Briar Condo

A vintage Chicago condo rehab that aimed to turn back the clock on a 90s developer reno provided the perfect opportunity for a modern lighting upgrade that enables the building’s vintage roots to shine. The homeowner’s ideal result? A renovation that would unearth the 1932 building’s great bones, gracefully marrying them to modern finishes, seamless technology and robust controls to ground the project in present-day style and convenience.

With less than two months from project start to completion, Morlights was charged with creating a full lighting design for the home that would enable a range of ambient, task and mood lighting options via intuitive, agile controls that put minute-by-minute lighting changes at the homeowner’s fingertips. Successfully navigating the intense timeline as well as construction challenges—demolition revealed an all-too-common historic artifact, cloth wiring—Morlightswas able to realize the homeowner’s vision.

The resulting systems are beautifully integrated, with details like trimless downlights that clear the way for appreciation of the architecture; under-and over-cabinet lighting in the kitchen to create dramatic contrast and a design-forward combination of downlights, pendants and sconces in the bathroom. Controls were retrofitted to existing switches to allow for whole-house control and the ability to create lighting to answer any scenario, from cooking to entertaining to unwinding with a glass of wine. The overall effect? Lighting that perfectly articulates the beauty and function of the home, and a homeowner’s dreams made reality.

“It doesn’t take an enormous mansion to illustrate what great lighting can do in a residential setting, from creating a luxurious look to creating the kind of comfort we all want at home.”—Avi Mor