When the lease to her Chicago apartment was up without the option to renew, Windy City Rehab designer Alison Victoria found herself in a precarious position. Just when she thought it might be time to pack up and leave town, the answer to her dilemma came by way of a 6,250-square-foot warehouse she used as an office for her design business. Built in 1927, the commercial space's sweeping 16-foot ceilings and vast rooms were the perfect blank canvas for a one-of-a-kind, Parisian-inspired home-office hybrid for Alison to take clients by day and live her best life by night. "The goal is never having to leave home," she says.

But getting to the dream was no easy feat: Alison spent 10 months living out of luggage and making high-stakes decisions to get this $1.2 million dollar renovation across the finish line. With all the hard work and uncertainty behind her, feast your eyes on her Francophile-approved work of art. One look at this old-world, European courtyard and it's clear: This arduous remodel, captured in Windy City Rehab: Alison's Dream Home, was well worth the stress. Antique chairs sourced from a restaurant in Paris coordinate with custom planter boxes holding 8-foot-tall olive trees. Original bowstring trusses bring the eye upward for more historic charm.

When she decided to put her Atlanta loft on the market to help fund this seven-figure renovation, Alison knew she couldn't leave behind this opulent "McMantel" that adds grandiose structure to the cozy ambiance of her new family room.

This marble sink is a dream fulfilled for the longtime designer. Antique, earthy veining prompts memories of worn cafe tables along cobblestone streets and also takes form in floating shelves, a waterfall edge island and a cabinet niche crafted from the sumptuous slab.