Ep. 430: Balancing Old & New with Claire Staszak

0:01Welcome to How to Decorate from Ballard Designs, a weekly podcast all about the trials and triumphs of decorating and redecorating your home. I'm Caroline. I'm on the marketing team. And I'm Taryn, and I'm a product designer. I'm Liz. I head up the creative team. We're your hosts. Join the expert team at Ballard Designs for tips, tricks, and tales from interior designers, stylists, and other talents in the design world. Plus, we'll answer your decorating dilemmas at the end of each episode. We love answering your questions, so don't forget to email us at podcast at valordesigns.net. Now on with the show.

0:33Our guest today is Chicago-based interior designer Claire Staszak. Her client projects highlight her love of historic architecture, enhancing traditional design elements, and infusing new spaces with soul. Her work has been featured in Architectural Digest, House Beautiful, the Chicago Tribune, HGTV, and Lux Magazine. and two years ago she bought her dream home which she's about to renovate from top to bottom. Claire, welcome to the show. Thank you. Nice to be with you. So we have a lot to get to today. We wanted to talk about your renovation because you know as as I mentioned in the introduction you kind of specialize in historic preservation and architecture and really sort of enhancing that in your projects.

1:15You launched your design business 10 years ago and since then that's really sort of been where your specialty is, taking the traditional design elements in your client projects, but then you also incorporate fabrics and furnishings that have a little bit of a modern feel to them. So the two come together in a really unique style, and it's something that your clients seek you out for. So I was curious if you could kind of start there and where that aesthetic came from and kind of whether it was there from the beginning. Is it something that sort of evolved over time or really sort of where that like unique combination came from?

1:55Yeah. So, I mean, I can't believe it's been 10 years. It's like so weird to hear that officially said. It's just time is really flying. I don't think I necessarily started out with a really clear vision of like exactly what my firm was going to do. I started out like many entrepreneurs just kind of on my own. I had had a few great internships, but I actually went back to design school when I was 29. And so really, I've been doing this for like my 30s. And I didn't train under someone. I mean, I had some great internships at a couple really good places as, you know, in my late 20s. But I say that because I think a lot of people develop their style often, you know, either who they were trained under part of that kind of translates or like they go the opposite direction.

2:53It's not what they wanted to do. But I really think in the beginning, I obviously had a personal sense of style and aesthetic and And I've always loved old homes and old things. But I really catered to whatever the client wanted. And it definitely took some time. And I also think it took hiring a few different people and sort of melding with their aesthetics and trying different things on to really get to the place where I felt really comfortable with, you know what, this is sort of what I think we do best. and we're really going to lean into that. And, you know, I think it's still a thing in business, but, you know, everyone's always like, oh, niche down, create a niche.

3:41Like people love to use that word. And I think when you're starting out, you feel like, oh, well, I need to really appeal to everyone. I don't want to limit myself. But I have found I first sort of started to niche into kitchen design specifically because we do do a lot of kitchens and I love cabinetry in general, kitchen design. And then that sort of really morphed into, you know what, we really want to, like the projects I want to be doing are in historic properties. And they are people who really care about architecture. And they are people who love mixing old and new. And so it kind of evolved, you know, over time out of that.

4:21And I think having the confidence to say, I'm good with like only this type of client. And those are the people who I really want to find me. Yeah, I love seeing that element in your portfolio. It was almost like the shell of many of your projects have this very traditional, timeless moldings and cabinetry, like you mentioned. But then there were always furniture shapes or lighting, things within the room that had a real sleekness to it. But then also your color palettes had sort of a have this real warmth and almost like an aged color palette. So there was this kind of mixture that like it felt very nostalgic almost, but also really clean.

5:09So it was kind of a. It's so fun to hear someone talk about it. I love it. Like you're I love all the things you're noticing. Like that's so great to hear. How would you describe your style? oh this is the like this is the you know the hard question it's like I feel like I have some friends who are so good and they're like oh I'm granny chic or I'm you know traditional coastal I mean I would say we are always trying to balance masculine and feminine like and we're always um I love spaces to feel ethereal. Look, I have some buzzwords, but I find it really hard to put in a category. I mean, I think if we're going to put it in a category, I'd call it new traditional, where it's always going to harken back to traditional shapes and antiques, and we use architecture to guide the style of the home.

