SPOTTED: TCW Magazine - Women of Dream Home 2011

Recently, the ladies of DreamHome 2011 came to the Chicago Home Design Ideas and Alternative Showroom for a photoshoot for TCW Magazine article.

These four women give DreamHome  a feminine touch.  This year’s DreamHome lineup of designers – the annual presentation of luxury rooms by the Design Center at the Merchandise Mart – features four superstar designing women. We talked with the quartet of female designers for a preview of the seventh annual DreamHome, which opens to the public on April 15, 2011.

Michael Del Piero:  The Home Office

Michael Del Piero poses in front of
a Home Design Ideas and Alternative Todd Console a
large Donna Hughes landscape

“It’s overly decorated, but has an ‘undecorated’ approach,” Michael Del Piero explains of her home office design for DreamHome. Her design blends an industrial aesthetic with clean, classic, sophisticated lines and palettes. Ms. Del Piero brings her vision of utilizing space with multiple uses to the room’s design by integrating a partner-style industrial steel desk from her own collection. “One person can be working on his or her laptop while someone else is reading,” she notes. “People are looking for high-functioning spaces with a good feel and sophisticated look.” The concept is a clean urban home office that maximizes the area of a single room designed for functionality, durability and living.  Prior to embarking on her design career, Michael Del Piero got her start as an antique and object dealer and has curated a large inventory of furnishings, which are often integrated into her designs. Drawing from her travels and fascination with handmade items, art, color, space and how people define them, she opened her own design practice, Michael Del Piero Good Designs, in 2008.  -By Lois Kim

Julia Buckingham Edelmann: The Foyer



Julia Buckingham Edelmann sits in
 a Home Design Ideas and Alternative Giselle Chair

 Dragged by her mother to antique markets on every vacation and trips to Europe, Julia Buckingham Edelmann found herself obsessed with antique markets at an early age. “I always had an interest in beautiful things,” she says, “not necessarily expensive or rare materials, but using different styles, genres and periods and making them all work together.”  After receiving a degree in Fashion Merchandising and Marketing at the University of Arizona with addition study in Interior Design, she helmed Crackle Antiques in Cincinnati, Ohio, as co-owner for three years before starting her own design firm, Buckingham Interiors + Design LLC, in Chicago.  For DreamHome, she designed a foyer with the concept of incorporating subtle nuances from a vintage pre-war Parisian apartment to set the tone for the rest of the home. “I love that all the pieces feed off each other,” she explains of the DreamHome foyer, which incorporates leather walls, warm wood floors and modern architectural pieces. A key piece is a 1980s mantel integrated with upholstered pieces in unexpected fabrics. Her vision draws from her passion for interpreting classic traditions with a fresh and modern twist. She also keeps in mind that the space must be comfortable, durable and functional. “Every space should be comfortable and inviting,” she adds. “Nobody wants to feel that there is a wasted space in their home.”  -By Lois Kim

Shawna Dillon: The Kitchen

Shawna Dillon sits on a Home Design Ideas and Alternative Violet Sofa and
in front of a Lynn Raney mixed-media art piece.

Shawna Dillon received the perfect pairing when asked to create a kitchen for DreamHome at The Merchandise Mart. “I love the happy marriage between cooking and room organization,” says Ms. Dillon, a 10-year interior designer for Studio Snaidero and a Virginia Tech Interior Design grad.  The kitchen’s accommodating layout features a deep island, lower drop table and multiple seating spaces, which provide homeowners a place to reconnect with family. “Kitchens are like modern day living rooms,” she says. “They have a luxurious, sophisticated look, yet are extremely functional.” Ms. Dillon’s inspiration for her kitchen holds true to her design principles. “I am inspired by the dichotomy between two things, such as rough and smooth, masculine and feminine,” she explains.  The DreamHome kitchen reflects this by mixing traditional and contemporary design and combining Snaidero style with a Clean & Fancy Cabinetry partnership. “The kitchen is not just for cooking,” Ms. Dillon adds. “I have a hybrid of styles and finishes to create an urban living space that serves a purpose and functions just as well.”  -By Debra Lipson

Lauren Coburn: The Media Room

Lauren Coburn sits on a Home Design Ideas and Alternative Spencer Sofa
and in front of a Kevin Archer painting.

Lauren Coburn, LLC, designed a Media Room for DreamHome with the concept of a transformable, multi-functional space. She attended the Art Institute of Chicago, where she received a degree in Interior Architecture. Hired immediately out of college by Tigerman McCurry Architects, Ms. Coburn learned the world of high-end design early on. As a result, she started her own firm six years ago, implementing her sleek design aesthetic.  She brings this point of view to her media room, explaining, “My interiors look very different, but have commonalities in terms of clean lines and timeless pieces.” The room features an elegant bronze metallic color palette, custom cream silk ottomans, a cream leather sofa and several television screens affixed to rosewood panels that can hide side televisions at the push of a button.  The Media Room encompasses a mix of cutting edge technology with a traditional interior. “I love juxtaposition and creating focal points to provide interest,” Ms. Coburn says.  -By Debra Lipson


Article by:  Lois Kim and Debra Lipson
Published in:  TCW Magazine - February 2011
For Original Article - Click HERE
All photos by:  Agnes Donnadieu