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Pro Spotlight: 3 Ways to Transform Your Home’s Look
A Chicago-area husband-and-wife team share where to focus your design attention to make the biggest impact in interiors
Sponsored Content
Who: Charlie Murphy and Jenny Rice of Icon Building Group
Where: Greater Chicago area, Illinois
In Murphy’s own words: “Our primary goal is to be of service. We want to do right by our clients. It’s not about us. It’s about the client.”
Whether building from scratch or remodeling, tailoring a home to you and your family’s needs requires countless decisions. Charlie Murphy and Jenny Rice, husband-and-wife co-owners of the Chicago-area custom homebuilding firm Icon Building Group, strike a one-two punch when helping clients realize their design dreams. CEO Murphy widens a client’s available design options. Then, design consultant Rice helps winnow those options to fit each client’s priorities.
Where: Greater Chicago area, Illinois
In Murphy’s own words: “Our primary goal is to be of service. We want to do right by our clients. It’s not about us. It’s about the client.”
Whether building from scratch or remodeling, tailoring a home to you and your family’s needs requires countless decisions. Charlie Murphy and Jenny Rice, husband-and-wife co-owners of the Chicago-area custom homebuilding firm Icon Building Group, strike a one-two punch when helping clients realize their design dreams. CEO Murphy widens a client’s available design options. Then, design consultant Rice helps winnow those options to fit each client’s priorities.
Customized design. In 2007, Murphy, who has a business background, invested in a local housing development and soon realized the area’s diverse market was underserved. “Most builders here offer a set number of housing plans, but that model made no sense to me,” he says. “It’s so culturally diverse here, it seemed we should have an equal diversity in design-build options as well.” Murphy was on to something. “It created an opportunity where there wasn’t one before,” he explains. “Families who wouldn’t have considered building a home, because the available options didn’t fit their lifestyle, now reconsidered it.”
Focus on impact. Of course, more possibilities meant a huge palette of choices. Luckily, design is Rice’s forte. Previously an artist, she stepped into the role of creative consultant, helping clients with the myriad decisions at hand. “I offer perspective,” Rice says. “After 15 years of serving clients, I understand which design decisions are going to have a big impact and which really shouldn’t be stressful.” Ultimately, Rice doesn’t just want a home to look great, she wants clients to have a positive experience. “I want them to enjoy the process,” she says. “And I make sure the home is a reflection of what clients really want.”
Are you looking for ideas to give your home a refresh? Read on to discover the three high-impact details to focus on.
Are you looking for ideas to give your home a refresh? Read on to discover the three high-impact details to focus on.
1. Consider Color
“Paint color can completely change the mood of a home,” Rice says. “Just painting a space a different color makes it feel completely new.” After opening the flow of this midcentury modern ranch-style home in Chicago and reconfiguring it to face the backyard pool, the team delved into the interior.
Lightening up the color scheme while keeping the dark trim accentuated the home’s dramatic flair. “Trim doesn’t have to be light, it can be dark as well,” Rice says. Now the dark trim frames views looking out to the pool and patio. In the living room, they covered the original fireplace with mesh-melted mosaic tiles for a gray-on-white checkered look that enhances the midcentury modern feel. Rice and Murphy created the custom shelves in dark wood to contrast with the tilework.
See more of this project
“Paint color can completely change the mood of a home,” Rice says. “Just painting a space a different color makes it feel completely new.” After opening the flow of this midcentury modern ranch-style home in Chicago and reconfiguring it to face the backyard pool, the team delved into the interior.
Lightening up the color scheme while keeping the dark trim accentuated the home’s dramatic flair. “Trim doesn’t have to be light, it can be dark as well,” Rice says. Now the dark trim frames views looking out to the pool and patio. In the living room, they covered the original fireplace with mesh-melted mosaic tiles for a gray-on-white checkered look that enhances the midcentury modern feel. Rice and Murphy created the custom shelves in dark wood to contrast with the tilework.
See more of this project
2. Get the Lighting Right
Just like color, lighting changes both the mood and the aesthetic of a space. “It’s not just the fixtures that matter,” Rice says. “The amount of light, whether natural or manufactured, impacts inhabitants in subtle ways.”
Eleven-foot ceilings, glass doors and ample windows create abundant natural light in this open-concept family room and kitchen in Lincolnshire. Rice added an array of geometric iron-and-glass chandeliers for more visual variety and lighting options. The heights and placements of the fixtures are designed to define different areas of the kitchen, dining and living spaces, and the repeated materials of the fixtures add cohesion to the room.
See more of this project
Just like color, lighting changes both the mood and the aesthetic of a space. “It’s not just the fixtures that matter,” Rice says. “The amount of light, whether natural or manufactured, impacts inhabitants in subtle ways.”
Eleven-foot ceilings, glass doors and ample windows create abundant natural light in this open-concept family room and kitchen in Lincolnshire. Rice added an array of geometric iron-and-glass chandeliers for more visual variety and lighting options. The heights and placements of the fixtures are designed to define different areas of the kitchen, dining and living spaces, and the repeated materials of the fixtures add cohesion to the room.
See more of this project
3. Embolden the Backsplash
After the larger components of a home’s overall design have been determined, take equal time with smaller details. One finishing touch that’s often overlooked, Rice says, is the kitchen backsplash. A humble workhorse, the backsplash can dictate a kitchen’s entire aesthetic. “It’s not a huge investment financially,” Rice says. “In the overall cost of construction, it could be a rounding error, but it has a huge impact on the look and feel of the kitchen.”
After custom-building this modernist home in Hawthorn Woods, Rice and Murphy could have rested on their laurels. With 25-foot ceilings and walls of windows facing a lake, the home’s overwhelming focal point is the backyard. However, even with the grand design, their attention to the fine details shines. To complement the kitchen’s neutral palette, Rice added a glass mosaic tile backsplash, mirroring the wall of windows and reminiscent of the shimmer of light on the nearby lake.
See more of this project
More: For more information on Rice and Murphy and examples of their work, visit Icon Building Group’s Houzz profile.
This story was written by the Houzz Sponsored Content team.
After the larger components of a home’s overall design have been determined, take equal time with smaller details. One finishing touch that’s often overlooked, Rice says, is the kitchen backsplash. A humble workhorse, the backsplash can dictate a kitchen’s entire aesthetic. “It’s not a huge investment financially,” Rice says. “In the overall cost of construction, it could be a rounding error, but it has a huge impact on the look and feel of the kitchen.”
After custom-building this modernist home in Hawthorn Woods, Rice and Murphy could have rested on their laurels. With 25-foot ceilings and walls of windows facing a lake, the home’s overwhelming focal point is the backyard. However, even with the grand design, their attention to the fine details shines. To complement the kitchen’s neutral palette, Rice added a glass mosaic tile backsplash, mirroring the wall of windows and reminiscent of the shimmer of light on the nearby lake.
See more of this project
More: For more information on Rice and Murphy and examples of their work, visit Icon Building Group’s Houzz profile.
This story was written by the Houzz Sponsored Content team.
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Wonderful custom builders! Built our home exactly as planned. Very responsive throughout the build and after closing with any questions that we have had. Would recommend them to anyone!