Show & Tell: Lake Forest Showhouse & Gardens Part 4

Design

Show & Tell: Lake Forest Showhouse & Gardens Part 4

There is a reason why a spacious laundry room is high on the wishlist of any prospective home buyer. Dorm residents, first—apartment renters and city dwellers all know the joy of an en suite laundry experience. Beth Boyd of Wiley Designs in Highland Park has rewritten the rules on the traditional laundry space for the Lake Forest Showhouse. Her approach was to treat the room as its own decorative statement. This was achieved by incorporating elements that were contiguous to the architecture of the home and dressing it up with colorful accents—like PAGODA RED’s vibrant cast of ginger jars and vases. Anything to make the chore of scrubbing and drying that much more enjoyable…

PR: Describe the vision for your space.

BB: The house this year was a beautiful, very livable, human scale English Tudor-inspired designed by architect Howard Van Dorn Shaw. Every space in the house was lovely and inviting and we wanted the laundry room to be no exception. We thought it should reflect the architectural period and still be seen as a functional, sensible space but with a more modern, colorful spin.

PR: Laundry rooms are usually associated with a rather mundane task, but you have enlivened the entire environment. What mood did you want to set with your design?

BB: Vintage can be new again! For those of us who love older homes, we appreciate the details that give them their stylish character. We wanted to maintain that, thoughtfully update the color palette and broaden the concept of how the space could be used. We wanted the laundry room to feel appropriately vintage and yet reimagined for modern times. We used a variety of bright colors and different textures to create layers of interest, for which the soft gray cabinetry and blush colored walls were the backdrop.

Laundry Room Cabinetry at the Lake Forest Showhouse. Photo: Werner Straube

PR: The PAGODA RED pieces featured in your laundry room are all so decorative and colorful—why did you select them?

BB: The porcelain pieces from PAGODA RED were perfect for our space. The shape of the vessels we chose all had strong, crisp lines. The colors blended beautifully with our palette. We loved that the porcelain pieces were antique and yet worked well with the modern bed + bath products.