Local artist and interior designer Christy Niedersteiner works in many media, including acrylic, chalk and sculpture.
Christy Niedersteiner is the 2022 Stampede Lottery Dream Home artist, selected by Homes by Avi. Photo by Supplied /Postmedia
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The tally is in. Local artist and interior designer Christy Niedersteiner has been selected as the 2022 Stampede Lottery Dream Home Artist, an award and opportunity that will give this Nanton resident, self-professed animal lover and mother of three, plenty of exposure.
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“We were drawn to Christy’s work because of its texture and colours and the fact that she works in so many different mediums — acrylic, chalk and sculpture. Her work is incredible and will give a really unique variety through the home,” says Julie Punter, show home selections and presentation manager for Homes by Avi. Niedersteiner was selected from a pool of more than 40 talented artists from across western Canada.
The Stampede Lottery Dream Home Artist Project is a partnership between Homes by Avi, Gibson Fine Art, the Stampede Lotteries and the Rotary Club of Calgary South. Punter says that this year’s home will be the biggest yet (it’s just over 2,500 square feet) and have a unique styling.
“We’re calling it ‘natural style moderne,’ but it really takes its inspiration from art deco with arch detailing, fluted panelling on the walls, curves, warm natural oak tones, plenty of wood, and lots of soft creams and neutral colours,” says Punter. The three-bedroom home has a Craftsman exterior with a big, old-world front porch and a rear-attached garage. Banks of windows make the home light and bright. “Because of the expansive windows on the main floor, the biggest opportunities for art are through the two-storey stairwell, the hallways and the upstairs bonus room with built-in entertaining bar.”
Niedersteiner is excited by the challenge and has already begun mapping out the pieces for the Dream Home — she’ll be creating more than 30 of them. “They’ll be all different sizes, but I mostly love to work in large scale. It’s just so much more impactful to me,” she says.
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She’ll be working in chalk, acrylic and also sculpture, using a technique where she layers hand-cut pieces of recycled Styrofoam, plaster and wood to create robust and textural wall art.
As for a colour scheme, Niedersteiner says she’ll be using mostly neutrals — “black, white and beiges with pops of earthy colours, like terracotta, desert pink and mustard yellow.”
She’ll use the home’s design as a jumping off point and then incorporate pieces infused with layers of texture and movement. She works mainly in abstract and likens her work to the intersection of interior design and art. “I’m really inspired by nature and the small things, the beauty in life, the landscapes, the patterns in leaves and as I am always working with stone in interior design, I feel compelled to put that on paper in an abstract way — the marble, the onyx,” she says.
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For her, art is a meditative practice and she wants people to enjoy her work in the same way.
“When they experience it, I want them to feel calm and serene,” she says, adding that she loves the fact that some of her work is so fragile, especially the chalk drawings. “If you touch the chalk, it comes off in your hands; it is so delicate, it’s like our environment,” she says, intimating nature’s ever-changing and fleeting beauty. “It’s just so important to take time to enjoy these natural things, while we can.”
Her father, a retired millwright, will be helping to craft the wood frames for the sculptures.
“I am so excited to be working with him and spending time with him on this,” says Niedersteiner, who always knew from the time she was little that she would be working in the visual arts.
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She began her art studies as a drawing major at the Alberta University of the Arts (formerly Alberta College of Art and Design — ACAD), first exploring the genre of realism, using the mediums of chalk and charcoal on paper. She soon found that she was also intrigued by sculpture and in one of her first jobs post-university, she was hired on as a sculptor for Studio Y, working primarily with Styrofoam, which planted the seed for her present-day work with her signature wall sculptures.
She then took a hiatus from commercial art to raise her three children, now aged 15, 18 and 21, and in 2014 returned to school, this time to study interior design at Mount Royal University. She graduated in 2016 and has been working as a designer for the past six years at ANA Interiors, a Calgary-design firm.
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“But the entire time, while raising my kids and working as a designer, I have been doing my art,” says Niedersteiner, who has a small studio in her Nanton home. “Although quite often, when I’m working on a project, everything spills out into the entire home, which is actually quite fun.”
She is excited to be taking her art to the next level and will be taking a leave of absence from interior design to complete the project.
More than 100,000 people are expected to tour this year’s home during the 10-day Calgary Stampede event, which takes place July 8 to 17.
Post-Stampede, the Dream Home will be moved to Calgary’s southeast community of Walden.
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When a youthful few procured this formal, colonial-style home in Cherokee Park in March 2020, they understood the home didn’t very in shape their private type. Over a two-calendar year period, Natalie Officer and Julie Metzinger of Natalie O Structure worked collaboratively to establish the inside design and style, space planning, and renovation detail to remodel the previously standard room into a additional transitional abode.
“Our position was to deconstruct it in an clever way that catered to a significantly more youthful and significantly less traditional spouse and children structure,” Officer advised The Courier Journal. “It was not an approachable property for people today who are globe vacationers, and who have that world reference. We wished to make it feel comfortable.”
She adds that the householders appreciated the primary architecture, but did not want to really feel confined by it. With each other, she and Metzinger made a additional open and customized space while honoring the home’s standard bones.
“We danced playfully with the timeless architecture even though [incorporating] current information,” she stated.
“Transition is not straightforward, no matter who is performing it or why,” Metzinger included. “Our operate stretched the span of the pandemic, producing each the function and tolerance for system very important.”
Food items focused
“The house owners are extremely particular about food,” Officer stated, explaining that they preferred the kitchen area to open up to the indoor dining region as well as the outdoor spaces of the residence, which includes the screened-in porch that was additional through the renovation. This enables for al fresco dining on each sides of the residence, building entertaining possibilities on 3 sides of the kitchen area.
“The unique eating place had a beautiful established of crafted-in bookcases (that were being) taken off for the construction of a much more open concept,” Metzinger included. “Local furnishings maker and master carpenter David Searfoss designed and increased the original layout in collaboration with the [Natalie O Design] team and built custom, cane-entrance cupboards.”
These cupboards now shop heirloom parts and other family mementos. The brass fixtures have been matched to echo the unique style, although the bottom shut-doorway storage delivers tucked-absent spaces for game titles and little craft materials.
