Treasured Space

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Story by Pat Waters
Photography by Jeffrey Bebee

Pat Lovitt pared her possessions but not her distinctive personal style when she moved from a four-bedroom home in Omaha's Memorial Park neighborhood to a one-bedroom-plus condominium at Midtown Crossing.

The open-concept condo has modern finishes like stainless steel appliances and granite countertops, yet its overall ambiance is warm, comfortable and enveloping. Wood floors, paint colors that mimic nature and much-loved and carefully collected furnishings and accoutrements create a unique space that melds contemporary with traditional, all-American with Asian.

A blonde mid-century sewing machine cabinet now capably performs as an end table next to a sleek sofa. A dark Asian screen functions as a headboard in the bedroom.

Lovitt, who manages information technology projects for a Chicago consulting company, is a Nebraska native who returned to Omaha four years ago after living in California for 12 years. She bought a four-story colonial-style home on North 59th Street and thought it would be perfect for visiting family members, including her parents, three children and five grandchildren.

But eventually she decided that maintaining such a large home, shoveling snow and mowing the lawn “wasn't the way I wanted to spend my time. I wanted someplace to come home to that was not so overwhelming.”

She became the seventh resident of the Midtown Crossing Condos, moving in on Memorial Day 2010. The home has a kitchen, dining area, great room, bedroom, bathroom and den in about 1,100 square feet.

Doors to a Juliet balcony off the great room frame Turner Park and a downtown city view that glows in the setting sun. As darkness falls, the cobalt blue lights of the Midtown Crossing buildings add a soft illumination.

Lovitt's goal was to bring that exhilarating outdoor view into the great room of her home, and she has achieved that.

“This is meant to be a continuous space to the outdoors,” Lovitt says. “I wanted to bring the outside in.”

Lovitt is a discerning shopper and a deliberate decorator who slowly assembles items she loves – things that “speak” to her – from estate sales, antique shops and flea markets.

Everywhere the eye alights is some carefully chosen and strategically placed treasured antique or humble collectible. A vintage butter churn atop the bookshelf in her den; the blue Blenko Glass Company vase and fish on the fireplace mantel; the chinoiserie bombe chest in the hallway.

“This space was meant to be contemporary, but it became more comfortable, more eclectic,” Lovitt says.
Her advice to timid decorators or to those who don't know where to start is to spend time shopping at the kinds of places you frequent because of their variety. “Make it work for you,” she says.

Everyone makes mistakes, however, says Lovitt, recalling a large ceramic urn she purchased for her dining room table. It turned out to be too big, too clunky.”You think it's the perfect thing, and then it doesn't work out.”

But in the end, she has created a personal space filled with small collections, comfortable furniture and vintage finds.

It's a personal space where each piece has significance.

“Everywhere I look is something I love. I love coming home.”