With a classic foundation in a coveted location, Leslie Olech has enhanced her creative lair — a town house in the Mies van der Rohe Historic District in Lafayette Park — for the past three years. As the founder and principal designer with LO Interiors, her artistic vision highlights the iconic co-op where she lives and works. While structural changes are prohibited in the units built in stages through the ‘60s, the designer did updates wherever possible that include new floors, cabinets and paint that complement original details such as the staircase and doors.
For 10 years, Olech lived in Berkley and Huntington Woods. “I wanted to change up my environment completely and be close to the growth here, but I was unsure because I love nature, so I was a little hesitant,” she explains. Then a local realtor, Nika Jusufi, broker and owner at Nika & Co., told her about the town houses that offer the best of both worlds.
Olech appreciates the midcentury-modern design and glass walls that reveal the units are surrounded by trees. “A lot of people call them classic cars,” she says. “There are no studs here. The walls are concrete with wire mesh and there are steel beams and glass. It’s a very unique building. Contractors are always really fascinated and they only allow certain contractors to work here.”
She also loves the easy walk to the Riverfront and Eastern Market. In addition, the units are close to Greektown and central to downtown without the traffic. “When I’m not working, I rarely have to drive my car,” adds Olech.
Motor City muse
The 1,200-square-foot town house features three bedrooms and 1 ½ bathrooms, as well as an unfinished basement in the structure where great neighbors are another gift. “There are a lot of other creative people and small business owners and people involved in the community who are looking out for each other. It’s very community-focused,” says the designer, who dedicates a spare bedroom to her studio.
Olech wanted to keep an urban feel throughout the main floor, so she chose sizable porcelain tiles that resemble cement. For the galley kitchen to feel original, she went with shelves that stretch to the ceiling and dark grout for the backsplash.
In the dining room, industrial shelves the designer painted pink hold special keepsakes. “I have a lot of vintage pieces that I collected over the years that include little pots and brass animals like Penny the Peacock,” she says.
Her aesthetic preferences are varied. “I have multiple personalities. I love vintage and antique and Old World decorative molding, but I also love California West Coast clean and sleek. I try to merge the two styles together,” adds Olech. “I love color and pattern and I try to mix and match materials like the unlacquered brass hardware to soften and balance the plywood cabinetry.”
In the living room, a comfy sectional provides the perfect perch for naps and guests. “With being so central, my place often becomes a gathering point before concerts, shows, dinner, exploring, etc.,” says Olech. “With the little park on the property, I like to enjoy the area with my dogs and friends as well.”
The designer lives with her rescued chihuahua mutts, Sunny and Pancho. “They are my besties,” she says about her pups who love looking out the windows at all the nature and people, even the wild turkeys who sleep in the trees.
Personal take
New window treatments frame the natural habitat, while art and artifacts contribute to the colorful interiors. “I love the mix of vintage and fun materials. It’s important to stay playful in your home and not be afraid to play with color,” says Olech. The designer also does not shy away from DIY projects like the media stand she made from plywood and cinderblocks. “It’s easy to get stuck in consumerism, but if you have access to a saw or know somebody who has one, that can go a long way,” she adds.
Local artists play a role in her collection that covers the walls. “It feels very balanced as far as sizing and the colors of the frames,” says the designer, who also added wainscoting to the mix. “That vintage part of me loves texture and dimension.”
The original staircase features painted arrows that lead to the second floor, which Olech calls her lair. A stately mirror in the hallway that once graced an old Detroit hotel was found on Facebook Marketplace for $50.
Her favorite color, green, envelops the walls and ceiling in the main bedroom where blackout shades add to the drama. “I love sleeping in a dark room,” says Olech. She matched the window treatments to a darker shade on the ceiling and right below to mimic molding. Her grandmother’s scarf was framed as art. Vintage pieces include the dresser and the rug, while the Anthropologie chair was another Marketplace find.
Olech had a playful vision for the powder room. “I wanted my bathroom to look like a dive bar where people take selfies,” she says. Inspirational pages from magazines she purchased at Periodicals in Detroit line two walls for a collection she plans to expand. The quartzite vanity was a remnant. “It reminded me of trees and water flowing,” the designer adds.
Surplus tile from a client did not go to waste. “There are huge grout lines, but there was just enough tile to complete the backsplash. It adds to the uniqueness with the irregular-shaped mirror. I wanted it to feel distorted,” Olech explains. When her guests take selfies, she collects the Polaroid pics for a toilet room coffee table book she and her photographer conceived.
Express yourself
Her personal stamp further enhances the historic structure. “It was really important to stay true to the integrity of the space, but still add my own flavor,” says Olech. “Some things, while they are new, don’t look new. I wanted to keep with the times, but update more for functionality. I tend to gravitate to how things were made and how much detail they have.”
She also likes to highlight artists and makers in the community. “I support local as much as I can, even for plumbing with Advance Plumbing in Detroit,” she adds.
The interiors reveal her unconventional perspective. “Because you can’t change the layout, I still wanted to make sure that when people come over, they know I live here,” says Olech. “I do get that feedback. With all the books and animal figures and art, people see my personality.”
As the designer tells her clients, online inspiration from sites like Pinterest can be helpful, but you should focus more on how you want to feel in the space. “It’s about asking where you feel the most comfortable and how you can make your home be your safe space,” she adds.
When it comes to her own creative endeavor, the fact that her town house remains unfinished was intentional. “I can still add and change and design and play,” says Olech. “It doesn’t have to be completed.”
Jeanine Matlow writes the Smart Solutions column in Homestyle. You can reach her at jeaninematlow@earthlink.net.
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Detroit designer blends styles in ’60s town house
Reporting by Jeanine Matlow, Special to The Detroit News / The Detroit News
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