Alluring artwork
One of a kind is effective of art are unfold all through the home. Sometimes the parts are complemented by daring wallpaper other times, the wallpaper serves as art alone. The walls of the first-floor powder home, for instance, attribute dazzling kumquats.
“We preferred (to use) a fruit, but we did not want it to be on the nose, like oranges or lemons,” Officer explained. “The kumquats are a dialogue (starter).”
In the eating place, a painting of Frida Kahlo by Louisville Artist J. Cletus Wilcox was an early selection created for the household. The two the husband and wife loved the life it introduced to the place, especially paired with the bold wallpaper.
“Each piece of artwork in the household has a story and purpose for its use in the place,” Metzinger claimed. “The vibrant and modern-day composition [above the living room sofa] was inherited and grew to become a centerpiece of the coloration palette for the span of the style. … It mirrors the modernity of the redesigned fire.”
Nevertheless the interior of the dwelling underwent a major renovation, Officer emphasizes that every thing about the property was intended to be open to the weather and the outdoor.
“The dining home,” Metzinger mentioned, “opens with all the grace of an outdated movie to the massive columns that punctuate the expansive veranda on the entrance of the home, overlooking the park neighborhood and treetops.”
Officer adds that the residing place opens to equally the entrance terrace as effectively as the back again hillside gardens and patio the dining place is obtainable from the entrance terrace and kitchen, with a seating region and bay windows wanting out towards the again gardens and the kitchen area opens to the back again garden and pool, as very well as the 3-time space addition.
The property also features French doorways in just about every home, making 360-diploma outdoor obtain and an abundance of natural gentle.
“The home itself is extraordinary,” Officer mentioned, “[but] the out of doors encounter is exceptional.”
Know a household that would make a terrific Dwelling of the 7 days? Electronic mail writer Lennie Omalza at aloha@lennieomalza.com or Life-style Editor Kathryn Gregory at kgregory@gannett.com.
nuts & bolts
Homeowners: Environment travelers, business enterprise house owners, and well being and wellness lovers are living in this house with their younger son and Labradoodle.
Dwelling: This is a 4-mattress, 3-and-a-50 {6d6906d986cb38e604952ede6d65f3d49470e23f1a526661621333fa74363c48}-bathtub, 4,100-square-foot standard property common colonial household in Cherokee Park that was designed in 1922.
Distinct elements: Regal front columns with an expansive veranda three-time addition dovetailed into the initial architecture suave two-element renovation revised the entry, fireplaces, grasp suite, kitchen and dining areas winding yard and climbing stone staircase plateau atop the terraced place gorgeous swimming pool features enjoy house for kids when rivaling the classy entertaining spaces of the interior art in the entryway is comprised of hundreds of tiny leaves in a round formation.
Applause! Applause!Wilkinson Builders for the dining home and kitchen area renovation — which was a total intestine demolition and renovation of the house — together with the new addition of the 3-season screened-in porch David Searfoss for his grasp craftsmanship of the customized home furnishings features, spectacular fire make-about, floating shelving, and the walnut gallery framing of the kitchen home windows Dax Shepard for the white oak lap wall software and curved segway in the hallway Siosi Style and design team of Bloomington, Indiana, for the entry handrail Waterworks plumbing fixtures sourced by way of Willis Klein, who came through and supported the challenge to completion irrespective of source chain concerns and hard interaction and the set up team of Natalie O Structure for pulling the dwelling jointly with a renovation at the commence of the pandemic.
This story is part of the Art of Gentrification, an investigative series looking at how the Savannah College of Art and Design has impacted the city’s downtown and surrounding neighborhoods.
Protected from the pelting rain in red and blue ponchos, four figures stood on the northeast corner of Fahm and Turner streets and threw verbal rocks at Turner House, the five-story co-ed residential complex for first-year Savannah College of Art and Design students.
“Black people used to live here!”
Keiajah Brooks, an activist and merchandise designer, bellowed into her megaphone as she led the protest. Across the street, parents and students hauled mini fridges, futons, luggage and desk lamps down the sidewalk and into the courtyard. The start of the Fall 2021 quarter was just days away.
The 912 Liberation Crew protests across from the Savannah College of Art and Design’s Turner Hall, a first-year residential facility built in 2008 on land that was once a rail yard. The 912 Liberation Crew, led by Savannah-native Keiajah Brooks, says SCAD’s expanding footprint is responsible for displaying Black families. Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News
The land where Turner House opened in 2008 had historically been used for commercial and industrial buildings to support the Central of Georgia railroad, according to archival maps of the city. But historically Black neighborhoods north, west and south of the dorm have been emptied of their long-time residents over the past 60 years as public infrastructure in the form of highways and bridges, and tourism- and university-related businesses moved into town.
Previous SCAD development reporting: SCAD issues $159M bond to build 17-story dorm on River Street, renovate Chatham Apartments
The rain failed to quell the protestors’ anger with Savannah’s biggest university. Brooks screamed at a student who filmed the protest on his phone. She traded barbs with police officers who fined her for using a megaphone without a permit ($800 for the fine; $0 for the permit). She questioned the intent of white people who walked up to join her four-day protest.
She wanted the freshmen — but more importantly, their parents — to understand the realities of the place where they would be living – the realities not found in course catalogs and brochures or mentioned by the guides in the white trolley tour buses that picked up passengers in the lot to her west. And she wanted them to know what she thought of their school in the hopes it would spur them to action. Money talks, Brooks said, and the checks SCAD parents cut are the only way to get school leadership to listen.
First City Progress: Group calls on SCAD, city, county to enter payment-in-lieu-of-taxes program
“They sell this kind of art fantasy, like ghost tours and history, and they forget to mention to people that there’s Black people who’ve lived here throughout history,” Brooks said two days before the protest, when she walked around West Savannah handing out fliers and inviting locals to her cause.
“I honestly don’t think 90{6d6906d986cb38e604952ede6d65f3d49470e23f1a526661621333fa74363c48} of SCAD students come here knowing what’s going on or knowing the history of Savannah,” she added. “And knowing that there are people who have never left here since slavery.”
