Designer Summer Thornton  Delights in Daring Choices at Her New Chicago Office

Wells Abbott wallpaper lines the kitchen; chairs by Haute Living.

Photo: Marta Xochilt Perez

The team’s workspace features built-in desks of Azul Cielo dolomite.

Photo: Marta Xochilt Perez

Cole & Son wallpaper swirls in the office of Thornton’s husband and business partner, Josh.

Photo: Marta Xochilt Perez

Returning to the question of what she might not reprise for a client’s home, she looks around her eclectic private workspace, marked by a tiger-print sofa and large-scale floral wallpaper, smiling. “It’s so funny, I was Zooming with a client once and he was like, ‘Your office is hideous,’ ” she laughs, never one to take offense. “He was sitting in this very sterile building, and I said, ‘Well, I think yours is hideous!’ ” Strong opinions, of course, are what appeal to her most. “I was like, ‘I got you—we’re good.’ ”