6:08But we are definitely not afraid to mix or to, I don't like to say like try a trend, but, you know, like do something that isn't quote unquote, like perfectly buttoned up traditional. And so, yeah, I think new traditional is probably a good sort of place for us. Because like Caroline said, you do have a lot of wonderful deep colors in a lot of your work that really, you know, speak to a depth kind of of that old home traditional, which I was wondering if it really is the style of homes too. Do you find a certain age of home you're always working on? So that's a great question because I think I actually have a book coming out in a couple of years.

6:57And there was a lot of debate on, I really wanted to just have the book be old homes, like only old homes. But of course we work on new homes. And like, I don't want to say that if you have a new home, you're not a good person. And some of our best clients, what you see on the portfolio, those are not all old homes. Some of them are new homes. And so the editors kind of convinced me that it really needed to be showing how we work on the old homes, but then also how you can bring that to a new home. And so while I think the biggest influence is really that in the Chicagoland area, and I live up on the North Shore near the lake, I mean, we're just very lucky that there's just a lot of beautiful old homes.

7:45And there's a lot of people who like really don't have a choice. They kind of have to buy an old home. And so there's just a lot of material to work with. You know, I think like I have a friend who's a designer in Oklahoma and like there's just tons of new construction. There's no old homes like in the area that she's working. And so I just feel very fortunate to be able to lean into that. And I'm sort of in the sect of people who are fighting against all the modern white farmhouses that are going up on every street because it's just, I want to see that character in my neighborhood. And I don't really care what year your house is.

8:27I just don't want it to be kind of builder basic. Yeah, I'm curious, like in your projects that are more historic properties and then versus your clients who are building or in a new home, you know, the last 10 years or something, are you approaching them completely differently in terms of the types of pieces you're bringing in and or cabinetry you're bringing in? Or are you sort of creating the same shell regardless of the house? I think every shell is different, but no, I'd say it's sort of two different approaches. I think, you know, one approach is much more restore, like what can we pull from this original that still works or that we can approve upon and then like build a color story and things that maybe lend itself more to, you know, for instance, if we're doing a tutor, like.

9:29i think there's just sort of a tutor inherently is probably going to be a little more moody and a little you know they're darker and um and so there's that's like kind of a little more the approach like let the house guide you whereas with the new builds um or the new construction i find um unless you're working with an exceptional architect who's already done all this work for you you're really trying to show the client what elements they can bring in either architecturally if those decisions haven't been made yet or if those decisions have been made you know sometimes it's adding crown molding it's changing a fireplace so it's more fitting of what they want the home to actually be like era wise if it's sort of era is a bit confused and it's also working harder on the furnishings and the paint and all those things because they're not necessarily always enhancing the architecture.

10:35They're sort of trying to, you know, stand in it in place of it sometimes. Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. Can we get into your house and how, like, okay, you bought it a couple of years ago and you've been planning a renovation. Have you started the renovation yet? so fingers crossed i am waiting any day now on my permit to be approved so like it's been through a couple rounds in the village i think we are nearly there so yeah we actually have i have rented the apartment above this so i'm in one of my design studios right now on the north shore we have a city location but i will also now be working here and living here um renovate this house um but yes Yes.

11:25Timing, like everyone's project, is very long. And we hope to be started. I am hoping like no later than October 1st we are like knocking. You're in there. Yeah. Set us up. What is the house? What were you looking for when you were house shopping? And what were sort of like the pros and cons of the house and why you ultimately picked this? Yeah, so, I mean, the market's tough here. So I definitely, I mean, you don't have just like pick of anything, that's for sure. But I think we were very lucky. I was looking for something that was big enough that it could be a forever home. I have two kids and I really wanted, you know, what I felt was like this space that we needed.

12:15I think my house before was probably just under 3 ,000 square feet. This house is like 5 ,500 square feet. So, you know, it's a nice size house for a family of four. It has a little bit of a larger lot. But I was really, you know, looking for just that character, that architectural detail that I love. This house is a Mediterranean built in 1926. Unfortunately, it doesn't have its original tile roof, which is very sad. But other than that, it definitely has been stripped of a lot of its original details throughout the years. I think what remained was basically, I mean, to, again, the best of my knowledge, I think that the staircase is original.

13:07And one thing that was really important to me is I just, I love an entry moment. So I really wanted that kind of staircase coming down, formal entry, kids lined up for prom pictures, you know, like that kind of thing. really so and it has a formal living room a formal dining room and like a nice giant family room so I think it had sort of all those elements and at one time it had been renovated really well so that's also what I look for like if the house has been renovated um and or I guess more should I say an addition because a lot of times people buy a house and they say okay I'm gonna put an addition on, which is, you know, a lot easier to say.