Keiajah Brooks
They sell this kind of art fantasy, like ghost tours and history, and they forget to mention to people that there’s Black people who’ve lived here throughout history.
Brooks’ sentiments are rooted in the displacement of lower- and middle-income Black families from the downtown neighborhoods to the city’s edges. In the past three decades, that displacement has been fueled largely by two forces: tourism and SCAD’s ever-growing footprint.
The burden of this change is not only SCAD’s to bear. Dozens of factors influence gentrification, of which displacement is a symptom. Real estate investors, infrastructure improvements, a COVID-driven migration of wealthy professionals from across the country into the city, and an energetic tourism industry have all contributed to the city’s housing affordability crisis.
But residents have seen SCAD’s presence growing for decades. The past few years have seen its presence inching further south into second- and third-ring neighborhoods, such as Bingville and Feiler Park, home to hundreds of low- and middle-income families.
The 912 Liberation Crew protests across from the Savannah College of Art and Design’s Turner Hall, a first-year residential facility built in 2008 on land that was once a rail yard. The 912 Liberation Crew, led by Savannah-native Keiajah Brooks, says SCAD’s expanding footprint is responsible for displaying Black families. Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News
“You revitalize [Savannah] for people to come in who don’t have the connections here,” said fellow protestor Amir Jamal Touré, a Savannah native who advocates for human rights with Geechee Kunda, a living history museum in Riceboro.
‘I’m in prison’: Disabled Savannahians struggle to find affordable, accessible housing
Touré said SCAD uses Savannah’s tourism and vibrancy to grow and recruit students, but that the university fails to acknowledge who built the city. As he protested alongside Brooks that August day, the Geechee man wielded a sign that said, “You are displacing us.”
“[African Americans] built up a foundation for people to come here and to enjoy Savannah, and that foundation is based on the people that you are displacing,” Touré said.
Brooks, Touré and the 912 Liberation Crew gathered on that day, fueled by a rumor.
All believed SCAD was angling to purchase the nearby 1940s-era public housing complex Yamacraw Village, slated for demolition in the coming months. The rumor seemingly began after a SCAD student submitted an urban design proposal for the area in 2019, dubbing their concept “The Y District.” The design was for a competition with the American Institute of Architects and was not intended to serve as a guidepost for the property’s redevelopment, according to a 2021 article from WTOC. Whether the housing complex will be re-imagined, rebuilt, or the land sold for development — leaving the residents scattered throughout the city — has yet to be announced.
Amir Jamal Touré
[African Americans] built up a foundation for people to come here and to enjoy Savannah, and that foundation is based on the people that you are displacing.
SCAD, however, has been clear on this issue. On Feb. 2, university spokesperson J.J. Maxwell issued the following statement to the Savannah Morning News: “According to SCAD, the university does not have any interest or intention of purchasing or developing the historic Yamacraw property.”
Previous reporting: Local group files appeal to halt Housing Authority’s demolition of Yamacraw, Kayton Homes
Savannah Mayor Van Johnson said he disproves rumors and lies about the university’s plans that come across his desk “on a daily basis.”
But, that doesn’t mean SCAD has stopped – or will stop – growing.
Savannah College of Art and Design Co-founder and President Paula Wallace, left, and Mayor Van Johnson cut the ribbon on SCAD’s Lofts at Pulaski, a former student residence that the university adapted into 22 units of workforce housing aimed at providing affordable rent for downtown workers. SCAD/Colin Douglas Gray
The Tipping Point
Since opening in 1979 in a restored National Guard Armory building at 340 Bull St., now called Poetter Hall, the art college has expanded to more than 90 buildings across three campuses in Savannah, Atlanta, and Lacoste, France; 15,500 students and nearly 4,000 employees, according to public tax documents.
In Savannah alone, SCAD owns 59 parcels within the boundaries of the Historic Landmark District and has branched holdings into primarily residential neighborhoods such as Starland and now Bingville.
Through historic preservation, SCAD has revitalized dozens of blighted properties in the city, building upon the dream of the seven ladies who in 1955 founded the Historic Savannah Foundation, which established one of the nation’s first revolving loan funds and advocated for tax breaks for folks restoring historic homes and buildings in the distressed downtown neighborhoods.
Recent HSF news: Historic Savannah to restore blighted properties to address affordable housing shortage
A view of the reception at the 21st SCAD Savannah Film Festival on October 27, 2018 in Savannah, Georgia. Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images for SCAD
Yet, as with many success stories, there comes a tipping point. Savannah may have reached it.
A number of factors have converged to render Savannah a city geared toward tourists and wealthy transplants, not the people who built this city and who’ve kept it running since its founding in 1733. SCAD is not solely responsible. It is one institution of power in the city that’s stoking a crisis of housing and income inequality, which reached a fever pitch over the past few years as rents skyrocketed to record levels and businesses shuttered under the weight of soaring property prices and pandemic pressures.
Previous reporting: SCAD unveils Pulaski House, 22 units aimed at non-student, downtown, low-wage workers
SCAD’s swelling footprint has spurred both new development and redevelopment, helped decrease crime and contributed, by its own estimation, $577 million annually to Savannah’s economy. Annual events such as the SCAD Savannah Film Festival bring thousands of visitors to town, and the university said there are 120 SCAD alum-owned businesses in Savannah contributing to the city’s diverse economy.
Because of its nonprofit and educational status, SCAD also has taken nearly $800 million of property out of local tax revenue and spurred gentrification by purchasing and holding land for future growth, razing distressed properties while restoring others, and building new educational and residential facilities that impact surrounding property values (and taxes). Its historic preservation practices have enticed luxury developments to previously low-income neighborhoods surrounding downtown, transforming the makeup of those neighborhoods into a transient community for students and tourists.
/ˌjentrəfəˈkāSH(ə)n/
the process whereby the character of a poor urban area is changed by wealthier people moving in, improving housing, and attracting new businesses, typically displacing current inhabitants in the process.
