Free tools Windows power users keep installed
One-click scans. No signup required.
Recommended Free Tools
ThatPainter is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn More
Summer Thornton’s new Chicago office turns an 1877 Lincoln Park Victorian into a working design studio and a full-scale demonstration of her taste. Historic restoration, highly practical work areas, and deliberately audacious rooms coexist under one roof.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
The result is not a showroom detached from daily work. Thornton and her 15-person team use the building every day, while clients encounter a sequence of finished spaces that test ideas she says many homeowners would hesitate to choose.
Windows Errors? Fix Them Before They Spread
Repair common Windows errors and clear accumulated junk for a smoother, more stable PC - no reinstall needed.Free scan · no reinstallOutdated Drivers Are Slowing You Down
One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware matchA Victorian house becomes a creative headquarters
Architectural Digest’s January 23, 2025 feature by David Foxley places Thornton’s office in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood, inside a Victorian house built in 1877. Thornton had rented the top floor for several years before purchasing the entire building and restoring it. The renovation unfolded in two phases while her studio continued handling client commissions, and the overall process took two years.
#1 Best Overall
- COMPLETE 5-PIECE BRUSH SET FOR EVERY PAINTING TASK — Includes 1 Inch Flat, 1.5 Inch Angle, 2 Inch Flat, 2 Inch Angle Stubby, and 2.5 Inch Angle brush giving you every size professional painters use daily. Get all 5 for less than the price of a single brush from hardware store brands — professional grade performance at a fraction of the cost. Perfect for walls, trim, cabinets, doors, furniture, and detailed cutting-in work on any project.
- ZERO BRISTLE LOSS — GUARANTEED BY PRECISION ADHESIVE BONDING — Every bristle is locked in place with precision-set adhesive that keeps them in the brush — not in your paint job. The coated steel ferrule provides structural support while the adhesive bond ensures clean performance on every stroke. Premium SRT synthetic filaments load more paint and release it evenly for a smooth streak-free finish on walls, ceilings, and trim. Works with latex, oil-based paint, primer, sealer, and wood stain.
- INCLUDES THE ANGLE STUBBY MOST SETS LEAVE OUT — Professional painters know the 2 Inch Angle Stubby is the go-to brush for tight cabinet interiors, window sashes, inside corners, and detailed trim where standard angle brushes are too long. Combined with the 1.5 and 2.5 inch angle sash brushes you have precision cutting-in covered at every scale — baseboards, crown molding, door casings, and ceiling lines.
- FLAT BRUSHES FOR BROAD SMOOTH COVERAGE ON ANY SURFACE — The 1 and 2 inch flat brushes deliver even coverage on walls, furniture, shelving, doors, fences, decks, and wood surfaces. Ideal for applying primers, stains, varnishes, polyurethane, and specialty coatings. Solid wood handles provide all-day comfort and control for both professional contractors and weekend DIY homeowners tackling interior or exterior painting projects.
- TRUSTED BY PROFESSIONAL PAINTERS AND CONTRACTORS NATIONWIDE — Pro Grade delivers professional-grade results at a price that makes sense for crews who go through brushes on every job. Ideal for property managers, remodeling contractors, apartment turnover crews, maintenance teams, and commercial painting operations. Backed by thousands of verified reviews from working painters. Washable and reusable for multiple projects.
The building now has two simultaneous identities. It is a client-facing setting where prospective and current clients can experience Thornton’s use of color, pattern, antiques, and custom work at full scale. It is also the daily creative home base for Thornton, her husband and business partner Josh, and a 15-person team. That dual purpose explains why the project is more than a collection of dramatic rooms: circulation, sample storage, meeting space, and individual offices all had to work as a professional studio.
Thornton describes the project as a chance to act on ideas she might not be able to persuade a residential client to adopt. “I’m taking the ideas my clients won’t do,” she told Architectural Digest. The line captures the office’s role as a testing ground, but the rooms are still organized around real work rather than staged spectacle.
Restoring the building while rebuilding its systems
The project architect’s account describes a gut renovation with a broad technical scope. Work included exterior restoration, complete window replacement, and interior structural, mechanical, and electrical upgrades. The architect also coordinated interior finishes into the construction drawings so that wallpaper, stone, lighting, millwork, and other visible elements were resolved as part of the building process rather than added as an afterthought.
