A few years ago, Sheila and Jim Clary decided that they needed a home upon which they could impart their own touches. But they were busy—she as owner of a Chicago entertainment marketing agency and he as president of an executive benefits company.

With their lives filled with work, travel, and entertaining, they didn’t want to build from the ground up. Instead, they house-hunted in the neighborhood where they already lived, Old Town, which is known for its tree-canopied streets lined with cafes, boutiques, and antique shops. Eventually they stumbled across a spec house, still in the framing stage, which would allow them to incorporate the elements they wanted. “In the city, your space is limited,” Jim says. “Clearly there are trade-offs for living there. You don’t have a yard. You have to go through an alley to park your car. [But] we wanted a sense of space.”

What the Clarys got is four floors of airy comfort and sophistication, from the top-floor master bedroom and the his-and-hers offices to the lower-level media area, with guest rooms and other living spaces in between. A key feature that sold the Clarys on the 7,700-square-foot home was its high ceilings. “A lot of houses we looked at had a good sense of space on the first floor, but the other floors had normal-height ceilings,” says Jim, who also chose the house because of builder Jay Metzler of Chicago’s Metzler/Hull Development. “Jay had designed a house where the ceilings were the same height throughout,” Jim says. “It’s built for entertaining, so it’s set up to be welcoming. It’s big, but it doesn’t feel empty. It had the kind of living that we wanted.” Adds Sheila Clary, “I like all the natural light. You sort of feel like you’re swept away.”

For John Cannon, founding partner of interior design firm Cannon Frank, the challenge was to successfully meld the owners’ contemporary tastes with the traditional house they were buying. “I like to follow the aesthetics of the building,” says Cannon, who brought the exterior’s Celtic influences inside through details that include a Celtic-style arched living room fireplace, some furnishings, and the staircase’s ironwork.

Cannon also admired Sheila’s personal style. “She dresses impeccably,” he says. “The woman’s shoes are to die for—she’s phenomenal with her textiles.” So Cannon felt free, on occasion, to make design suggestions that other clients might have thought outrageous. “I think he was excited when I said I wanted color,” says Sheila, who designed the couple’s second home in Scottsdale, Ariz. “He just had a good sense of how far he could push me. John is confident, and it really helped me gain confidence.” Says Cannon, laughing, “Not many people are going to let you do chartreuse.” The color in question applies to the Donghia and Pollack fabric used to upholster the Art Deco-style club chairs by Interior Crafts that reside in the formal living room. (cont...)

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