Spaces and Views combines the impeccable standards of Wood-Mode and Brookhaven fine cabinetry (and our other excellent lines) with a professional staff that designs, engineers, and project manages more than 600 residential and 700 high-rise and multi-unit kitchens, baths, libraries, and other projects each year, in virtually every city neighborhood and every suburb.
We are particularly proud of our space, kitchen, and interior designers. All are well educated (and continually re-trained), sophisticated, extremely knowledgeable, friendly, creative and talented. Style and good taste, of course, cannot be trained – each artist is born with an eye for his or her work. We seek out and hire only the best.
Rest assured that your Spaces and Views designer knows every look, from ultra-contemporary to transitional to traditional (Wood-Mode and Brookhaven have dozens of each), every finish (from aluminum to white to black to cherry to maple, and everything in between), every countertop, fixture, appliance and piece of hardware. More important, they know how to put spaces together, in kitchens, master baths, closets, studies, libraries, etc. Every Spaces and Views and SmartRooms designer works on CAD, hand-in-hand with your architect, custom builder, builder, remodeling company, contractor, interior designer, etc. Or, we work with consumers directly.
At every location except Lincoln Park and SmartRooms (the Merchandise Mart), Spaces and Views handles all of your window and door needs, inside and out. We feature Marvin, the industry’s quality leader, but we can match the best products to your price range and need.
Our employees are masters in glass and wood, true professionals who will know the right window or door for the right situation. Know that, when you have purchased Marvin Windows and Doors from Spaces and Views, your windows will be crystal clear, UV protected, with the highest insulation values and energy efficiency available today. ..and your doors will be solid, aesthetic, and secure. This means environmentally friendly, long lasting, great looking windows and doors with low maintenance.
Love your home, protect your family, and end your headaches with one visit. Stop in today.
Our professional kitchen designers and project managers and window and door experts are listed and described by location, below:.
Highland Park:
Pawel, lead designer at Spaces and Views’ Highland Park showroom, immigrated from Poland as a young boy. Despite the challenges he faced with language, education and culture, he was drawn to the arts and design early in his life. He attended Harrington Institute of Interior Design in Chicago and also traveled to Paris, where he studied French architecture and design. After earning his Bachelor’s Degree in Interior Design, he began his career with the Lee Lumber family.
Pawel has worked in Highland Park for the past 6 years and established a significant reputation for design within the North Shore community. He has been published in North Shore Magazine and quoted in the Chicago Tribune. Realizing that most clients are visual, Pawel uses his extensive portfolio to showcase a variety of ideas, allowing clients to hone in on what appeals to them. He then incorporates each client’s personality and taste into the spaces he designs.
Eileen is a designer and busy mother who helps anchor our Highland Park location on a part-time basis. We wish we could have more of her time! She has always been involved with the arts (she has a music degree in Organ from the University of Oklahoma), so kitchen design comes naturally to her. You might have heard her playing organ at a local church and not known it! Eileen is a “people person” who forms relationships with clients and knows their lifestyles, needs, and desires before she begins their designs. She believes that in our non-stop, busy culture, every person needs a place of his or her own. So, she tries to create very personal, aesthetically beautiful designs within a framework of functionality for her clients.
A true “people person”, Catherine blends her outgoing personality and her design talents when she introduces clients to the exquisite world of Woods-Mode fine custom cabinetry and to the many services of Spaces and Views. Both her construction and decorating backgrounds are strong contributors in starting clients on the right foot toward that special room of cabinetry. Her ability to understand and communicate the specific needs of Highland Park’s large contractor base creates a smooth and accurate business process. Since joining our Highland Park staff in 2005, Catherine has complemented our designers and assisted our clients with her unique and natural approach to choosing styles and finishes.
Tom is the Manager of our very successful Highland Park store. He graduated in 1980 from Loyola University in Chicago with a BS in Psychology. Tom first went to work for Dominick’s, where he was a corporate buyer and a store manager. Ten years ago, he joined Spaces and Views. An expert in windows and doors –extrusions, low maintenance applications, clarity, energy efficiency, insulating value, UV ray protection, etc. – Tom has attended the Marvin Windows and Doors continuing education program (in Minneapolis) three times. Tom works with builders and homeowners, directing them to whoever can help them – the window/door department, cabinetry, or lumber, etc. at Lee Lumber in Chicago.