SCAD represents itself as a culture monger in the community and world at-large. It views itself as a revitalizer, bristling at the suggestion that its growth has gentrified the historic district or surrounding neighborhoods, stating that “SCAD has a legacy of successful, positive urban revitalization—as opposed to gentrification.
“According to urban planner Stacey Sutton, ‘Revitalization refers to neighborhood change, improvement, upgrading.’ Gentrification, on the other hand, explains Benjamin Grant, urban design policy director at SPUR Urban Center, is frequently characterized by the displacement of existing residents. SCAD has shown a commitment to improving and invigorating, rather than fundamentally altering or replacing, neighborhoods.”
The Savannah College of Art and Design’s recently completed Victory Village student housing is visible over the homes and businesses located behind it on Montgomery Street. Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News
Savannah Morning News’ own research showed that SCAD is both a revitalizing force that breathed life into a blighted downtown and one of the key instigators of housing unaffordability near critical jobs and transportation corridors. It has been both renewer and gentrifier.
To wrestle with SCAD’s full impact, the Morning News reviewed what was publicly available — IRS filings, municipal bond documents, research studies and the university’s public tour — to separate fact from fiction. In its ongoing effort to search for solutions to Savannah’s affordable housing crisis, Savannah Morning News sought to figure out how SCAD’s seemingly unchecked growth has not only transformed the city but also made it harder for middle- and low-income residents to live within its boundaries.
The university refused every interview request made by the Savannah Morning News for this story, opting instead to send a 16-page “fact sheet” that stated the school “saved Savannah” from ruin. Requests to review the university’s in-house economic studies and growth plans also were rebuffed.
Since August 2021, Savannah Morning News has published more than 40 articles exploring the varied and complicated forces influencing housing affordability in the greater Savannah area, examining the policies that can create homelessness, and assessing how both the public and private sectors can work together to provide housing opportunities for people of all incomes. Together, these stories have resulted in relocation assistance for people displaced from their homes, additional funding for housing programs, and broader community conversations leading toward solutions. The work continues and that’s why some articles fall behind a paywall — so that we can provide the kind of thoughtful, in-depth journalism that enlightens and engages our community.
Reid Collier and son Rye in the studio in the Richmond family’s backyard. (Jay Paul/For The Washington Post )
For two years, life turned inward, and living spaces responded
Reid and Heather Collier love their home. Located in Richmond’s historic Museum District, the 2,024-square-foot Victorian was a sanctuary during the pandemic. The couple strung up a hammock under the shade of the big magnolia in the backyard, where the family enjoyed picnics and their son played in the sandbox.
As the pandemic wore on, though, the Colliers didn’t particularly like their house. They couldn’t stop seeing all the things that needed attention: paint colors they didn’t like, a lack of storage in the kitchen. And with the addition of their second child and both parents working from home, they felt squeezed, at times bumping up against the confines of the house: Their active toddler kept bonking his head on the glass-top dining table.
The Colliers had to reassess their domestic situation from top to bottom. They painted, renovated a bathroom, added shelving, built a patio, updated the landscaping. And after a particularly hard collision with that dining table, they decided it was more important for their kids to have room to play than to have formal dinner. The dining room became a second living room.
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For the past two years, homes have had to work overtime, serving as schools, offices and gyms. We were confronted with the brokenness of our homes — the leaky faucet, the dated sofa, the patchy lawn — and the limits of our walls. The rush to buy real estate in the suburbs and rural areas was about gaining existential square footage as much as physical. We craved space, places for our children and our minds to wander.
Impossibly tight housing markets prompted many to stay put and make the most of their dwellings. Renovations and furniture sales soared; home design shifted to accommodate the new rhythms of people’s lives. Life turned inward, and living spaces changed too, accelerating movements toward wellness at home, nostalgia and maximalism that were already underway.
For families like the Colliers, the adjustments they’ve made have proved beneficial for their family dynamic and allowed them to settle in comfortably for the long haul. “If you put the work into your home, you really feel like being there,” Reid says.
Boundaries have been in short supply the past two years, especially in the home. Bedrooms became offices, dining rooms became schools. Family roles morphed as parent became teacher, child became colleague. Work time, school time, mealtime often bled together into one long, chaotic slog without the physical and mental demarcations that helped make sense of the day. And 9-to-5 became a thing of the past.
When gyms shuttered in 2020, many people needed somewhere to work out at home, which meant adding equipment and installing mirrors. As D.C.-based designer Zoe Feldman found, clients didn’t just want an attractive, functional area to exercise in. They wanted a separate one.
“They need to have a dedicated space— and the kids also don’t play in there and the husband doesn’t man-cave in there,” says Feldman. “You can have those boundaries within our home and with your family too. When Mommy is working out then this is Mommy’s space and Mommy’s time. It helps with the ability to spend more time in our homes.”
“Drawing the line — it’s more important now than ever,” Feldman adds. “We are asking so much of our homes, and we are living in our homes in such a harder and deeper way.”
After more than a year of working side by side at the same table, in a cramped guest room surrounded by baby gear and clothes, the Colliers decided to put a pint-size studio in the backyard. Designed by Reid, the studio added just 119 square feet but offered a new world: a quiet place for Heather, an ad agency executive producer and vice president, to conduct calls with clients and a workbench to tinker with jewelry for her vintage-fashion side hustle. It also gave Reid, a creative director, a distraction-free place to do his graphic design work.
“If you put the work into your home, you really feel like being there,” Reid Collier says.
The studio “allows us to concentrate, which we haven’t been able to do at home,” Reid says. “The act of leaving the house and walking across the yard — there’s a change that comes over you. Now I’m in a creatively dedicated zone.”
While some boundaries within the home need to be rebuilt, at least one has been eagerly erased: the line between inside and outside. Confinement has caused many to turn our homes inside out, transforming outdoor areas into entertaining and dining hubs and taking interior design cues from nature.
Memphis-based designer Carmeon Hamilton started her interior design career 14 years ago in the health-care sector, creating spaces for hospitals and nursing homes for dementia patients. She focused on stimulating memory, using color, texture and scent to activate the senses and energize the mind, and bringing the outdoors in — all techniques she has seen playing out in residential design for the past two years.
