Room To Grow

With a baby on the way, Jayson Home’s Devin Kirk and his husband searched all of Chicago for a new home—only to find it r ight where they had started.

- Kathryn O'shea-evans

As I understand it, this is your new old house. Explain, please.

DEVIN KIRK: My husband, Chad, and I were in the process of adopting a baby, and we’d been living in this 1,600- square-foot apartment in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood for a decade. We couldn’t picture raising a child here, with our easy-to-stain linen sofas and limited storage; we were searching for an outdoor area, another bedroom, and more living space. But after two years of looking, we had an aha! moment: If we were to find this apartment on the market now, we’d probably draft an offer on the spot. We decided to keep and renovate our current home, and then just pretend we were moving into someplace new—the idea was so liberating.

KATHRYN O’SHEA-EVANS: Did you move out during the renovation?

No, we lived through every minute. Renovating the bathroom was the toughest part, since we have only the one. To decorate, I shopped our own apartment, from furniture to accessories and art. I created a game plan for all the big pieces of furniture but avoided making floor plans, relying instead on instinct. I shuffled things around until they felt right. I love slow decorating—where things evolve over time—and it was satisfying and felt more cohesive to treat this like a real project. My first piece of advice is just to start—that’s the hardest part. Once I began selling off and donating furniture, there was no going back.

That foyer is a showstopper.