The living room at Wolfram Street, in the morning

Interior design · Chicago

Rooms planned around the hour their light arrives

Whole homes and single rooms for people who have just bought an old Chicago house and want it bright, finished and calm - not staged.

See the rooms Book a walk-through
7:40 am 6:10 pm Wolfram Street, living room, facing west

The practice

In figures

What eleven years of planning rooms by the hour adds up to.

Fig. 1

11years

Since the studio opened

Logan Square, 2015

Fig. 2

84homes

Finished, room by room

Greystones, two-flats, bungalows, apartments

Fig. 3

1,140windows

Measured and compass-read

Every one, in every house

Fig. 4

8a year

Whole homes taken on

Two slots left for spring 2027

Counted in September 2026, between a walk-through and an install.

Selected projects

The rooms, and the way they face

Six recent homes. The needle on each card is the bearing of its main room - the first thing I measure and the last thing I argue about.

Every project

How I plan

One room, three hours

The same kitchen at seven, at one and at six. The light decides the colors; I just write them down.

The kitchen at Palmer Square, facing south

Every room gets its light for a few hours a day and spends the rest waiting. I photograph a room three times before I draw it, so the color on the walls is chosen for the hour the family is actually in it, not for the hour the photographer comes.

This kitchen is where a family of four eats breakfast, and breakfast is at seven. The sage was chosen at one, when the light is honest, and checked at seven, when it has to work.

  • Faces South
  • Windows Two, 6 ft 4 in
  • Best hour 1 pm in January, 8 am in June
7:00 am
Low sun across the counter; the room is mostly shade and one bright stripe.
1:00 pm
Flat, even light - the hour the sage was chosen in.
6:00 pm
The window goes blue and the marble holds the last of it.

Services

What you can hire me for

By how much of the home it covers, with what it takes and what it starts from.

  • Whole home

    Every room

    Plans, finishes, lighting, furniture and window treatments for the entire house, with the trades held to the drawings until the first morning.

    Takes 6 to 9 months From $38,000

  • Three rooms

    Half a floor

    The rooms you live in most - usually the kitchen, the living room and one bedroom - planned together so the light and the colors carry from one to the next.

    Takes 3 to 4 months From $16,500

  • One room

    A single space

    A kitchen, a study or a bedroom done properly, down to the switch plates and the hour the paint was checked in.

    Takes 6 to 10 weeks From $6,800

  • Light and color plan

    Advice

    A day in the house with a compass and a light meter, then a written plan of what to paint, what to move and what to leave alone. For people doing the work themselves.

    Takes One week From $1,900

Fees cover design and site time; the build is priced by your contractor against the drawings. Every figure is a floor, not a quote - the walk-through is where it becomes one.

How it goes

Seven stages, and where each one happens

From the first walk-through to the first morning in the finished house. The overnight is not optional.

Your home

01

The walk-through

Ninety minutes

Every room, with the blinds up. I take the compass reading of each window and the first photographs, and you tell me which room you avoid.

Your home

02

The overnight

One night

I sleep in the house before I draw a line - to see where the light comes in, which floorboard talks and where you actually drop your keys.

The studio

03

The light plan

Two weeks

Room by room: which hour each one is for, what it should be painted and which wall gets the lamp.

The studio

04

Schemes and samples

Three weeks

Finishes, furniture and lighting laid out per room, then taped up in the house at the hour they were chosen for.

The studio

05

Drawings and the schedule

Four weeks

The set your contractor prices from, and the finish schedule every trade on the job works to.

The site

06

Build and install

Twelve to twenty weeks

Weekly site mornings. Every color is checked on the wall at eight and at six before it is signed off.

Your home

07

The first morning

One morning

I hand over at sunrise, with coffee, and we walk the rooms as the light comes into them.

  • Where it happens
  • Your home
  • The studio
  • The site

What goes in

The finish schedule

One project, room by room - the sheet every trade on the job worked from.

The dining room, as issued

Wolfram Street greystone · Finish schedule

Issue Rev C · February 2026

Room Walls Ceiling Floor Lighting Window
Living room Chalk white, flat Forest green, flat Original oak, refinished Floor lamp, picture light Linen, unlined
Dining room Chalk white, flat Chalk white, flat Original oak, refinished One brass pendant, 2700K Wool, lined
Stair hall Chalk white, flat Chalk white, flat Oak treads, wool runner Picture light on the landing None - the window is the point
Kitchen Chalk white, eggshell Chalk white, flat White oak, oiled Two linen pendants Roller, blackout
Main bedroom Chalk white, flat Blue-gray, flat Wool carpet, undyed Two wall lights, dimmed Sheer and lined
Reading corner Chalk white, flat Forest green, flat Original oak, refinished One floor lamp Sheer

Paint is named by the maker’s card. Every wall color was sampled on the wall at eight in the morning and six in the evening before it was signed off; two of them changed.

About

Rosa Mercado

Interior designer. Logan Square, Chicago.

In the Wolfram Street stair hall, 8 am

I trained as an architect and spent six years drawing hospital wards, where the morning sun is a medical instrument.

