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We know we shape our homes — but we forget our homes shape us. So when Haven of Grace had apartments built in North St. Louis for the mothers graduating from its program, AT HOME found warmhearted designers with creativity to burn and retailers generous enough to donate materials. The goal? Give young families bright, happy rooms that will be a peaceful refuge — and an inspiration for the future. Because once you've lived somewhere lovely, you become determined not to settle for less
Before India Rivarde saw her new loft, she was excited but nervous: It'd need to be indestructible for her toddler Keiaun, 19 months, and baby brother Keimon, who's just 3 months old but already "way too busy." When she saw the place, she whooped with joy. Designer Joe Vodicka of The Lawrence Group chose solidly built furniture with clean lines that "should make for a fun and practical family home." The palette's warm neutrals with punches of saturated rainbow colors give the entire two-story apartment an urban woodland feel. The mood's casual and modern, unfussy, and is perfect for the mother of two boys with enough energy to fuel a small country.
Green Peace
When Lashonda Burrows first learned about the apartments, she couldn't believe it. Then she started dreaming about the rooms for her son, Da'Aquarius, who's 2, and her daughters, Destiny, 11 months, and Desirah, 1 month. "The rooms will be decorated?" Ms. Burrows asked, still not convinced. Then she looked around at the bland classroom at the Haven. "Are — " she hesitated. "Are they just going to be colors like this?" Ms. Burrows, who's studying cosmetology, wanted a blaze of color. Luckily, that's what Joni Spear of Joni Spear Interior Design had in mind. "For me, it was all about the children," she says. "Charles Houska painted this beautiful mural on their wall, and Sara Zigman of Three Little Ziglets painted the bedroom furniture." Ms. Burrows says the Haven's calm has already changed her: "I was more ... snappish. Now I don't have a negative thought. It's been different here — there's not a lot of tension in the air." She wants that peacefulness to prevail, so her apartment will be a place where her family can be happy just to be home.
Cloud Control
"I loved the idea of getting together a couple of design buddies and using our skills to influence the lives of these moms and babies," says Julie Rooney of Julie Rooney Interiors. She and Emily Castle of Castle Design and Abbey Francis of Sassy Sprouts started with IKEA fabric bright with reds, greens, blues and black, and they used red and white accent colors to make the loft's neutral finishes pop. The designers built on one another's ideas, adding white bedroom drapery with cloudlike cutouts, framing silvery birch-tree wallpaper by Schumacher ...
Above all, they wanted the space to feel young and happy for Ashley Hinton, 19, and her baby girls, Aniya and Aiyanna. Ms. Hinton graduated from the St. Louis Job Corps and is hoping to work at AT&T in customer service; at Haven of Grace, she says she's learned "so much you never get even from a mother figure. How to be responsible, how to wash your own clothes, how much attention your other child needs when you have just had a newborn." Now she has a home where she can mother her girls, complete with a dining nook where she and her toddlers "play tea."
Snug as a Bug
Another loft apartment went to Crystal Brown, who's 19 and has two kids: J'Corey, 3, and J'Vonte, 7 months. She was scared to come to Haven of Grace, figuring it'd be "a typical shelter," but kept telling herself, "I'm doing it for my kids." Ms. Brown works as a banquet server but just won a scholarship to study nursing at Lindenwood University. She hoped her apartment would be bright (she loves sunshine), make people feel comfortable and match her energy level (she loves to clean and cook). Design profs Erin LeClerc and Jenny Manganaro guided the Interior Design Club at St. Louis Community College–Meramec toward a fun and playful space, with child-friendly furniture — including a custom slide seating arrangement in the center of the loft/playroom. Natural light floods the apartment, so Mrs. LeClerc and Mrs. Manganaro and their students devised a scheme of warm and cool colors to keep the energy high.