13:56And I knew that this house had already had a very decent addition. You know, it wasn't our style, it wasn't the right era, but the square footage was there. And so I knew I could change anything on the inside to make it what I wanted. And so it sort of checked all those boxes for us. It was in one of the suburbs that was, you know, in our checked box. And then it had original doorknobs, original doors, original staircase. And I could just really see the potential. And the exterior was pretty charming, but falling apart slightly. I mean, a hundred-year-old house is, yeah. Something's falling apart.

14:39Yeah. Yes. Yes. And I mean, of course, like part of, you know, I think you definitely have to put in the love, the time, the energy, the money. But I definitely think we got a great deal because a lot of other people don't want to do that. So it's a benefit, I think, of doing this work. Right, right. And you've done a lot of projects. So you're a pro versus the average home buyer. Yes, yes. Okay, so you've been there a couple years now. you've been living there a couple years now waiting for the reno but um was there anything that you did prior to moving in as just sort of like a you know bare bones we got to do this first or what did y 'all just move in yeah we i repainted like i didn't want to repaint the whole house because i knew so much of it was going to be demolished but like i repainted all the bedrooms rooms.

15:41Anywhere there was carpet, we put new carpet. So like the primary is carpet. The current family room has carpet. We'll be changing that to hardwood floors. But and the basement, we sort of fixed up for our kids. But pretty basic. I just moved the furniture we already had, swapped out some lights. I mean, I took down any old lighting that they had left and switched it with things that were ours. But I'm kind of a, if you're going to do it, do it right person. So I just made it livable. I mean, I put up some window treatments, you know, in just places that we needed them. And I've just kind of been grinning and burying it through till I get the drink.

16:26Yeah. Okay. This is something that I really struggle with. how did you stay patient throughout the last couple of years while you're waiting and planning? You know what I mean? Like, were there ever times where you're like, I just really wish I could do this now, but I'm not going to. Yes, for sure. I mean, one thing I'll say about being a busy business owner and mom is I don't have much time to, you know, be thinking about, you know, I honestly it's one of those things that I kind of always get a little annoyed like it's so cliche when designers are like oh you know there's some whatever I don't even know the line about the cobbler shoes you know kind of thing and but truly I have not had a nightstand for two years like I've been using a chair and it's a it's a problem but like I don't even care because to me like the end goal is so much bigger than like buying myself a nightstand that I don't like because it's not the one that I really want or like I don't want to design it you know till I know really what I want it to be and I think when you use your creativity every day like I I'm a it is hard to do your own home when you're a designer and you're doing this all day long like I do love it but there are plenty of times where I come home and I don't want to think about my bedroom.

17:54And, you know, so I guess I would just say, you know, everybody has a budget. Everyone has limitations. I mean, if I had tons and tons of money to just, you know, move and throw it all at the house and do all of that, great. But like, there's definitely something to be said for living in it, figuring out what you really want. I encourage my clients to do that when they can, really. I think it makes a big difference to how you, in the end, change the floor plan, change the flow. Also, I think it allows you, if you have the time, so when we tend to design this way for clients, you put the dream on paper first.

18:37Our first rendition of what we were going to do was really pretty grandiose and likely not affordable. And that's okay because I think when you do that, you see what all the big ideas are and then you kind of pare back versus starting like small and afraid and not dreaming of like what could really be. And I actually feel like most times you get to like the right place because I don't even think I like the plan, the grandiose plan any better than the one I ended up with um interesting oh I love that the one that I have now is really great and like I had to make some compromises along the way but I think you know everyone does usually you can't kind of always get everything and so um I've been trying to you know just use that mantra that like it's it's going to be you know great in the end and it's something that takes time and I mean sometimes people are doing houses over multiple years and we work with people who are able to do everything at once and then we do work with clients who you know are doing things in phases and so um you know you just kind of have to hold true to the vision and yeah try to be patient i love that suggestion about just getting like your wildest dream out onto paper and then kind of either scaling back or revising or, you know, editing down.

