthetic and I can appreciate that they don't treat it like it's a museum.
I'm also always a sucker for a happy puppy sleeping on a couch. :)
sheet music swoon!
the pleasure, the privilege is mine :) such a lovely home!
Lovely home, charming family. May I please have the recipe for Meet Main. Nodeles?
This looks like the kind of home that friends would loooove visiting. Just gorgeous.
(So nice not to see another house full of MCM furniture accessorized with fake taxidermy, old typewriters and starburst mirrors.)
Oh what a foyer. The windows in the living room are incredible as well. My favorite photo is the pic of the family. What a lovely portrait.
I love the balance between the interior design and the architecture---you can never "not see" the latter for the former. Lovely house. Love your sweet dog. Piano awesome.
What paint is that in the fuscia-purple bedroom with matching sheets? Must. Have. That. Paint.
Congratulations on your blissfully homey home!
I agree with above comments:
Need to show a close up of the wall art DIY.
No fair wetting our appetites and then not showing a close up!
Oops - now I realize you posted a link to wall art. My sincere apologies.
Love your home and the vibrant colors throughout. You do have an eye for color combinations. I admire that. Your home is beautiful.
I love the entryway! Very inviting. Thank you for sharing.
love it inside and out!
Wow your house is beautiful! I especially love the rainbow of dishes on top of the kitchen cabinets!
Quick question about your daughter's bunk beds, does that convert to two twins if you don't want to bunk? Where'd you get them? Our daughters share a room and they want bunk beds but I don't think they're quite old enough, so I'm looking for beds that can convert to a bunk. Every bunk bed/two twin bed combo I've found looks terrible but I like yours!
YES!!! The beds can separate! Here is the link to the bunkbeds that my girls have: (I'm almost positive this is it!)
http://www.cymax.com/Linon-White-BunkBed.htm
free shipping and no tax! They are very heavy duty too! We have never regretted getting them! LOVE IT!
I will have to check to check to see if I can find the name of the purple bedroom color for you @AUMA
Thanks for the sweet comments!!
Seeing all these happy colors put a smile on my face! Love the chubby Beagle dog too!
Beautiful home! I love your use of unexpected color combos! I'm in love with the front door and that piano...just stunning.
Lady, why are you living in my house?!
In love with your entryway floor, your chocolate brown birdcage room and your massive and lovely antique piano with The Smiths songbook perched upon it. I'm coming over for coffee and I'm really hoping we can singalong to 'Please Please Please, Let Me Get What I Want.'
great house and great design! I live in Bourbonnais and LOVE that neighborhood!!
Fearless with color - I love it!
As I read the comments above --the words have been taken right out of my head! I love it--NICE WORK. It's as if there's a color change in every room, and that almost gives a different feel, but yet there's continuity! What an amazing find--i guess dreams do come true. Love the piano in the dinning room--great touch! And the sun room with the bicycle in it? What charm!! Great ideas--well thought out and put together! What a home!
Such a fun and happy vibe going on. Congrats!
I want to see ivy growing up the side of this house.
Beautiful home! Can you please tell us the color white used for the stairway trim and rails and the "chocolate" color in the bike/birdcage room? Also, is that the same white on the french doors as in the entryway? What a happy home! Thanks for sharing!!
What is the kitchen paint color? It's GREAT!