Summer Thornton Design

Cleansed of all superfluity, a room sometimes comes into its own. So it is with this living area off the kitchen at the heart of a multilevel, loft-style apartment, located in a Chicago neighborhood known for its cosmopolitan cool. Light and openness are the essentials here. And Summer Thornton felt it. “We used a much more limited palette than we do in most of our work,” says the designer, known for her upbeat traditionalism and fearlessly bright palette. “We really focused more on shapes and negative space.” To balance the scale of the L-shaped sofa, she opted for sculptural seating that would look great from any angle, tracking down a 1966 Warren Platner lounge chair for Knoll and a pair of Marco Zanuso’s classic 1951 Lady armchairs, a 1stDibs find. The Bright Group chandelier eliminates the need for table lamps. Pretty basic, Thorton says: “The simplicity of the design really allows the art to shine and the room to breathe.”