“I was dealing with people who couldn’t escape years ago,” says Hamilton, now host of HGTV’s “Reno My Rental.” “And now most of the world can’t escape, and that’s been a huge part of design.”
‘What makes the perfect outdoor space?’ Your outdoor design questions, answered.
Patio furniture sales skyrocketed in the spring of 2020 as people moved social gatherings outside; many customers still face limited selection and back-ordered listings for outdoor pieces. Noz Nozawa, a San Francisco-based designer, says her clients continue to invest in their outdoor spaces. Plopping down a beach chair and card table is no longer cutting it. Two years in, clients are prioritizing high-end upholstered seating that holds up against moisture, heat and UV rays, and people are willing to buy covers and storage to protect their outdoor cushions.
Indoors, people are opting for an outdoor feel: foliage; earthy color schemes; natural fibers; and materials like cane, jute, raffia and wood. “Being inside for two years, people are realizing how important those exterior elements are,” Hamilton says. “… That is where that boom in what I call the ‘wellness aspect’ of interior design has been — bringing the outdoors in, bringing in textures and plants and diffusers with essential oils.”
Scenic murals have made a strong comeback to create a landscape within the home. Wallpapers with natural motifs, like Josef Frank’s whimsical patterns for Svenskt Tenn, also have been rediscovered. And of course there are the houseplants.
“It was a $2 billion industry by the time the pandemic rolled around, and then houseplants became the trendiest thing,” Hamilton says. “… It’s important to have things alive in your space. Things that have been trendy over the past two years have been good for people.”
For the better part of a decade, the Danish concept of “hygge” (meaning “cozy”) has been popular in the design world, as people sought to imbue their spaces with not just a look, but a feeling of intimacy. During the pandemic, hygge has taken on a new, all-encompassing dimension. Feldman has been transforming family rooms, studies and dens into intimate refuges.
“We are doing a lot of textured walls, almost like having people feel like their room feels like a warm sweater or a hug. People are really liking cozy right now,” she says. “The fire is going and it’s very tonal and textural. There’s tons of soft fabrics like sheepskin, chenille, mohair and velvets.”
Color schemes, many nature-inspired, are moving to the warm end of the spectrum, too — russet and oxblood, hunter greens and moss tones, navy hues, earthy oranges and curry yellows, along with grays with green undertones.
Instead of starting with a design aesthetic or inspiration piece, Feldman and her clients are using feelings as a launching point. “Really anything that makes you feel really, really warm, put your feet up and read a book, have a big glass of red wine, and put on some music,” she says. “And that’s also the hard part of it. We aren’t relaxed — politically and environmentally. The home needs to feel like a safe space and reprieve.”
“The home needs to feel like a safe space and reprieve,” says designer Zoe Feldman.
Nozawa says clients during the pandemic have come to her less for resale-friendly designs and more for highly personalized looks that they can enjoy for the long haul. “They want their homes to tell their stories and be surrounded by something that means something to them,” she said. “That’s happening a lot earlier in the design process.”
In her past work designing for memory care patients, Hamilton incorporated pieces to reflect those individuals: culturally important objects, family heirlooms, travel mementos. “That personal connection with people is important to help people feel grounded and well in their own space,” she says.
“It’s more about feeling great in your home now than it was before.”
The pre-pandemic era was dominated by all-white interiors and minimalist straight lines. “Everything was white. It was sterile and boring,” Hamilton says. “And I think once people had to live in it during the pandemic they were like, ‘This isn’t the most exciting thing to be surrounded by,’ and that’s when the resurgence of color came back.”
The tedium of the pandemic might be behind a shift toward pieces from the postmodern era. Think psychedelic murals, abstract art, asymmetry and curves. “There’s a boldness and confidence to 1980s and ’90s furniture and art that’s just very appealing during these times of questioning and uncertainty — and also as we’ve continued to emerge from the long period of polite aesthetic neutrality that dominated the design scene,” says Anthony Barzilay Freund, editorial director and director of fine art for 1stDibs, an online marketplace for high-end home furnishings and fashion.
The retailer reports that its top sellers include furnishings by Venini, Karl Springer, Mazzega Murano, Ligne Roset and Directional. And in the art sector, pop art and street art by greats like Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat and David Hockney have been popular.
As buyers grow tired of the “Mad Men” aesthetic and millennials look to echo the surroundings they grew up with, they are turning their attention to recent history. “It makes sense that we’re marching into the brash ’80s and ’90s,” Freund says. “Those are decades that are only now distant enough for us to feel nostalgic about them.”
As the pandemic moves to endemic, those of us who have made our dwellings more comfortable may have a newfound appreciation for the steadfastness of our homes — the fortresses we have relied on during this trying time.
“I think people want to escape a lot less now that we have had two years to make changes,” Hamilton says. “People are thinking home is an okay place to be. I don’t have to leave my space to feel connected to something or myself.”
While it feels good to leave, we also now have the pleasure of returning, of opening the door and encountering the sweet familiarity of home. Knowing what we have endured within those walls, we can appreciate it more than ever.
“No matter how sick you get of anything,” Nozawa says, “you have to come home.”
Exterior: Architect Paul Lester Wiener built the courtyard glass-and-steel house for Robert and Ethel Scull in 1962. Lisa Perry discovered it for sale on Instagram and was determined to save it. Photo: Jordan Tiberio
In the middle of the pandemic, a bit restless in her country home in North Haven, Lisa Perry was itching for a new project. “I wasn’t looking to buy another house; that was the last thing I needed,” the designer and collector told me. “But I wanted somewhere to go that was creative and inspirational and just an office studio.” Then one day, while scrolling real-estate agent Esteban Gomez’s Instagram account, she found a challenge she was uniquely suited for in the form of a listing: “While it’s in need of repairs and restoration, the qualities of the design, the provenance, and its history really do give it merit for you to tackle this assignment.”
The modernist glass-and-steel courtyard home in question was designed by architect Paul Lester Wiener, a German-émigré architect and planner whose projects included the high modernist slabs of Washington Square Village. He and his family spent summers on Long Island during the ’50s up to his death in 1967; it was there that he designed elegant glass pavilions for clients including longtime Vogue editor Beatrice Simpson (known as Babs) in 1963.
