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The Eclectic Collector
A world traveler goes all out to celebrate the season in her North Loop loft
Shannon Reilly lives large. Israel to Italy, Mexico to Morocco, she’s traversed the globe, she says, “pretty much since I was old enough to travel solo.” This petite, perfectly polished real estate broker doesn’t travel in the circles you might assume. She once took an illegal boat ride from Key West to Cuba to participate in a blue marlin fishing competition like a latter-day Hemingway.
Her travel souvenirs are similarly unexpected—why fall back on postcards, she figures, when you can schlep home a 4-foot tribal sculpture from Ethiopia? “Everything in my home has a story behind it,” she says. “I collect pieces as I travel, and having those pieces I love that have memories attached to them is something I really value.”
Even before her world travels began, Reilly was a collector. In the mid-’80s, she shopped the North Loop, then mostly warehouses and salvage shops. Drawn to the rough edges and creative appeal of the area, Reilly soon moved into the neighborhood, first renting and then buying a loft in the same building in 1995.
She immediately began to make it her own, combining two units into one 2,600-square-foot space. Faux-painted walls and wood-beamed 14-foot ceilings give the space the feel of a rustic Italian villa. But the style never feels forced, in part because it’s sprinkled throughout with strange and wonderful objets d’art that Reilly has amassed on her journeys. In one corner is a terra cotta Viszla snapped up in a Paris flea market, in another is a vintage Turkish camel saddle used as a topper on the antique German doghouse that belongs to Reilly’s own Viszla, Gypsy. From the original rough brick of an outside wall, her collection of African masks gazes down over a long table salvaged from the dining area of an old ship and furnished with antique chairs rescued from the basement of a warehouse on Washington Avenue.
Decorating this eclectic space for the holidays is no small task. Fortunately for Reilly, she has professional guidance from Richard Anderson, interior designer, “Decorating Cents” alumnus, and principal of Cherub Designs. The two met by happenstance when he decorated her favorite local joint, Café Havana, and became fast friends. Together, they’ve been tackling Reilly’s holiday décor for a decade now. Watching the two banter is like trying to follow a fast-paced tennis game—the back-and-forth, the finishing one another’s sentences, the correcting and disagreeing over minutia. The same goes, says Anderson, for their holiday decorating. “We’re like a married couple, fussing over getting the house ready. It’s definitely a joint project.”
Reilly and Anderson take special care to incorporate existing artwork and artifacts into the holiday look, creating an aesthetic Anderson calls “bohemian opulence.” He explains his approach: “It’s about creating continuity in the holiday elements in order to highlight rather than detract from Shannon’s collection. She gives me carte blanche to rearrange. It’s also about having fun. We both think holiday decorating should be fun, not stuffy. You can be opulent and still have character.”
While Reilly’s Christmas décor is classic (fresh pine boughs, white lights, gold and maroon ribbon, and traditional tree ornaments), it is tempered by the luxe-bohemian vibe of her own pieces. Her 14-foot tree is flanked by a larger-than-life Al Wadzinski sculpture, fashioned from intriguing bits of flotsam and jetsam, and a bamboo rainstick resting in a behemoth Mexican urn. Beneath a vintage poster-inspired Wayne Grimsrud painting, a wooden reindeer figurine nestles in a pine bough. Throughout, tradition marries with bohemian for a look that is, quite simply, Shannon Reilly.
Decorating on such a grand scale is not without its hazards. One particularly memorable season, Anderson was out of commission, and Reilly enlisted two friends to help wrangle the tree into its stand and begin the trimming. “I’ve been in this business for ages,” says Anderson, “and as soon as I walked in the door I told Shannon that stand was never gonna hold that tree. And like clockwork, right behind me, the tree crashes to the ground.”
The tree fell two more times that year. Since then Reilly has relied on Otten Brothers to grow, cut, deliver, and put up her gargantuan fir in an appropriately sturdy stand. In fact, the yearly visit to the Long Lake nursery has become one of her most cherished Christmas rituals. “I love picking out my tree,” says Reilly, “It’s very personal. I spend an hour or two deciding on the right one—I always think my trees are perfect.”
Christmas Eve is Reilly’s favorite day of the year, and the festive season gives her a perfect excuse to entertain. “My favorite part of the whole season is getting all the decorating done, and sharing my home with friends and family. Over the years different people have wanted to come by and help, but even if the decorating is just Richard and I, I always throw some holiday parties.” Reilly’s events run the gamut from an all-girls night of champagne and hors d’oeuvres to lavish multi-course meals. She loves it all. “My home has always been this wonderful private spot for friends and family,” she says. “It’s really my sanctuary.”
Making it Merry
Yes, you can give your holiday décor that designer touch—without blowing the budget or investing time better spent celebrating with friends and family. Interior designer Richard Anderson of Cherub Designs shares a few of words of experience:
➻ Go with what you love. If you’re into glitz, great, more is more! If you like a more laid-back handcrafted style, do it.
➻ Hunt for a tree with character. Whether it’s fake or real, look for character and depth—you don’t want it to be perfectly symmetrical and sheared within an inch of its life. Own an artificial tree? Buy fresh eucalyptus boughs and nestle them in the branches to add a refreshing scent.
➻ Decorate the tree from the inside out. Begin by placing lighting closest to the trunk, and work your way out. Likewise, add ornaments in layers; if branches are widely spaced, hanging ornaments closer to the trunk gives the display depth and interest.
➻ Buy Christmas décor after Christmas—but rather than heading directly to big-box stores, check out nurseries. Bachman’s, Gertens, and the like usually have more variety than department stores and offer great bargains after the holidays.
➻ Buy in multiples. Five or six of something is better than one; it gives a sense of continuity.
➻ Group holiday collections together to make a visual statement. Arrange several collected mini-snowmen on a silver tray, or fill an apothecary jar with vintage ornaments—you can make something Old World look modern simply by changing the way you display it.
➻ If you don’t want to go all out, create a few big hurrahs that will be memorable. Make an impression by decorating the front door and the tree, and adding a centerpiece to the dining table. No need to put holly on every windowsill.
Remember, in a few weeks it’s all coming down. Keep it manageable and you’ll enjoy it more.
Lila Battis is an intern at Midwest Home magazine.
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