Recommended Free Tools
The architect’s project page states that the property sits in the Sheffield Historic District, identified there as part of the National Register of Historic Places, and carries an Orange designation from Chicago Landmarks noting historic significance within the Armitage-Halsted Historic District. Architectural Digest’s feature does not independently verify those designations or the permit history.
Historic review affected the work program. The architect says the team navigated separate permits for exterior restoration, windows, and interior work. In practical terms, that meant the project had to protect the character of an old Chicago house while replacing the infrastructure required by a contemporary office. The restored shell provides the period setting; the new systems make it possible for a 15-person studio to operate there reliably.
The entry sets an intentionally theatrical tone
Terrazzo, green carpet, and pagoda pendants
Visitors first encounter a terrazzo floor and a stair covered in bold green carpet. Pagoda pendants hang above the circulation area, turning what could have been a utilitarian stair hall into a visual introduction. The combination establishes a saturated palette before a visitor reaches any meeting room, and the hard terrazzo, soft carpet, and sculptural fixtures create variation underfoot and overhead.
Rank #2
- Great Value Pack Artist Paint Brushes: Soucolor 20 brushes in 10 sizes professional paintbrushes set — no shedding, holds paint well, cleans easily, Acrylic, watercolor, oil, gouache, Halloween pumpkin decoration & face painting, rock painting, ceramics. Fantastic high quality gifts for creative, artistic siblings to share!
- Awesome Set of Paint brushes: Professional paint brushes can cover all of your needs. The multi-purposed brushes are ideal for Watercolor, Oil, Gouache, enamel, Acrylic Painting, Body, Nail, Face Painting, Miniature, Model, Wood, Glass, Cup, Ceramic, Fine work, Art class, Craft Art Painting, DIY Art Crafts etc.
- Soft and long-lasting: The bristles are soft and strong, with nickel metal ferrules and blue wooden handles. After cleaning, the bristles will become soft and fluffy again and will not fall off.
- Easy to clean: it’s very convenient to Wash well in soap and water. Retain shape after drying. the brushes hold up very well. Nice selection to beginners and professionals. Keep them clean and they last a long time.
- Halloween Pumpkin Ceramic Crafts Supplies: A Great painting gift for family, friends, kids, girls, women, student, classmate, teacher. For using in school, travel or used in the home and office.
“Summer’s Folly” wallpaper
The hall’s most distinctive element is “Summer’s Folly,” a bespoke wallpaper conceived with de Gournay. Thornton describes its sources as classical, folk, and fairy tale. Her exact description is, “It’s a mismatch of inspirations, from classical to folk to fairy tale.” The phrase is useful because the pattern is not presented as a single historical reproduction. It deliberately combines references that normally belong to different visual worlds.
That wallpaper also gives the office a named, site-specific identity. It was developed for this setting rather than selected as a generic backdrop, so the stair hall functions as both arrival sequence and studio signature. Clients see the firm’s appetite for ornament immediately, while employees pass through a space that marks the transition from the street to the workday.
The conference room tempers the drama for serious work
Compared with the entry, the conference room is relatively subdued. Its custom table provides the central work surface, surrounded by Jean Prouvé chairs. An Isamu Noguchi lantern supplies a softer sculptural note, while a USM modular credenza adds organized storage. The room also includes a silvered ceiling treatment and a Chinese Art Deco rug, so “subdued” means controlled rather than plain.
This is the room where the office’s showcase function has to support decisions. The team can spread out project samples across the custom table, review materials with clients, and keep reference pieces close at hand in the credenza. The restrained composition gives those samples room to compete for attention without losing the studio’s decorative point of view.
The feature identifies the credenza as a USM modular credenza but does not give a model number, dimensions, configuration, finish, price, or current retail availability. Because the piece is specified in a particular room, it should not be treated as proof that an identical setup is readily purchasable or that another configuration would perform the same way.
Do these 3 things before closing this tab:
1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteLayered pattern carries through the front salon
The front salon shifts back toward overt decoration. A Rupert Nikoll chandelier hangs above the room, while Boussac wall covering from Pierre Frey covers the walls. A settee upholstered in Warner house fabric provides a softer, more domestic counterpoint to the lighting and wall treatment.