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Oakbrook Terrace:
The owner of a Wood-Mode dealership for 10 years, Kay is one of the most knowledgeable people in the cabinet business. She graduated from the University of Dayton, took NKBA classes in design and advanced design at Wood-Mode, and then purchased Liberty Kitchens & Designs, which she owned and operated from 1991-2001. After selling the business, she continued there as manager until 2005, when Spaces and Views hired her to be our Outside Sales Representative, working out of the Oakbrook Terrace office. Kay creates and cultivates new relationships with custom builders, interior designers, remodeling companies, developers, designers, home owners, subcontractors, suppliers, and architects. She is not only a people person, but she has full and complete business knowledge of the cabinet industry. What’s more, after 16+ years with Wood-Mode, she is a true expert in the line.
Kay has worked on the HBAGC Tour of Homes committee, chaired the Run for Cover for Home Aid Chicago, and chaired the Woodland Academy of the Sacred Heart benefit. More important, no one knows more about all phases of the cabinet business and its markets than she.
A huge new addition to our company, Chris brings 20 years of experience at the highest levels of interior design to our company. A Certified Kitchen Designer, she graduated from Central Florida with a BFA, earned an Interior Design Degree, and started her own firm. There, she became renowned in corporate interiors. She taught Interior Design for three years at Central DuPage College and then taught full time at Harrington, where she ran the NKBA (National Kitchen and Bath Association) endorsed kitchen and bath design program. She is still an adjunct teacher at Harrington and Triton Colleges. She founded the Illinois Chapter of the International Interior Design Association, where she was also President.
We discovered Chris as she transitioned from her design position with another custom kitchen company and hired her as quickly as we could! She is now a designer at our Oakbrook Terrace location. If you are lucky enough to work with her, you will be getting the talent and originality of one of America’s most respected CKDs.
Tom is our hybrid and one of our key people. He has grass roots knowledge of the industry, starting in construction in 1976 and learning everything about Wood-Mode, kitchens, baths, architecture, and interior design through experience. He owned Counter Intelligence and The Kitchenary in Northbrook for nine years, becoming an expert in kitchens, baths, cabinets, countertops, sinks, faucets, etc. and learning the business and accounting side of the business. He then worked at another Wood-Mode dealer before moving to Spaces and Views.
Today, Tom is a Designer and a Sales Representative, all in one. He has worked with builders, custom builders, contractors, developers, architects, interior designers, remodeling companies, and homeowners. No one in our company knows more about the exquisite Wood-Mode line of fine custom cabinetry, and how to make it work for your needs.
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Lincoln Park:
In 2001, Craig Tassone emerged from the canyons of New York City’s world of design, to become Spaces and Views’ Senior Design Engineer. Craig graduated from New York’s prestigious Fashion Institute of Technology. His AAS degree in Interior Design and his seven years as a sought out kitchen designer have equipped him with a clear understanding of how great ideas, creative style, and reality of function can merge into a spectacular design.
Now in his 20th year of project management, Craig gives our entire staff the power and support to master the most complex of designs. His experience, blended with his ability to articulate the subtleties of any luxury kitchen, bath, or interior, give the entire Spaces and Views program of high-end residential and multi-unit involvement a foundation upon which any client can confidentially rely. Craig’s office is in our Lincoln Park store.
Customer service is at the heart of any successful business, and at Spaces and Views, Lincoln Park, that means Carl. Honing his people skills from years of service in the military and from a rewarding career in the hospitality industry, Carl knows and understands his role in servicing our clients. Carl’s product knowledge and understanding of style help our clients turn good rooms into glorious ones. In his support role, Carl works with the design staff in everything from pricing the product to handling the logistics of delivery. Like so many at Spaces and Views, Carl knows that no project is completed until the client is truly satisfied.
