Captain Dapper: Jeff & Chris Create a Patchwork Home Together Dapper Home

When Jeff bought his Wrigleyville condo in 1999, he surely had no idea how it would look today. While the apartment has seen changes over the years, including opening up the kitchen and hosting occasional roommates, the condo got its biggest shake-up earlier this summer. When Jeff's boyfriend, Chris, moved in a couple of months ago, the couple set about blending their lives. This meant not only introducing all four of their combined dogs, it also meant blending both men's furniture and other household goods. Fortunately, Jeff and Chris share a similar aesthetic and, even though I was seeing their home only a few weeks after moving in together, everything seemed to flow. Even the dogs were (mostly) getting along.

The layout of the condo would be familiar to anyone who has lived in Chicago. The front of the unit consists of an open living/dining room. The kitchen was once hidden away but Jeff opened up a wall and removed a closet to make this great room even more open and spacious. While the large room feels light and bright, it has provided some challenges when it comes to decorating. "Over the years, I bought what I could." Jeff says. "Sometimes I loved it, and sometimes I regretted it. The living room was especially hard to figure out because it has such an odd shape. Originally this would have been two narrow rooms, and what is now the kitchen would have been a bedroom. I like the open concept just fine, but getting the furniture placed just so has always been a work in progress for me."

See more of the home after the jump...

As Jeff explains, the two men were able to bring the home together rather effortlessly: "He added his furniture to mine and also brought all his great art and objects, all of which complement mine, I think. I had just carpeted the living room in the winter, and had also begun buying a few new pieces of furniture (and getting rid of everything I was really finished with). Chris and I very quickly put things together, and I can’t believe how settled and finished it feels to me (in contrast to all the years of constantly changing things around)."

Through a French door off the kitchen is the long hallway so familiar to Chicago apartments. While the living room has been carpeted, the long hallway features a hardwood floor covered with a long rug. If I lived here, this would totally be my daily runway. As you can see in the photo below, the west facing windows in the bedrooms off the hallway do any amazing job of lighting what might otherwise be a very dark space. These vintage apartments had a way of working with natural light that I think we could still learn from.

I like to ask people about the favorite feature in their home. It's always interesting to hear about the things that make people fall in love (or even out of love) with their spaces. For Jeff and Chris, one of best things about this condo is its location. "Though it’s a bit noisy because of the El rolling by," Jeff reports, "the apartment has the advantage of looking out over a park to the south (a mostly quiet children’s playground) and to the west (Challenger Park, beyond which is the vast and leafy Graceland Cemetery)."

As an absolute transit nerd, I love that the trains rolls by right outside their windows:

As much as I love the location and the views, I have another favorite feature in Jeff and Chris's home. In the master bedroom, which sits at the very back of the condo, at the end of the long hall, there's a little secret room. I joked that it could be a panic room but it's perfectly set up as a little entertainment nook, complete with a small sofa and a television. The room also features a large window that affords you a killer view looking north up the El tracks.

For Jeff and Chris, the success of blending two households has included a little serendipity along the way. While Jeff wasn't sure that Chris's patchwork quilt would work with his patterned bed frame, he loved the story. So do I! A friend of Chris's had given him a stack of Giorgio Armani made-to-measure suit fabrics and, unsure how to use them, he turned them over to his mother. After countless hours hand-stitching every single piece, Chris was presented with a one-of-a-kind quilt ... and a great story to tell. Much to Jeff's delight, the patchwork mixes wonderfully with the bed frame.

Thanks to Jeff and Chris for allowing us all into his home. Their work in blending the home has paid off - it shows (and photographs) beautifully and yet it feels comfortable as well. Even more important that how the home looks, however, is Jeff's feeling about the condo. "I've never been happier with the home than I am now!"

To see more of Jeff and Chris's home, check out the slideshow below.