House Tour: Annie’s Colorful Abode

Twin Cities Design Scene — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 16:24:11 +0000

Photographs by Noelle Bakken

I always have been drawn to bold, bright colors, but like so many of us, I too have shied away from putting saturated color on my walls (cut me some slack, I’m a renter!) Meet Annie. She is not afraid of color. Instead, she embraces bright colors and fills her home with cheerful, fun hues. Check out her home for inspiration of how to have fun with color in your own space.

Read on after the jump to see all the pictures of Annie’s home.

Before picking out her color schemes, Annie studied color inspiration books, seeking out bold, happy colors. The most amazing thing about her home is the amount of work she put into transforming her townhome into a place she loves to live. She added a bit of her own personal craftiness into all the rooms. For example, she sewed all the colorful slipcovers, made many of her own accessories, or altered them to make them a different color, and made her own curtains!

Name: Annie Angerhofer
Location: Eagan
Size: 1,300 sq ft
Years lived in: owned for 1 year but didn’t move in for about 5 months until upstairs painting/re-flooring was done

My Style: mod, bright, bold in-your-face color

Inspiration: Color! I got ideas from a couple books on paint color and design (I loved one featured room so much I turned my previously unfinished basement into almost an exact replica of it, colors, furniture, construction and all) but most of it just came from picking out all the paint colors I wanted and going from there.

Favorite Element: not to sound like a broken record, but I’d probably have to say the color–it makes me happy

Biggest Challenge: 2 things: the tight staircase and the ridiculously high ceilings. The tight space on the stairs made it really difficult to get a lot of my furniture into the house. And the high ceilings/really weird cubby thing above the coat closet made it really hard to paint and change out the 2 hanging lights. My parents helped with almost everything I did to the house, especially that.

What Friends Say: The colors make them happy, too. My favorite/proudest comment was from a friend who thinks my place should be in a magazine.

Biggest Embarrassment: The spiders. I don’t understand where all these spiders and other assorted bugs come from–I do not exaggerate when I say I kill 3-5 a day. I swear, I get rid of 1 and 5 more show up in its place. They’re pretty much part of the decor at this point.

Proudest Do it yourself project: I put 9 months of hard work into this house–painting, sewing, making most of the accent pieces, etc–and I’m very proud of how it turned out. I’m proudest of the couch and chair covers. I couldn’t find slipcovers in the colors I wanted so I had to make them all myself (with my mom’s help for the couches).

Biggest Indulgence: New flooring upstairs and the built-in bookcases downstairs (which cost almost more than the entire downstairs construction). I didn’t have to have either one, I could have left everything as it was…but then I’d be miserable and living in a hideous house, and who wants that?

Best Advice: Don’t be afraid of color! Don’t worry about what other people will think of your design choices. If you like something, go for it–you’re the one who has to live with it.

Resources: mostly Ikea, Target and TJ Maxx
Kitchen/Dining room: all appliances: Best Buy; piano, table and bookshelf: my parents’ house; chairs: Ikea
Living Room: all furniture: Ikea
Basement: couches and scrapbook chair: Ikea; desk and chair: Target; scrapbook storage: Michael’s; side table: TJ Maxx (repainted); fabric storage cubes: Target
Bedrooms: all furniture but papasan chair: Ikea (chair from friend); bedding: Company Store, Ikea and Herbergers
Accessories: mostly ideas I got from craft books; fabric for curtains and slipcovers: JoAnn
Lighting: Ikea, Target and TJ Maxx–some lamps repainted to match rooms
Rugs: Target and TJ Maxx
Artwork: repainted frames: GoodWill and other thrift shops; vintage posters: art.com; ‘paint drip’ art in dining room; idea stolen from Top Design; guestroom art: my photography put on canvas by Kinko’s; downstairs poppy painting: Jeff Boutin

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Thanks so much Annie for letting me feature your house! It is so beautiful! Thank you again to Noelle Bakken for her fantastic photography work!

I Like You!

Twin Cities Design Scene — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 14:33:29 +0000

I like you! These three small words speak volumes. I Like You, a funky shop in Northeast Minneapolis is much like its name. It is a smallish shop with lots vibrant colors, original prints and handcrafted gifts. Why do I like I Like You? For starters, the store’s name is begging to be friends with you! Additionally, by the time you walk out, you probably will have two new friends: awesome store owners Sarah Sweet and Angela Lessman. This fun duo created I Like You in 2007 as a store carrying handmade local crafts. In a time where it is more important than ever to shop local, this charming NE store showcases some of MN’s best print makers, textile designers and jewelry makers. Read on after the jump to learn more about I Like You and see a photo tour of their store.

I Like You is a store where you feel like you can stay and play all day long. The exposed brick walls are set off by an AstroTurf floor and a window wall full of hula hoops. Owners Sarah Sweet and Angela Lessman dd not always have the luxury of verdant AstroTurf floors in their store. Back in 2007, Lessman & Sweet met and became friends through their husbands. Both have a background frequenting and participating in crafts fairs and wanted to open a retail store selling locally handmade products.

After collecting calling cards at various local craft fairs & placing ads in Craigslist, the pair created partnerships with local artists to sell their products at their first location in Southwest Minneapolis. Their business quickly outgrew the SW Minneapolis space and after much hunting, their found their 501 1st Ave NE location. Because the space previously housed an old sound studio, the area had little windows, and dark walls and low ceilings. Sweet, Lessmann & their husbands went straight to work, personally tearing the place apart. Their hard work paid off, the result is a beautiful light-infused store with exposed ceiling beams & brick, giving the location an urban-warehouse vibe.

Their products come from a myriad of different local artists such as Adam Turman, Berry Holz, Linden Leaf Designs, & Hungry Dog Designs. They also offer craft classes in the back of their store. Their next event is a Soldering Pendant class on Tuesday June 22nd, 5:30 – 8:30. Keep an eye out for more classes on I Like You’s blog.

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twin cities design scene » handcrafts

House Tour: Annie’s Colorful Abode

I Like You!