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By Contributor
WORDS BY SHANNON SHARPE
PHOTOGRAPHY BY KATRINA WITTKAMP
STYLING BY THERESA DEMARIA
HAIR AND MAKEUP BY LEANNA ERNEST
Courtney perches on the Arabescato Viola honed porcelain from Global Marble & Granite underneath the Samsung Frame TV displaying "Twins" by artist Wolf Ademeit
“I live in Paris in my head,” Courtney Casey, principal of Courtney Casey Interiors, muses. “I’m heavily influenced by European hotels.” This inspiration, along with her former career working for fashion magazines such as Elle, Marie Claire, and Glamour, serves as a driving force behind her transitional interiors. It’s also what launched the redesign of the awkward, bulky brick fireplace in the family room of the 1940s Hinsdale home she shares with her husband and children. Former owners had added on to the house over the years, and the asymmetrical fireplace in the corner was a remnant from a circa 1970s/80s renovation.
“The fireplace was such an eyesore,” Casey says. “I wanted to transform it into a beautiful centerpiece without having to recenter the chimney.” Some people might paint it white and call it a day, “but that would be like putting lipstick on a pig,” she laughs. Having just returned from the Paris Déco Off design fair, she’d brought back plenty of inspiration. “I thought to myself, ‘what if I made this look like a fun boutique hotel in France?’” she says.
Casey knew that the jumping off point would be a beautiful viola porcelain along the base. “It’s super durable and you can use big sheets easily,” she notes. For the top she chose a white Cadillac plaster that provides sleek contrast to the veiny stone. “For the middle I wanted a fluted moment, a simple detail that still made a big impact,” she says. “The contractor suggested just painting the firebox, but I knew we needed to carry the entire project through.”
She had her eye set on one porcelain, but unexpectedly her husband popped in with an opinion. “He normally lets me do my thing, but he said, ‘I really think we should go with this other one. It will be a better fit.’” Turns out he was right. Balancing the bold contrast, she added a Zen garden touch with charcoal-hued fireballs. Curvaceous sconces and a bold piece of art hung on the white plaster are the final touch.
As is the case with most designers, “this one change was a gateway drug for other updates to the room,” Casey says. It had previously just been a family lounge space, but she now saw it as a place for entertaining. “I had a big sectional around it where we would hunker down to relax,” she explains. “I saw that it could now be a chic space to gather with my girlfriends. It’s not a place I want to hide.”
Casey reconfigured the furniture layout, swapping out the sectional for a standard sofa and two chocolate brown accent chairs that play to the deep purple in the viola porcelain to create a more conversational space. Treasures from her European travels provide accents throughout the room. It was also an opportunity to embrace her evolving design leanings. “My aesthetic has changed slightly,” the designer says. “It’s become a lot moodier than in the past.”
She decided to carry that sexy vibe into the nearby powder room, as “it felt a little bit too coastal for what the house was evolving into,” she explains. Dark gray grass cloth on the walls, deep charcoal paint, new lighting, and Francine Turk artwork transformed the beachy bathroom into a jewel box that feels at one with the family room.
“It’s funny how you do one thing and it’s snowballs to so many other changes,” Casey notes. “But it can really change how you live. I just want to be in the family room all the time now.”