With a BS in Psychology from Ohio Wesleyan University and an Interior Design degree from her hometown of Denver, Wendy anchors our ever busy Kedzie location. She prides herself in her easy manner and ability to satisfy diverse client demands. “Balancing the budget while meeting their design needs keeps the job challenging,” Wendy says. “I love seeing the smile at the end of each job.”
Jaclyn is a sweet little southern girl from North Carolina who is a top kitchen and bath designer for Spaces and Views. Nine years ago, after receiving her BS in Housing and Interior Design from Appalachian State, she began her career in interior design, creating custom furniture, window treatments, and bedding, in Hickory, NC (the furniture capitol of the world). There, she worked with high-end fabrics and wall coverings and created spaces that reflected each client’s personality. She first worked for Luxe Home in the Merchandise Mart, quickly joined Chicago Kitchen Design Group, then moved to Kohler, and then to Spaces and Views. She has been a designer for five years, is a qualified AKBD (Associate Kitchen and Bath Designer), and is now pursuing her CKD and CKB (Certified Kitchen and Certified Bath Designer) certifications She is also studying for LEED certification (Green kitchen and bath design) that should achieve that within the next year.. We are lucky to have attracted this excellent talent.
is an Associate Kitchen and Bath Designer at our Lincoln Park location. Ambrae worked in Oak Park where she became immersed in historic homes and architecture. She is a graduate of The International Academy of Design and Technology where she obtained a Bachelor Degree of Fine Arts. She has studied all across Europe.
Ambrae began her career in a famous architectural firm where she saw first-hand the detail that goes into building a home. She then joined Oak Park Kitchens as a Kitchen and Bath Designer. We were lucky enough to discover this wonderful new talent and quickly hired her. Design has always been a part of Ambrae’s life; she finds there is no better feeling then accomplishing a beautiful and well conceived space that fits her client’s tastes and needs.
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SmartRooms – Merchandise Mart:
: A brilliant student of the arts, Danielle earned her BFA in Interior Design from Harrington College of Design in 2005. Currently a Project Manager, Danielle also attends Columbia College, where she is working toward her MFA in Interior Architecture with a focus on Sustainable Design. She is one of our bright young, rising stars, always willing to help, extremely professional, and a joy to work with.
Jill graduated with a BFA in Interior Design from the Illinois Institute of Art in 2003. At the time, she was already working for SmartRooms as an intern. We quickly made her a full time employee – we know talent when we see it. She is now a Project Manager with excellent knowledge of the entire Wood-Mode line of fine custom cabinetry.
With a business degree from First Business School Chicago, and a degree in Interior Design from Harrington, Fernando joined SmartRooms four years ago to help run our high rise division as a Project Manager. He has since been promoted to Designer for Residential Clients. Fernando is a major creative talent, a people person, and a pragmatist. “I want to design not just for designs’ sake, but to create a beautiful yet fully functional kitchen for the individual,” he says. We feel that one telling fact shows his values and his character: Each year, Fernando spends several weeks volunteering in Africa (Ghana in 2008), assisting surgeons who give free operations to the poverty-stricken people of that nation. We are very proud of Fernando as a designer and a human being.
Two years before graduating from Michigan State University with her BA in Interior Design, Katrina began working in the kitchen industry. Shortly after graduating she moved to Chicago where she spent her first years at Birger Juell, Ltd. learning about custom millwork and paneling. She joined SmartRooms as a Designer four years ago.
Katrina has been published in North Shore Magazine and Building America’s Dream, the publication of the Home Builders Association of Greater Chicago. She specializes in space planning for kitchens, baths, home offices, libraries, and entertainment centers. She works in Auto-CAD with interior designers, architects, and homeowners. She is accomplished in the selections process, where she advises her clients on cabinet door styles and finishes, integrates countertops, stainless steel elements, and recommends colors, backsplash designs, etc. She also has a keen sense of lighting for aesthetic purposes. She says that what makes her such a good space planner – designing functional and gorgeous kitchens for clients, according to how they use the space, be it cooking, dining, or for entertaining and gatherings – is her ability to engage with clients through listening to their needs and then applying her knowledge and skills to produce custom spaces that are equally functional and beautiful.