Rank #3
- 【All sizes of art brushes】: The 10 sizes of multi-functional brushes have various shapes, making the mixing color easier, which is very suitable for artists, students, teenagers, children and painters at all levels. Wonderful Present ideas for friends and family who like painting!
- 【general brush set】: Professional paint brush can meet all your needs. Multifunctional brush is very suitable for watercolor, oil, gouache, acrylic painting, body, nail, face painting, miniature, model, ceramics, arts and crafts painting, etc.
- 【high quality process】: It is designed with anti falling bristles, anti-rust nickel ferrule and solid wood handle. You can use the brush to focus on the painting and always be creative.
- 【easy to maintain】: After using the brush, it is very convenient to clean the brush with warm soapy water and reshape the tip of the brush. Air dry the brush and place it on top of the top for long use.
- 【100% satisfaction guarantee - buy now】1 packs of set brushes, you can also get friendly customer service, any questions feel free to contact us, within 24 hours to help you! There is no risk in buying our paint brush kit.
As a client-facing salon, the room demonstrates how several strong surfaces can coexist when each occupies a different visual role: the chandelier defines the ceiling plane, the wall covering establishes the envelope, and the settee supplies a large upholstered form for sitting. The pieces are named in the feature, but the article does not establish standardized product specifications or ordinary retail substitutes for the complete arrangement.
Workspaces make the ornament useful
Materials library
The materials library is lined with oak shelving. Its purpose is practical: it stores the physical vocabulary of projects so the team can compare samples rather than relying only on photographs or digital images. Shelving turns that archive into an accessible work surface, allowing staff to pull fabrics, stones, papers, and finishes for presentations and internal review.
Team workspace
In the team workspace, built-in desks are made from Azul Cielo dolomite. The stone gives a continuous, pale-blue work surface a visual presence normally associated with a reception desk or custom console. Because the desks are built in, the material is part of the room’s architecture rather than a freestanding accent that can be swapped without construction.
The contrast between oak shelving and dolomite desks also clarifies how Thornton handles material variety. Warm wood organizes the library’s contents; stone defines the team’s working plane. Both are durable, tactile surfaces selected for a room that has to withstand everyday use, not only photography.
The kitchen treats a staff amenity as another design composition
The kitchen carries the office’s decorative language into a room associated with breaks and informal conversation. Wells Abbott wallpaper covers the walls, and chairs by Haute Living provide seating. Thornton points out a skirted sink as a particularly telling detail: a normally exposed utility element is softened with fabric so the functional equipment participates in the room’s composition.
That choice illustrates the project’s larger tension between serviceability and display. The kitchen still has to support staff throughout the day, but its finishes are not hidden from clients or treated as secondary. Pattern, upholstery, and the sink skirt make the room feel intentional without pretending it is a formal salon.
Rank #4
- Bates paint brushes come in a convenient 6 pieces with 3 flat and 3 angled bristle styles, including (1”, 1.5”, 2”) flat and (1.5”, 2”, 2.5”) angled bristles, perfect for tackling any surface painting or staining job.
- The sturdy natural bristles of each brush are designed to hold more paint, creating a smoother finish with fewer streaks and saving you time on the job.
- The lightweight wooden handles provide extra comfort and ease during long painting processes like walls, trims, cabinets, and doors.
- These versatile brushes are ready-to-use, easy to clean, and can be reused multiple times, making them economical as well as reliable tools for any painting project.
- Bates paint brushes can be used for both oil-based paints as well as latex stains and are ideal for home or commercial projects such as decks, fences or DIY painting jobs.
Private offices reveal the people behind the studio
Thornton’s office
Thornton’s own office contains a tiger-print sofa and large-scale floral wallpaper. The two elements are intentionally assertive: the sofa introduces a strong animal pattern at furniture scale, while the wallpaper expands the floral motif across the room’s envelope. Together they make the principal’s office a concentrated expression of the risk-taking visible elsewhere in the building.
Josh Thornton’s office
Josh Thornton’s office uses Cole & Son wallpaper. Architectural Digest’s feature does not describe the rest of that room, and the distinction is useful: the office tour does not flatten every space into the same maximalist treatment. Individual rooms can carry different levels and types of pattern while still belonging to one studio.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why the office embraces choices residential clients may reject
Thornton’s explanation is direct: “I’m taking the ideas my clients won’t do.” The office allows her to test combinations at a scale and intensity that may be difficult to approve for a private home. A client can see the green stair carpet, the fairy-tale wallpaper, the tiger-print sofa, and the silvered ceiling in person, then decide which principles translate to a residence and which belong only to the studio.