This one was originally designed for the influential Pop Art collectors Ethel and Robert Scull in 1962 — great pedigree given that Lisa and her husband, Richard Perry, are themselves collectors. Not only that but the design had an uncanny resemblance to the house Perry grew up in, with its glass walls and steel beams. “It made me feel like I was home,” she says.
Another less attuned buyer might not have respected the house, but “I decided to stay true to the original architecture and design as much as possible,” Perry says. She did expand a kitchen and created a breakfast area by taking over of one of the bedrooms. She also repurposed the dilapidated laundry and storage room into guest quarters too, adding a kitchen there.
Perry decided to use it as a gallery and artist in residency for women creatives and named it Onna House, which is open by appointment. The mid-century Hamptons was full of artists, but it was a male-dominated scene. “How about they were setting up the shows!” Perry says, referring to artists Lee Krasner and Elaine de Kooning. “They were doing their own work at that time and they weren’t able to show it.” The work Perry is exhibiting includes pieces from a mix of local and international artists, including Almond Zigmund, Toni Ross, Kelly Behun, Nodoka Yamaura, and Nina Cho.
Perry’s enclave of artists keeps growing thanks in part to the help and guidance of friends including Russ Steele, an antiques dealer in East Hampton; Tripoli Patterson, who runs the Tripoli Gallery; Joh Siff; and Patricia Assui Reed, the owner of Matriark in Sag Harbor.
The Living Room has many of its original details including the aluminum sliding doors. “The lighting you see here, the beautiful black sconces, the little shelves that the sculptures sit on, the floors — they’re all original,” says Perry. The table, chairs, and backbench at the far wall are by Anna Karlin; the hand-knotted rug was designed by Anni Albers; and the freestanding bench is by Charlotte Perriand. Mary Little did the white textile on the back wall.
The Tea Room: In the tearoom, Janine Abraham designed the sculptural ’60s rattan chairs; the silk-and-bamboo wall hanging is by Mitsuko Asakura (2016). The porcelain teapot is by Isabel Rower.
The Gallery: Kyoto-based artist Nodoka Yamaura’s piece, Circle of Life (2021), made with panels of Japanese mulberry/kozo paper, is in the center of the window. Lisbeth McCoy’s Epistrophy (2021), black collage on board and wood, is on the right wall, and behind that is her hanging sculpture, Bumppo II (2017), in the corner, made of plaster on burlap, wax, paper, painted wire, and string. Nina Cho’s Recess Table (2020) is beneath Lisbeth McCoy’s You Needn’t (2021), which is paint on wood panel, mounted on canvas.
The Kitchen: The site-specific installation between the windows was done by Almond Zigmund, applying mulberry paper and acrylic paint directly on the walls. The 1970s ebonized ash table and chairs are Charles Rennie MacKintosh designs, made by Cassina.
The working side of the kitchen features a regimen of open shelving and an edited palette.
The Guest Quarters features Natalie Munk’s Little Blue Dragon (2005), acrylic and enamel on canvas to the left of the bed, and her Carmen (2002) to the right.
The other side of the guest quarters has a new kitchen. The artwork on the wall is by Bastienne Schmidt.
A licensed and registered architect in Virginia, Texas and New York, Brinen is a founding partner of Studio Figure and his practice spans from private residential to restaurants, offices and mixed-use buildings. Brinen, with AIA, LEED, AP, NCARB and NOMA certifications and licenses, has taught architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design, University of Virginia, Pratt Institute and Parsons School of Design. He is currently an assistant professor at James Madison University, where his research and teaching focuses on the synthesis between empathetic design inputs and material resourcefulness to elevate design strategies for community-based projects.
Kayla Cooper
From clothes to cars to spaces, Cooper has designed it all. Though her styles and practices have evolved over the years, her love for design and the creative process has not. Beginning her career in Washington, D.C., Cooper now travels to create modern, minimalist spaces with sustainable influences. Based out of Pennsylvania, Cooper loves to design with clean lines and strong architecture.
Chad Dorsey
Trained as an architect, Dorsey approaches every space focused on a fluid relationship to the architecture where proportion, light and scale are essential. Dorsey refers to his style and philosophy as “relaxed luxury”—the idea of living casually with things a person loves to touch and feel in a way that is approachable and not precious. Dorsey’s eponymous studio offers a full range of design services and is based in Dallas with an outpost in Los Angeles. Dorsey has been featured in Architectural Digest, Elle Décor, Aspire Home & Design, Interiors Magazine, ADPro, Traditional Home, The D Pages and Rue Magazine.
Allison Crawford
Crawford is the founder of Allison Crawford Design and HOTELette. Her goal is to create beautiful and functional spaces that reflect the personality and passions of her clients. At the heart of Crawford’s process is the belief that design creates balance between comfort and luxury, integrating the practical with the desirable. Crawford’s work has been featured in Architectural Digest, Forbes, Austin Monthly and Domino.
Kinley C. Puzey
Puzey is a licensed architect and has spent the last 18 years in the design and construction industry. His project experience ranges from humanitarian efforts on a Navajo reservation to multimillion-dollar custom homes. Puzey holds a master’s of architecture from the University of Utah. In 2015, he founded Utah-based Onyx Design Collective, which specializes in high-end residential and one-of-a-kind commercial projects. His unique modern designs are conceived through a rigorous design process that mixes analog techniques and cutting-edge software.
Lindsey Shook
Shook is a global content and brand strategist who serves as the editorial and brand director of California Home + Design media company. Splitting her time between Miami and San Francisco, Shook has worked with a multitude of companies to generate meaningful stories and experiences that helped expand their global reach. In her spare time, she is an activist in support of select organizations that focus on empowerment and social justice as well as Democratic campaigns.
Lee Starke
Starke is a project manager and interior designer for Cline Design Associates in Raleigh, North Carolina. Cline Design is an integrated firm offering architecture, interior design and land-planning services. Starke leads and manages an expansive portfolio of projects, from large-scale residential buildings to golf clubhouses and corporate office spaces. She has nearly 10 years of experience working on complex projects and has completed work in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Maryland and Michigan.
