HomeOpen House: Brett and Shane’s Edgewater Glen condo
19. Aug, 2010 
9 Comments
Brett and Shane lived in Lakeview before buying their vintage one-bedroom condo in Edgewater Glen in 2001. While the new zip code lacks Lakeview’s hustle-bustle, it’s not without its own charms: the lake’s a few blocks away, the streets are lined with mature trees (including many Catalpas), and the housing stock is gorgeous – a mix of single family homes (mostly Foursquare and Victorians) and brick 2 and 3-flats interspersed with a fewer number of larger apartment buildings, including the vintage six-flat where Brett and Shane live. Built in the early twentieth century, the apartment retains many original details, including wood moldings and hardwood floors, but a few years ago, Brett and Shane gutted and completely redesigned their kitchen and dining room, opening the areas to each other and incorporating a built-in desk and cabinets. When they redesigned the kitchen, the clever renovators modified its entrance to follow the original architecture by duplicating the angled wall at the other end of the hallway near the front foyer. The ingenious plan gave them space to incorporate much needed built-in cabinetry, and it also gave them another prominent wall to display art from their eclectic collection, which includes everything from an original page of operatic, high octane comic book art by Flash artist Francis Manapul to a beautiful, quiet alley scape by one of my favorite painters, Chicago-based Chuck Meyers. Track lighting illuminates the art throughout, and in the evening, it appears to glow from the street. As I discovered when I first visited earlier this summer, Brett and Shane’s place is just as warm and handsome inside as it looks from the outside. Thanks Brett and Shane!
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Brett Newton is a freelance art director. Click here for his website. Click here for past Open House posts.
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Brett and Shane often shop locally. A piece by Las Manos Gallery owner, artist Michelle Peterson-Albandoz hangs above the fireplace, and they bought the mid-century chairs from the always amazing Scout. (Tonight: Ted Harris light show. Don’t miss it).
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Brett’s mother’s husband Joe Zimmer built the large media cabinet.
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Say what you will, but when I see a magnifying glass, I think detective.
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A painting by Rockford based artist Deborah Newton (and Brett’s mother).
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The front sun porch.
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The wings are cute, but I wouldn’t trust him for a minute.
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That’s the new angled wall they created, which I was telling you about earlier.
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Top: a beautiful Chuck Meyers painting.
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More original comic book art. Shane framed it alongside the published page.
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Built-in storage galore and very cool to boot.
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Meeting a person with more Superman memorabilia than me threw me off for a second.
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Shane (left) and Brett in their building’s beautiful, lush shared back yard.
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Great space!
I love the Deborah Newton painting it’s so fresh and happy.
This is an inviting home. I love the art and the way it’s displayed.
I can’t stop looking at the pictures. These guys got everything right. That storage unit in the bedroom is the best.
So many great things about this house! Every room is amazing! The amount of interesting and rare art around the house really adds a whole level of character to the house, it’s like the frosting on the cake. If I had to pick I’d say that the bedroom is my favorite room.
Love this home!
Ooh! I love Chuck Meyers – I saw a show of his at Los Manos a couple of years ago and I’d totally swipe the painting!
Question about the lockers – did they come with the cris-cross wire as the doors or did Brett & Shane rework them? I have two units like this with standard locker doors(dumpter dive from a Dominick’s that was rehabbing theor break room) and this is a great alternative to keep the industrial bones but mot have it look like a high-school locker room.
Manly and sexy…..I mean the house, okay both them …..I mean both of them
The house is inviting and very handsome. A great combination of stylish and eccentric w/handsome traditional. I love the headless Barbie dolls.
truly inspiration you guys. well done!
The choices made with the wall paint colors make me just want to settle in, get comfy….quite lovely. And a yes please!to the painting above the coach.