SEPTEMBER 2019 | CHICAGO 57
A portrait of Weber’s mother hangs in
the grand central staircase. “All I know
about it is that it’s from 1941 — when
she was 20,” Weber says. “I have not
been able to track down the artist.”for the World.” (At the time, the com-
pany supplied around 80 percent of the
nation’s meat.)
The couple could look past the vinyl
wallpaper that covered nearly every sur-
face, the water-damaged roof, the 490
crumbling cast-concrete window sur-
rounds, and the leaks in every bathroom.
In fact, they inhabited the aging pile
for a decade before touching anything.
“When you live in a space, you know
how you use it,” says Weber. “There’s a
benefit to waiting.” Even if that meant
that 100 moving boxes sat in storage, a
bearskin rug hibernated in a plastic bag,
and the home’s quarter-sawn oak floors
remained buried under ’70s plush white
carpets. A relatively slack attitude toward
upkeep settled in. As Weber recalls: “The
kids spilled grape juice? Oh well! The dog
kicked the wall? Oh well!”
A Spoon tub transforms the
bathroom — which houses
owner Melissa Weber’s family
heirlooms — into a luxurious retreat.