She also describes the professional dilemma with humor, calling it “a cobbler-with-no-shoes situation.” The remark refers to designers who devote their energy to clients’ interiors while postponing their own. Buying the full Victorian and restoring it gave Thornton a permanent place to resolve those deferred decisions.
Thornton told Architectural Digest that a client once said, “Your office is hideous,” and that she answered, “Well, I think yours is hideous!” The exchange is presented as a joke between people comfortable with strong opinions, not as a universal design prescription. It does, however, explain why the office can be so personal: disagreement is part of the conversation the rooms are built to start.
The Tool Desk
Outbyte Driver Updater FREEScan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Outbyte PC Repair FREEClear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →At the same time, Thornton says, “We wanted to make it really spectacular,” and “We wanted it all to feel elevated.” Those statements help distinguish deliberate exuberance from random accumulation. The rooms use expensive-looking or custom elements, but they are arranged around hierarchy, use, and movement through the house.
Best Value
- 2 Inch Angled Paint Brush for Precision Cutting-In – Designed for clean, sharp lines around trim, baseboards, ceilings, corners, and detailed edge work. The perfect size for control and coverage.
- Value 3-Pack for Pros & DIY Projects – Includes three professional 2-inch angled sash brushes — ideal for contractors, remodelers, and homeowners tackling multiple rooms or repeat paint jobs.
- Smooth Results on Walls, Trim & Cabinets – Great for interior wall painting, cabinet edges, furniture projects, and trim work where a smooth finish and crisp control matter most.
- Works with Latex Paint, Oil-Based Paint & Stains – Premium synthetic filaments hold more paint, reduce streaks, and provide a clean finish with latex paints, oil coatings, and wood stains.
- Works with Latex Paint, Oil-Based Paint & Stains – Premium synthetic filaments hold more paint, reduce streaks, and provide a clean finish with latex paints, oil coatings, and wood stains.
How the rooms support a working design practice
The conference room handles formal presentations and sample reviews. The materials library keeps the studio’s physical references organized. Built-in desks give the 15-person team dedicated work surfaces. Private offices accommodate focused work and identify the principals. The salon and stair hall create memorable arrival and meeting experiences, while the kitchen supports the less formal interactions that keep a studio operating through a long day.
This distribution matters because the office is not a single open-plan set. Each room has a distinct operational assignment and a different level of visual intensity. The sequence moves from theatrical arrival to controlled presentation space, then into storage, production, food service, and private offices. Decoration is therefore tied to where people pause, meet, work, and circulate.
A two-year project shaped by an occupied studio
Thornton’s team continued working on client commissions while the building was renovated in two phases. That arrangement imposed a practical constraint: the project had to progress without erasing the business’s ability to deliver work. The architect’s stated scope—from exterior restoration through structural, mechanical, electrical, and finish coordination—shows why the timeline extended beyond a cosmetic refresh.
What’s actually slowing this PC down?
Pick the symptom - the matching free tool is one click away.
Replacing windows, upgrading building systems, securing historic approvals, and documenting interior finishes all require coordination before the decorative layer can be installed. The completed office reflects that sequence. Its wallpapers, rugs, lighting, stone, and upholstery are the visible evidence of a larger restoration that also addressed the building’s envelope and infrastructure.
What this Chicago office ultimately demonstrates
Summer Thornton’s office is persuasive because its boldness is specific. “Summer’s Folly” belongs to the stair hall; the conference room is calibrated for samples and conversation; oak shelves and Azul Cielo dolomite desks serve the team; the kitchen’s skirted sink disguises utility without sacrificing access. Even the most theatrical choices are attached to a room, a task, or a point in the visitor’s route.
The 1877 Victorian remains legible as a historic house, but it now carries the demands of a contemporary design business. Thornton’s 15-person team has a functioning workplace, clients have a full-scale encounter with the studio’s ideas, and the principal has a place to pursue the daring concepts that might otherwise remain on a mood board. That combination—not maximalism in the abstract—is what makes the project an unusually complete portrait of a designer at work.
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
