On Rise

A top event producer crafts his own dazzling set in one of the recently renovated historic Palmolive Building aeries..

In a typical action-packed weekend, Tom Kehoe, Chicago's go-to guy for event production and design, stages two or three glam galas. He creates fantasies and illusions for a client list that reads like a Who's Who of the society world, ranging from prestigious charities and venerable non-profits to the hoi polloi of the smart set. The tools of his trade-furniture, textiles, lighting and accessories-are used to forge remarkable settings that range from elegantly prim and proper to wildly fantastical.

And did we mention that he's fast? Scenery that would take a theater company a few weeks to build, or a setting an interior designer would need months to create, take him mere days. "I have a 64,000 square foot warehouse full of materials, and a fantastic staff of 210. So our turn-around time is remarkable," he boasts.

So when Kehoe decided to move into a new home, it would seem that doing it himself would be a no-brainer. After all, he's a designer... and an experienced one at that.

This time around, Kehoe decided he was ready for something more urbane than his last pad, a Ukrainian Village loft near the West Loop headquarters he works at by day. "I wanted to be closer to the venues I have to hit every night for work, and those are basically the big ballrooms on Michigan Avenue. Plus, I thought it would be nice to give high rise living a try," he explains.

Once Kehoe started looking at apartments in that area, he headed to the Palmolive Building. "I fell in love with it when I did the party for their sales center a few years ago and they walked me through their models, but moving wasn't even on my radar yet.

Yet the renovation done by Booth Hansen Associates to turn this legendary commercial building designed by Holabird & Root for Colgate-Palmolive, and finished in 1929, into residences had made a lasting impression on Kehoe. "Just the moldings alone were etched in my memory. They knocked me out. I remember their thick, bold lines that were also sleek and clean. They gave the units an Art Deco flavor... but it was modern, too," he observes.

Perhaps the moldings made him head there---though Kehoe says he was also impressed by other aspects of the renovation... especially the understated but stunning Art Deco- inspired lobby done by xxxx. But snagging a place was a stroke of luck. "There were only three units left, and two didn't have good views. The one that did (a 3000 square footer) had just come back on the market because a family who was moving here from Ireland had a change of plans," he explains.

He took it on the spot, and quickly realized he needed to collaborate on the project for a number of reasons, though the architectural significance of the structure (which is on the National Register of Historic Places and has official Chicago Landmark status) and its polished elegance may be the most obvious. Kehoe admits, "I never expected to end up in such an iconic building."

But the aerie had 30 percent less space than his loft, with contained rooms instead of wide open expanses. One of those was an exceptionally long, relatively narrow dining room. "Space planning would be trickier in this place because I had to work in pre-ordained boundaries," he observes.

Then there were the enormous windows with stunning panoramic views, posing other issues...such as dressing them to highlight what was outside, yet subdue sunshine by day and commercial lights by night when necessary.

And figuring out exactly what to buy would be stressful without a second opinion. "Nothing was coming with me. The vibes were so different here that I needed to start from scratch. Plus, my last place had contemporary furniture, and I felt this one needed fine vintage pieces," he muses.

Bottom line, the project would be "on a totally different scale that what I was used to working with...and have very different parameters. The things I do get torn down after 24 hours, but this wasn't going to be makeshift. I'd be using different resources... significant pieces that were the real thing... and costly. I wanted some guidance," Kehoe admits.

So he hired Kathy Taslitz, a designer who specializes in interiors and has just debuted her own line of limited production furnishings. "We met through business years ago and have been friends ever since," he explains. Of course, working with friends can be tricky, but Kehoe prevailed because "I knew she'd be perfect for the job. She has this irreverent sense of style that's all about mixing things up... which is exactly what I do too... and it's hard to find someone who shares the same sensibility that you do," he confides.

For her part, Taslitz talks to her clients about their ideals and feelings at the start of a job, turning the furnishing process into a psychological exercise. Only then can she layer a home with pieces that speak to its owner's state of mind. Taslitz discovered Kehoe had a saturnine side. "He likes things dark and moody," she confides, adding that this predilection prompted her staff to christen Kehoe "the prince of darkness," a sobriquet that thoroughly amuses Kehoe.

But a bright apartment should not necessarily be dimmed; natural light is a precious resource. Instead, Taslitz helped Kehoe create a balance, tempering the bright, public, window-lined rooms with shadowy overtones, and shrouding the interior foyer and master suite in deep, shadowy hues.

Making the foyer dark was easy because it was in the heart of the apartment, and received no natural light. Taslitz shrouded it in chocolate brown and black grasscloth wallpaper anchored it with a welcoming and witty sunny lemon yellow credenza for balance. But the master suite, where Kehoe says "I need complete and total darkness and silence to sleep," took a bit more effort thanks to all its windows. So Taslitz upholstered the bedroom walls in plush, charcoal gray Ultrasuede, swathed windows in heavy cashmere blackout drapes the same shade and used white as an accent to brighten the room. A snowy goatskin rug, chairs upholstered in bisque silk velvet and crisp white satin window liners under the blackout drapes create pools of light in the room.

Taslitz used this same balanced equation to establish equilibrium in every room.

In the living and media rooms, walls were given coats of paint in medium-value tones of nimbus gray and deep burlap respectively, and neutral underpinnings such as upholstered pieces and rugs in taupes or grays and were countered with controlled hits of color. An upholstered bench designed by Taslitz to do triple duty as an ottoman and coffee table is tufted in tomato billiard cloth to invigorate the more solemn surroundings in the media room, while a pair of apple green brushed velvet chairs and a charcoal gray mohair sofa warm the living room. There, the space is anchored with one of Kehoe's favorite pieces-a polished nickel and blackened bronze table from Taslitz's studio furniture line.

Yet it took color and geometry to perfect the problematic dining room. There Taslitz sheathed the walls in a sandy grasscloth, and divided the rectangular space into two. One end is anchored with a traditional dining area outfitted in a wondrous nontraditional mix: Taslitz paired a statuesque 1940s dining table by Chicago architect Samuel Marx with curvy chrome and leather dining chairs from the 1970s; topped the duo with a mod, acrylic and metal chandelier from the 1960s by Los Angeles designer Charles Hollis Jones; and underscored the furnishings with a banana leaf area rug. The other side is left relatively open, with just a vintage Danish modern sideboard against the wall and a pair of Deco barrel chairs that forge an airy seating area sited next to the windows. Kehoe eats breakfast and reads the paper there daily, and delights in the fact that he can set up another table in that space when he decides to have large dinner parties.

But that is just for the near future. After almost two years of high rise life, Kehoe, who started out professionally as a florist, realizes this lifestyle doesn't meet his needs. "I love living here. Even last night I had friends over for dinner, and they couldn't believe the moldings weren't custom. This is the most perfect place to be... for a highrise," he maintains.

And highrise is the operative word to Kehoe. "I miss having a garden for me and a yard for my dog. Now I realize I need something with quick outside access, preferably near a park where I can walk him," he explains. And this time around, he says "I've found things that I'll keep forever. But I'll need Kathy to help me rearrange what I have, and tweak if necessary." i4