The ongoing pandemic may have presented challenges in acquiring materials, furniture and fixtures in a timely manner, but it also has led to a fresh wave of creativity, both in architecture and interior design crafted to meet the unique needs of clients. Whether in a modern commercial space meant to serve hybrid working models, in homes that now serve as both family retreats and daytime offices or in remodels that honor the history of a house while updating it for modern living, the entries into this year’s Home & Design Awards were a reminder of just how much talent exists in the San Antonio area. Get to know the winners here, which were selected by an expert panel of judges (see above).
Named for the Spanish word that means “a grove of trees near a body of water,” The Soto is the state’s first mass-timber office building and represents the initial phase in a 10-acre mixed use project in the River North area between Broadway and the River Walk. Its first floor boasts retail and restaurant units while office space on the upper five floors is designed with flexible floor plans that cater to employees using a hybrid working model. Exposed timber columns, beams and ceilings indoors bring in an element of nature and complement the exterior, where the timber structure is accented by large windows and a masonry façade.
Infinity Pools of Texas wanted to offer something for everyone in New Braunfels’ Veramendi community. Swimmers enjoy two professional lap lanes while those looking to relax will find a 1,500-square-foot tanning ledge with chairs for lounging. The infinity style edge creates the sound of cascading water, and the pool offers beach entry plus a handicap -accessible lift that provides access to the 6,000 square feet of swimming space. Nearby, a splash pad with spray bars, a bucket dump and more welcomes kids who aren’t yet ready for the big pool.
Colson Custom Builders wanted their clients to have a piece of the pecky cypress tree they had to remove from the property when constructing their new home, so they enlisted Hill Country Woodshop to turn part of the tree into a one-of-a-kind charcuterie board. Pecky cypress is challenging to work with because it has natural holes in it, but Hill Country Woodshop staff were able to chisel out the holes and fill them with epoxy resin to create a smooth surface. The natural edge of the wood was transformed into an arrowhead-inspired handle before the board was sanded and covered with a food-safe oil and wax.
The client wanted a desk with dark tones that could serve as the centerpiece in his home office, and the beautiful colors and natural grain in the walnut slabs used for this table delivered. Hill Country Woodshop highlighted the features of the wood with epoxy resin that was black with white swirls and a slightly red glitter tone. They partnered with Citizen Build, a local metal worker, to create a steel tubing base for the desk. The result is an industrial-style piece that balances nature with modern design.
This 3,400-square-foot new build is situated on the east side of the property to accommodate a flood plain encroachment while providing the homeowners with easy vehicle access to the three-car garage and views of the property plus its existing trees. The white brick exterior sets the tone for its traditional design that is accented with East Coast–inspired turn-of-the-century architectural elements.
Inside, the home has four bedrooms, a dedicated office space, an upstairs playroom and a laundry room that doubles as a mudroom, among other spaces. Built in cabinets provide ample storage in the kitchen, which also features a built-in eating space on the backside of the island. White walls and built-in cabinets throughout are contrasted with warm hues in the furniture and light fixtures plus dark frames around the windows. The bar stands out courtesy of its dark wallpaper with golden leaves. It also features black soapstone countertops, an antique mirror tile backsplash and a brass chandelier and shelf.
In this living room, Amity Kett was challenged with achieving an updated Santa Barbara–style interior in a 1930s Spanish-style home. The fireplace was instrumental in achieving that thanks to the warmth and texture delivered by the hand painted clay tiles and rustic wood mantel. Existing built-ins on either side of the fireplace were updated with oak stained shelves that created a place for the TV, wood and several accessories that bring an extra element of style to the room.
Renderings for this urban family dwelling near Essex Modern City included a sleek black door that would complement the vertical black metal siding. As construction got underway, though, black no longer seemed like the right fit, says Up & Co.’s Judith DeMasters. “We got to meet the neighbors and experience the area and black seemed too formal,” she says. “It called for something more playful and colorful.” DeMasters instead landed on a yellow door that she says pops while still acting as a neutral. A warm white trim that matches the horizontal siding covering the bulk of the house surrounds the door and a mid-toned wood entryway welcomes guests.
This home office had to be both beautiful and functional for the young professional who uses it daily. The serene glass-coated landscape hanging behind the modern stone desk accomplishes both by serving as a central piece of art and as a frequent Zoom backdrop. A geometric console hides a printer and provides storage while light blue drapery and guest chairs bring in a splash of color. Behind the guest chairs hangs a TV that can act as a monitor during video calls.
Interior Design, Readers’ Choice for Best Overall Home
When principal interior designer Jana Valdez agreed to take on a mid-century modern home in disrepair after her husband and an investor bought the property, she vowed to make it the kind of mid-century look she could see people enjoying today, meaning no ugly browns or oranges. She doubled the size of the kitchen, opened up the entryway, added character with a walnut divider in the foyer and relied on rich blue and wood accents throughout. A garage laundry room was also moved inside and functionality improved throughout the home.
Large-scale rose wallpaper behind the crib sets the tone for this feminine nursery that also includes a blush rug, chair and window treatments. White furniture and a crystal light chandelier freshened the room while pale grey walls provide a quiet contrast to the wallpaper. Framed children’s artwork—including a piece featuring blush and white textured wings—finish out the space.
Almost every surface of this north central San Antonio home was reworked during a remodel by Virtuoso Builders’ Mike and Molly Sowry. Walls were removed to open up the formerly compartmentalized kitchen, living room and dining spaces and a second column added to balance an existing column needed to support the structure of the home. An impractical mushroom-shaped island was removed in favor of a long rectangular island featuring a striking dark granite countertop. Stools allow for seating in the kitchen and for interaction with those sitting in the nearby living and dining rooms. The primary bedroom and bathroom were gutted, and a builder-grade bathtub replaced with a gorgeous freestanding black tub. Throughout the home, the once light blue walls were repainted shades of grey and the floor replaced with wood tile plus a “carpet-style” inlaid tile in the entryway. An outdoor bar was built near the pool.