I opened the studio in 2015 to do for houses what the wards taught me: find where the light arrives, put the people there, and paint everything else to suit. I take on about eight homes a year across the North Side and Oak Park - greystones, two-flats, bungalows and the odd courtyard apartment - and I sleep one night in every one before I draw a line.

I carry a six-dollar compass on my key ring. It has settled more arguments about kitchens than any drawing I have ever made.

Rosa Mercado · Logan Square, Chicago

A working day

On site

Build mornings, every weekday

At the desk

Drawing, samples, calls

Walk-throughs

Tuesdays and Thursdays

The overnight

Once per house, before the first drawing

Clients

Moving in, and a year on

What people said at handover, and what they said once they had lived in it for a year.

Dana and Luis Ferreira

Dana and Luis Ferreira

Owners

Palmer Square two-flat

Moving inMarch 2025

It is beautiful and I am terrified to put anything down on the counters.

A year onMarch 2026

We eat breakfast in the kitchen now because that is where the sun is at seven. I never noticed the sun before.
Priya Raman

Priya Raman

Owner

Hyde Park co-op study

Moving inSeptember 2024

The navy is much darker than I expected. I trust you, but it is dark.

A year onOctober 2025

The navy is the reason I finished the book. The room goes quiet at six and I just keep going.
Tom and Elise Kowalczyk

Tom and Elise Kowalczyk

Owners

Bell Avenue bungalow

Moving inJune 2024

Every friend who visits asks who did the ceiling. I did not know ceilings were a thing.

A year onJuly 2025

A year in and nothing has moved. The chairs are where she put them because that is where you want to sit.
Marcus Oyelaran

Marcus Oyelaran

Owner

Fulton Market loft

Moving inFebruary 2024

It is a lot of white. I distinctly remember saying I wanted color.

A year onFebruary 2025

The loft is never the same color twice in a day, which I now understand was the point.

In print

Notices and prizes

Where the work has been written up, and what it has been given.

2026

  • The house that faces the wrong way, and what she did about it Press Chicago Home Quarterly, spring issue
  • Planning a room by the hour Talk Oak Park Conservatory, spring lecture series

2025

  • Residential interior of the year, under 3,000 square feet Prize Midwest Design Circle
  • Ten designers who sleep over before they start Press The Two-Flat Review

2024

  • A greystone, three ceilings and one compass Press North Side Living, issue 18
  • Daylight is a finish Talk Interior architecture seminar, Chicago

2023

  • Best kitchen in the bungalow belt Prize Chicago Bungalow Society

2022

  • The overnight: an interior designer’s oddest habit Press Lake Effect Magazine

Questions

Asked at the first walk-through

The honest answers, before you write.

Fees

What does a whole home actually cost?
Design fees start at $38,000 for a whole home and the build is priced separately by your contractor against my drawings. For a Chicago greystone or two-flat, all in, most families spend between $180,000 and $450,000 depending on how much of the kitchen and the bathrooms moves. I will give you a real range at the walk-through, not before.
Do you charge for the walk-through?
No. It is ninety minutes, in the morning, with every blind up. If we are not right for each other you will know by the second room and so will I.
How is the build paid for?
You pay your contractor directly; I never mark up the trades. My fee is paid in four stages that match the process - after the overnight, after the light plan, after the drawings and after the first morning.

Timing

How long does a whole home take?
Six to nine months from the walk-through to the first morning. Three of those are drawing, the rest is the build. Single rooms take six to ten weeks. I take on eight whole homes a year, so the honest answer to when can you start is usually next season.
Can we live in the house during the work?
Usually, one floor at a time. The overnight tells me which rooms you can lose and in which order. Kitchens are the exception - plan on six weeks of a hot plate.

Where and what

Do you work outside Chicago?
The North Side, the West Side, Oak Park and Evanston without a second thought. Further than an hour and the overnight becomes a weekend, which I will do for a whole home but not for one room.
Do you take on new-build condos?
Rarely. A new build has not had time to tell anyone where its light goes, and most of them face a parking lot. If yours faces the lake, write to me.
What if our main room faces north?
Then you have the light painters pay extra for, and we will use it. North rooms take color better than any other; the Fulton Market loft is the one exception where I argued for white and won.

Next

Two ways to start.

Book the walk-through if you have the house. Ask for the fee guide if you are still looking, so you know what a room costs before you fall for one.

Book a walk-through

Ninety minutes, mornings, no fee

Ask for the fee guide

A two-page PDF, back within a day

Two whole-home slots remain for spring 2027. Single rooms are booked eight weeks out.

Start here

Ask for a walk-through

Tell me which way the house faces and how much of it we are talking about. I will answer with a morning and a fee.

Which way does your main room face?

Stand at the biggest window at noon. If the sun is in your face, that is south. If you are not sure, guess - I bring a compass.

Your name
Your email
The house
How much of it
The house, and what is wrong with it

Or write directly

[email protected]
  • Studio 2637 N Milwaukee Avenue, 2nd floor
  • Walk-throughs Tuesday and Thursday mornings
  • Replies Within two working days

Walk-throughs happen in the morning, with every blind up. Have the worst room ready - that one tells me the most.