Suzan Wemlinger Loft Living

4/5/2017

Lofts

Designer Helps a Couple Adjust to Loft Living

Industrial Style

Designer Helps a Couple Adjust to Loft Living A careful balancing of refined and industrial touches creates an inviting home in downtown Milwaukee Becky Harris March 4, 2017 Houzz Contributor. Hi There! I currently live in a 1920s cottage in Atlanta that...

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Moving from a four-bedroom suburban house in Seattle to a five-room loft in Milwaukee is a major change. These homeowners were ready for the new lifestyle in a walkable downtown neighborhood, but designing the loft space wasn’t something they were equipped for. And while they were ready for the change, their furniture was not — items like a big dining room set simply wouldn’t fit, so they had to start almost completely over. For help, they turned to interior designer Suzan Wemlinger, who helped give their new home a balance of elegance and industrial style.

Suzan J Designs - Decorating Den Interiors

Photos by Photographic Design Houzz at a Glance Location: Milwaukee Size: 1,581 square feet (147 square meters); two bedrooms, two bathrooms Designer: Suzan Wemlinger The front entry is warm and elegant, which fits with the existing drywall and lack of exposed brick in this area.

A three-drawer chest serves as a landing zone, with a good amount of storage and a tray on top for keys. There’s also a coat closet just out of view.

The bench is a handy spot

for putting on and taking off shoes.

The mirror was the couple’s. “It was important to bring in their own things while adding new ones,” Wemlinger says. “They were very open to change, but it needed to be ‘them.’ ” She suggested an antiqued brass étagère to play off the mirror’s https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/81513893/list/designer­helps­a­couple­adjust­to­loft­living

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Designer Helps a Couple Adjust to Loft Living

finish. They both love books so she moved a few to the shelves. One of the homeowners is of Dutch descent so she displayed his wooden clogs out here.

Suzan J Designs - Decorating Den Interiors

As we round the corner into the main living space, the metal finishes change from antiqued gold and brass to various shades of silver, and the drywall gives way to wonderful original exposed brick on the exterior walls.

The loft is in downtown Milwaukee in the old Luick Ice Cream Co. garage, which dates to 1922. The unit is a true loft, with exposed ductwork, original brick and quirky imperfections. “I love imperfections,” Wemlinger says. “We wanted to play up to that industrial vibe but juxtapose it with elegance and softness.”

She kept the palette neutral to give the eye a chance to rest and to highlight the architecture. At the same time, she added lots of texture to the living area with rugs, textiles, glass, wood and metal. The new dark floors are acacia wood.

Two faceted metal light fixtures fill the space between the furniture and the high ceilings — Wemlinger used the same fixture set at two different heights. The pendant lights are slightly amber glass with Edison bulbs. “Simplicity reigns,” the designer says.

Suzan J Designs - Decorating Den Interiors

The loft has wonderful high windows and great views, which Wemlinger and the homeowners didn’t want to obstruct. “They are high enough that privacy isn’t really much of an issue,” she says. “But I wanted to soften them.”

This is a good example of the balance of hard and soft, industrial and elegant.

“I like simple window

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Designer Helps a Couple Adjust to Loft Living

treatments; these are semisheer linen and you can see a little of the brick through them,” Wemlinger says. For juxtaposition, she hit a home improvement store and bought industrial pipes to serve as the drapery rods. She spraypainted the galvanized elbows and pipes black to match the rings.

Suzan J Designs - Decorating Den Interiors

Suzan J Designs - Decorating Den Interiors

One of the items the couple have taken with them wherever they’ve moved is this antique card catalog, which was a great fit for the loft’s age. “While they couldn’t use a lot of their furniture here, it was really important to make

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Designer Helps a Couple Adjust to Loft Living

sure the design really felt like them,” Wemlinger says.

“They wanted elegance but didn’t want it to feel stuffy.”

Suzan J Designs - Decorating Den Interiors

The living room furniture is soft and comfortable for reading, watching TV and entertaining. “The scoops in the armchairs are just right for elbows when reading a magazine or an iPad,” the designer says.

For the paint throughout the living spaces, Wemlinger chose Skipping Stone by Benjamin Moore, part of the company’s Color Stories Paints. “The Color Stories Paints have more pigments/colorants in them, usually five to seven, and are designed to have more variances in how the colors look in different lighting,” she says. She used the color in every room except the spare bedroom.

However, it wasn’t all about beiges and grays. Wemlinger likes to bring in personality and color via artwork and accessories such as pottery and pillows. https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/81513893/list/designer­helps­a­couple­adjust­to­loft­living

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Designer Helps a Couple Adjust to Loft Living Suzan J Designs - Decorating Den Interiors

Suzan J Designs - Decorating Den Interiors

Suzan J Designs - Decorating Den Interiors

While the upholstered furniture is soft and pretty, Wemlinger worked in details that play off the industrial look, like silver nailheads and these side tables, which have a pewter-like finish. She chose two sets of nesting tables for the room to save space. The owners can move them around for guests to set down predinner cocktails or afterdinner cups of coffee.

The couple had to downsize to a smaller dining set when they moved in. “It was important to make it comfortable, because they sit here every day,” Wemlinger says. So she steered them toward four chairs fully upholstered in linen. To the left is a balcony.

The industrial-inspired table has an elm top and a steel base.

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Designer Helps a Couple Adjust to Loft Living

Suzan J Designs - Decorating Den Interiors

The sideboard provides storage for linens and serving pieces. “We needed something fairly narrow to fit the space,” Wemlinger says. “Paris is his favorite place, and at first she worried the whole design might wind up looking Parisian. Instead we gave him a nod to Paris with these prints.”

Suzan J Designs - Decorating Den Interiors

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Designer Helps a Couple Adjust to Loft Living

Suzan J Designs - Decorating Den Interiors

One of the couple’s big adjustments to loft living was editing down their belongings, including a lot of their books. When they first moved in, this den space off the entry served as a library, but one of his hobbies is making jewelry and he wanted to set up a studio space.

Wemlinger gave him plenty of cabinets and shelves that look like they could have been in the building back in 1922. She found a brick that says “Milwaukee Est. 1848” from a local artist and added other details like the bicycle wheel clock and antique prints framed in distressed wood with bolt details.

Wall paint: Skimming Stone, Benjamin Moore Suzan J Designs - Decorating Den Interiors

In the spare room, the existing architecture provides industrial touches and the rest is about welcoming softness. “We kept it really simple in here and continued the colors

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Designer Helps a Couple Adjust to Loft Living

from the living area,” Wemlinger says. An upholstered bed and wallto-wall carpeting make things comfortable for guests.

Wall paint: Cosmopolitan, Benjamin Moore Read more stories about loft design

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