One-of-a-kind details are evident throughout this home that brings an Eastern European hacienda feel to the Hill Country. The dining room is anchored by custom masonry brick walls and an inlay tile floor design. In the powder room, guests find an antique tile wall, shiplap and a custom vanity while the full bath boasts gold-framed mirrors, custom furniture-style cabinetry and a built-in steam unit. Lighting throughout brings in delicate lines, with touches of elegance courtesy of clear crystals and glass.
When a San Antonio family purchased this Hollywood Park home during the pandemic, they knew the kitchen needed some serious work. Originally a long, closed off corridor with eating spaces on either side, the homeowners enlisted Styleberry Creative Interiors to transform it into a hub for entertaining. They opened up the space, making the original dining room, which overlooked the backyard and pool, part of the kitchen and turning the breakfast nook into the main eating area, says Shawna Percival, the firm’s founder and creative director. Stools also were added along one side of a long island to create another seating space.
On the opposite side of the island is a custom butcher block countertop that’s ideal for cooking or housing in-home charcuterie boards. A pantry is tucked away from view and a wall of custom cabinetry was added to the back of the room to create much-needed storage. The microwave and an ice maker are tucked under the island while handmade clay tiles cover the main wall, bringing an organic element into the room.
The reimagined kitchen leads into the laundry room, which also was reworked by Styleberry Creative. “It’s a little space, which is sometimes the trickiest,” says Percival. They added cabinets and a simple shelf above the washer and dryer to provide storage. On the other side of the room, is a “drop zone” with baskets for kids’ shoes and hooks for backpacks and jackets. Vertical white shiplap brings texture and design to the wall while protecting it from wear and tear.
Like a good pair of denim, blue—when used well—can act as a neutral in interior design, says Shawna Percival, founder and creative director of Styleberry Creative Interiors. Such was the case with this kitchen, which the firm began designing in February 2020 and completed plans for largely through virtual meetings. The homeowner initially envisioned an all-white kitchen but wanted to salvage the original off-white stone floor, which looked dirty next to white cabinets. Instead, Percival suggested a dark blue for the lower cabinets, which grounded the space, plus white upper cabinetry and a light, bright counter and backsplash. White herringbone tile runs up the main wall, which is broken up with long floating wood shelves that are complemented by the warm wood vent over the oven. Brass hardware and three sconces above the floating shelves bring another layer of warmth. “The kitchen sets the tone for everything else in the house,” Percival says.
Nearly every element in this far Northwest home’s living room was custom made, including a sectional that was designed to have enough recliners for all seven members of the multigenerational family that lives there. Glass sliding doors covering one wall allow for the indoors and outdoors to merge. An abstract design made of several pieces of hand carved MDF wood covers the focal wall and is painted with a smooth, metallic finish. A black tile shelf brings contrast to the wall and creates a home for the TV, with a fireplace underneath. Jaimie Anand, lead designer and firm owner, says while the home is contemporary, it is also functional for the family, which includes grandparents, teenagers and a toddler.
Designer finishes and luxurious touches turn this secluded primary bedroom and bathroom into a relaxing getaway for the busy homeowners. A wall of large windows brings in natural light and provides views of the Hill Country while a gray tray ceiling and wall introduces contrast. The bathroom includes a large walk-in shower and a freestanding tub with a custom Carrara Hexagon tile shampoo niche. Separate dual vanities mean there is plenty of storage for two and high frosted windows let in natural light while still providing privacy.
Dogs are the star of this fur-friendly spot that features two high-end kennels built under a jet-black quartz countertop. A white backsplash and shelving plus natural light from a window nook brighten the room while a specially built tub means pups can get clean without having to visit a pet spa.
Historic Renovation, Rising Star Award | Less than 5 Years
When Kali and Thor Tripp stepped into the original kitchen of their Olmos Park home, they knew immediately why it had sat on the market for two years. “It’s just this massive home, but the kitchen was itty bitty,” Thor Tripp says. “We knew we’d have to move it.”
An inspection revealed even further issues—like improperly spliced wiring, tree roots growing through pool plaster and submerged plumbing caused by decades of leakage—but the Tripps were committed to rehabbing their 1929 home.
The couple who met while working at competing TV stations in Lincoln, Nebraska, moved to San Antonio just before the pandemic began to be closer to Kali’s family. They’d flipped two homes, including their own, while living in Nebraska and decided when they relocated to take on the work full-time. “We had a blast doing the first one and the rest is kind of history,” Kali Tripp says.
The Olmos Park home had been expanded in the 1950s and updated in the 1980s, which the Tripps say meant it was “in identity crisis” with a mishmash of styles. After fixing the bones of the house, they relocated the kitchen to what was once an extra living room, adding a 12-foot island and two seating areas. The entryway, living room, dining room and office are located toward the front of the home and are more formal. Original elements from the home were refurbished or repurposed throughout, including fixtures and oak floors that were matched rather than replaced. “Honoring the history of the home was important to us,” Thor Tripp says.
The couple and their young son now live in the Olmos Park home and they’ve since rehabbed three houses in Dignowity Hill. They’re working on projects in the Lone Star and Castle Hills areas before taking on another major remodel this year. “We changed careers and cities, but we feel good about the work we are doing,” Thor Tripp says.
Photo courtesy Tripp Flip, LLC.
Legacy Award: Julie Bradshaw, Bradshaw Designs
Bradshaw began her career after graduating with an interior design degree from the University of Texas at Austin over 30 years ago and she’s been remodeling kitchens, bathrooms and other spaces throughout San Antonio since. Modern Luxury magazine called her a “renovation maven” who is to homes what good plastic surgeons are to face lifts. That means she has superior attention to detail and a commitment to being involved in every aspect of her client’s design, from creating plans to selecting just the right materials to working with contractors to carry out her firm’s vision. Whether a historic renovation that requires a dedication to matching original details or a new home that calls for character, Bradshaw delivers. She’s been recognized with numerous American Society of Interior Designers awards, including six ASID Pinnacle awarded projects in 2021, and she also won a 2021 Luxe Red Award in the regional kitchen category.
