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Luxurious spaces can include environmentally friendly features. Emily Mackie Norris and Inspired Interiors incorporate ‘green’ features into your space while maintaining a gorgeous and elegant interior. Few designers can create spaces that are stunning while comfortable, unique while within your budget and ‘green’ while decadent. It’s only a masterpiece if it represents your authentic personality and lifestyle. Dare to know perfection.
1. By blending English architectural details into a space for a young family of four, Inspired Interiors provided an inviting environment for cooking and entertaining. A custom-designed hood, vintage hardware, reclaimed lighting and recycled marble countertops balance the warmth of the English countryside with this modern Chicago home.
2. Both custom-designed by Emily Mackie Norris, the rich texture of a coconut palm breakfast table and the delicate lighting of an Italian chandelier were crafted with this client’s style in mind. The subtle incorporation of a dark alder desk area provides a much-needed space for the family’s active lifestyle.

Sleek Standout – A clean, contemporary design fits state-of-the-art equipment into a long and narrow space

Designer Emily Mackie Norris of Inspired Interiors received an unusual challenge from clients in suburban Virginia. They hired her to remodel the kitchen of their traditional house into a contemporary space, but asked her to do so by working from photographs and three dimensional models. The couple flew in twice to Chicago to see her plans progress. “It was extremely interesting from a design challenge and not problem not being there,” she says.

The greater challenge was figuring out how to incorporate the multiple work stations the owners sought into the room’s long, narrow shape (15’x 5’6”) as well as how to allow traffic to flow easily around the zones. But Norris did that, too. Near the main sink, a triple bowl, she incorporated a flat screen TV. By the range of the long island, which Norris made the room “110-percent efficient,” she included a second sink for prepping and a landing space close to the wall ovens. There’s also a large baking center nearby with a pop-up mixer; that zone is far enough away from the cooking equipment to keep multiple cooks out of the way of one another. The island also features casual seating and an upper tier for resting food items. A warming drawer was placed near the door to the dining room so that plates and dishes would remain hot. The main eating area for six, another request, has its own windowed corner with storage underneath the banquette.

The room’s clean modern lines feature two different cabinet materials, one in a creamy gloss laminate and the other in a light-colored wood that mimics quarter sawn cherry but is really reconstituted veneer. Both are environmentally sensitive and constructed from recycled content. Color comes from the limestone rectangles on the floor, laid in brick pattern; the Red Dragon granite on countertops and along the backsplashes; and the stainless steel hood with clear glass canopy. A pass-through links the main sink and dining room; pendants lights at various levels dangle above the dining table.

Classic Kitchen – view 1

Classic Kitchen – view 2

Classic Kitchen – view 3

Luxurious spaces can include environmentally friendly features. Emily Mackie Norris and Inspired Interiors incorporate ‘green’ features into your space while maintaining a gorgeous and elegant interior. Few designers can create spaces that are stunning while comfortable, unique while within your budget, and ‘green’ while decadent. It’s only a masterpiece if it represents your authentic personality and lifestyle. Dare to know perfection.

By blending English architectural details into a space for a young family of four, Inspired Interiors provided an inviting environment for cooking and entertaining. A custom designed hood, vintage hardware, reclaimed lighting, and recycled marble countertops balance the warmth of the English countryside with this modern Chicago home.

Both custom designed by Emily Mackie Norris, the rich texture of a coconut palm breakfast table and the delicate lighting of an Italian chandelier were crafted with this client’s style in mind. The subtle incorporation of a dark alder desk area provides a much-needed space for the family’s active lifestyle.

Dare to know your perfect self — let us design who you are in your new space — call 773.728.0419 to schedule your consultation.

Article written by: Emily Mackie Norris, ASID