After spending eight years as a top kitchen and bath designer for Poggenpohl, Douglas became available and we snapped him up as fast as we could. We know talent! Douglas was educated at Illinois State and graduated with a BS in Industrial Technology (Pre-Press Graphics major and Visual Communications – Art -- minor). But printing was not his true love – design was. Over the past 15 years, he has taken as many classes as he could find in Architecture and Space Planning (applied services). He worked at Atria Studios and Polyform (at the Merchandise Mart) before joining Poggenpohl.
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Chicago in Lee Lumber North:
Following her graduation from Olivet Nazarene with a BA in Housing and Environmental Design, Josie’s career wove its way through the home interior worlds of Lippman’s and Marshall Field’s Design Studio. After four years of working with clients and creating personalized living environments, Josie joined Spaces and Views and its unique team that is devoted exclusively to multi-unit projects.
Josie’s communication and design skills, attention to details, and excellence in project management make her an integral part of this team. She has contributed to such projects as The Montgomery and The Regatta of Millennium Park. Additionally, when redesigns are requested, she becomes the Designer of Record. Her attention to details and product knowledge make her a client favorite.
: An 11 year professional in the kitchen and bath industry, Sharon is a graduate of Florida’s Art Institute of Ft. Lauderdale and a Certified Kitchen Designer. After two short stops at small design houses, Sharon joined Christopher Peacock in the Merchandise Mart and focused on the world of high-end cabinetry design. Five years later, as a well known and independent designer, Sharon brought her talent , energy, and art skills to Spaces and Views in Lee Lumber North (Kedzie at Belmont) and her following has soared.
Whether working with the individual homeowner or with Lee Lumber’s huge builder base, Sharon has displayed her enormous ability to design and manage the project while satisfying the client in every way. No matter the project scope, Sharon believes, “There is no greater reward than improving the quality of a client’s lifestyle with a design that both teases and pleases the senses, while satisfying the practical needs of the client. I truly love what I do.”
While Sharon’s base of operation is the Kedzie Avenue store, she moves throughout our system as client meetings dictate.
Sam transferred from the University of Cincinnati, where she studied Physical Therapy, to Harrington College, where she fulfilled her dream to study Interior Design. With her BA in hand, she spent two years in residential design before joining the Spaces and Views staff handling multi-unit projects. Sam’s focus is in Project Management. She has a solid background in Auto-Cad (Computer Aided Design) and related programs. From breaking down multiple kitchen designs and pricing them, to onsite visits where she measures each and every unit (to avoid installation problems and ensure the excellence of the final product), Sam blends with her fellow staff members and defines the details that make a cabinet project successful.
“I love what I do,” she gushes. “To visit the site, ride the lift to a floor I helped define, is so satisfying. Just to view this beautiful city from 50 stories up in a wire cage is breathtaking!”
After earning a degree from Olivet Nazarene, Whitney joined Spaces and Views in 2006 to pursue her course study of Housing and Environmental Design. As part of the Spaces and Views development team that manages the high-rise and assorted multi-unit projects, she sees her education come to life each day.
Blending her growing product knowledge with strong Auto-Cad skills and a solid work ethic, Whitney has become an integral part of our team. Mixing her talents with the onsite, field requirements for Project Management, she continues to broaden her knowledge of this area of the design world.
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Chicago in Lee Lumber South:
A graduate of the International Academy of Merchandising and Design with a degree in Interior Design, Reneida chased her dreams, starting as a draftsperson and a space planner. She had grown to understand the elements of design, style, and art by 2000, when she arrived at Spaces and Views. Here, she focused on the world of residential cabinetry. By 2002, she was a full-fledged designer.
Today, she skillfully transfers the hopes and dreams of her clients onto paper. As Reneida says, “Everyone has a vision of how they would like the space to look. My passion is to make that dream come alive.” Her ability to blend form and function has created a following of literally dozens and dozens of satisfied homeowners, architects, and contractors.
This talented and creative designer anchors our Pershing Road location. Visit Reneida and watch your own hopes and dreams come alive.
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