In Bloom
As the designers put finishing touches on Roshanda Brand's new apartment, she wasn't thinking about décor — she was getting ready to deliver her first baby. But Cindy Belmont and Mallory Flinn, colleagues at Directions in Design, were determined to give her a space that was light, airy, casual, comfortable — and that spelled a fresh start. They began with a blue matelassé sofa and, swatch in hand, found a large-scale floral print at LuLu Belles that set a bright tone. Window treatments, pillows, bench cushion and even shower curtain were all custom made, gratis, and Ms. Flinn and Jaime Olivastro painted canvases and IKEA furniture. Ms. Brand longed for a quiet place, "somewhere I can just sit and meditate or read a book." She laughs, realizing the baby will interrupt that peace regularly. "But I can read to her. I read to her now, while she's in my belly — Dr. Seuss books, every night."
A Few Seconds of Luxury
The staff apartment is the handiwork of Cary Baumann of Cary and Company; Julie Baum of BaumHouse design; and Lynn Eastin of Lynn Eastin Interiors. Someone from Haven of Grace will stay here in order to be available to the young families 24/7. Realizing what a sacrifice this person will be making, Ms. Baumann says, "We wanted to make the private spaces a luxurious getaway for her — while keeping the public area welcoming for her young guests and their children." Grass Elements donated bamboo flooring for the kitchen/living room, and the designers livened up traditional furniture, including a French armoire, with a color scheme of bright pink, chocolate brown and spring green.
Stealing Peace
When C.J. Knapp first heard about the Haven of Grace project, she dug out a long-saved piece of fabric. Printed with whimsical sheep and cows, it could give Alfreda Dees' little boy (Marquis) and girl (Aniya) a taste of the countryside. Ms. Knapp's colleague at Edwin Pepper Interiors, Sarah Weaver, agreed instantly, and they planned a barnyard mural — a simple line drawing, because kids see graphically first — with contemporary furniture and an androgynous color scheme of pinks, reds, blues and greens for the kids. Ms. Dees grinned in delight at the coincidence — she loves animals and hopes to study veterinary medicine someday. Her own bedroom is quieter and more feminine, done in a gray-blue, deep brown and cream, so she can study there, rock the baby and relax from her high-stim job at a day-care center.
Touched by an Angel
For 21-year-old Dominique James and her 4-month-old daughter, Angel, designers Gina Adolphson and Dana King started with an unusual palette: slate blues and turquoises, burnt and bright oranges drawn from a textile print of leaves and fruit. The fabric was one of several donated bits and pieces, and the fun was letting talent transform what was already at hand. Which is exactly what Ms. James wants to do with her life. "I came in here knowing nothing," she admits. "My baby's given me a reason to want to see tomorrow." The designers kept her apartment light, airy and celebratory, with a sense of new beginnings.
AT HOME extends its warmest thanks to the following companies for their generous contributions to the Haven of Grace project.
A Shade Co.
Amini's
Artmart
Ashley Furniture HomeStore, Kirkwood location
Bassett Furniture Direct
Dick Blick Art Materials
Bowood Farms
Breyer Designs
Brunschwig & Fils
City Sprouts
Crate & Barrel
Crescent Plumbing Supply
Custom Furniture Works
Dácor Interiors
Design and Detail
Designtex
Edwin Pepper Interiors
Electrolux Major Appliances
Elite Properties
Engraphix
Expressions Custom Furniture
The Fabric Company
F. Schumacher & Co.
The Gifted Gardener
Gomez Reupholstery
GQS, Inc.
Grass Elements
Heartwarming Interiors
Home Decorator's Collection
Home Depot, Hanley location
The HomePort Collection
HomeSource Design Center
Houska Studio
House of Denmark
KDR Designer Showrooms
KidKraft
King's Karpet
Kohl's Department Store
The Lawrence Group
Locks & Pulls Design Elements
LuLu Belles
Midwest Upholstery Service
Niche Furnishings
Ooh La La! Home Furnishings
Pottery Barn
PremierGarage
ProSource
Rothman Furniture
Rug Décor of St. Louis
Second Sitting Consignments
Sew Much More
Sew Soft Draperies
Sherwin-Williams
Sherwood Forest
Strait-Flex International
T. Rohan Interiors
Three French Hens
Three Little Ziglets
Tinkers Upholstering
Treasure Rooms
Two Blind Guys
WCF Custom Framing at the Warson Woods Antique Gallery