20:15Yeah, like, that's smart. An exact example of that is, for instance, the kitchen in this house is sort of like a big galley kitchen, but it's kind of like a straight shot. And my initial idea was to, and there's like an adjoining, what they called like library, but basically feels like just kind of a wasted room. and so the initial plan was to take down that wall in between and rotate the kitchen to be like a big rectangle instead of kind of a galley kitchen and so from going from this way to kind of this way and this big big kitchen with a big island in the middle and like a big eat-in breakfast room but that big wall was a big structural wall and it wasn't even so much the cost of taking down that wall but just like how invasive to the whole project kind of that was going to be and we were going to have to add two steel beams and just like it was just was feeling like why like why am I doing all this because sort of the general consensus would be like have a bigger kitchen with a bigger island.

21:28And I don't even really cook that much, A. B, I didn't really want this giant kitchen. I felt like it wasn't going to be kind of like cozy or maybe it wasn't going to feel super fitting to the house because... And so like kind of going through that whole process, now I feel like I'm much happier. I have like the beautiful galley kitchen I want. And then we turned that room into like an adjacent breakfast room that's going to have a beautiful breakfast bar and a pantry and like I almost get two different rooms to design instead of this kind of one big room yeah and it took a while to figure out that that's what I wanted so that's like kind of an example yeah but but I also love that it wasn't it wasn't just that it was going to be invasive, but that like you kind of sat with it and thought, is this really what I want or is this what like Pinterest is telling me that I want?

22:27That is such a good note because I do think that there's always so much talk about resale value and, you know, is someone going to buy this or that I think it can be easy to take yourself out of the equation and almost do what you what you think needs to be done versus what is really functional for you and what's best for the house so that yeah yeah our clients struggle with that a lot for sure yeah we do a lot of talking people off the don't do this for resale do it for yourself yeah yeah did anything at the same time i know you have two kids and they're growing and has your perspective changed also on any of their spaces just knowing that you're starting right now with babies and then you know they they won't be once the house is finished yeah hopefully they'll still be pretty young and it won't go that long we definitely um you know they they the house had a really weird jack and jill bathroom um and actually my husband was really want he's like if there's any way it's a tricky space though it was going to be really tough to kind of carve two bathrooms out of the Jack and Jill, but I think we were able to make it happen.

23:49And there was a lot of back and forth between like, should we do it? Should we not do it? You know, I think ultimately, the two bathrooms is better for multiple reasons, including I have a boy and a girl. So like, they'll have their own bathrooms, better for resale, you know, and while both the bathrooms will be kind of smaller, I think um it just made more sense in the plan and it is more expensive but again that's like one of those things that felt like okay that's worth the spend because there's enough reasons um that it makes sense so you split them to where they both have an ensuite and they yet my daughter has an ensuite and my son will have his own bathroom but it it's he accesses it through the hall.

24:43So it's technically, it's a little bit of a strange Jack and Jill. It's connected to one bedroom and then it's not connected to the other, but it's sort of like there are two bathrooms if you kind of enter from either side. So we were able to reconfigure where one bathroom will just be accessible from the hallway and that'll be my son's bathroom and then my daughter will have an en suite. Yeah. I do feel like sometimes those jack and jill ones can be a little bit inefficient because you've got to have two doors right so right like with the clearance of the the doors it's kind of it can be kind of hard but to your point it's not quite enough for two always so yeah we were able to kind of squeeze some space out of the hall which was kind of the key part of it um and yeah I mean all the bathrooms in this home I cannot wait to demo like I want to be in there with a camera they are so old and bad and like what describe describe the worst one um I mean I think if people go to the blog they can definitely yes but they i mean just so old you know like i think it was one of those it feels like they got like a special on tile where like everything is yellow or brown and i mean they're not are they original beige no i don't know they're definitely not original they're like bad i don't even know when they're from i mean that's the thing it's like it's so hard to even tell the era of when some of this stuff was done because I do think, you know, it's been through multiple owners and it's not one of those like gems where you walk in and had one owner and like they didn't touch anything kind of.

26:28So I can't even tell you. I mean, they look like they're from the 70s, but like, who knows? It could be the 90s. I don't know, honestly. Okay, so there's kitchen, bathroom, obviously were top priorities. What else were the top priorities in the renovation? So for us and for a lot of what I do for my clients is natural light. I think natural light is, you know, one of the most kind of underutilized design tools, right? Everybody typically wants to be in a space with natural light. It feels more beautiful. Your colors can look more beautiful. I feel happier. People in Chicago get seasonal depression.

27:16I feel like it's, you know, cold. And so we changed up a lot of the windows. And I really had this dream of kind of these, you know, so Mediterranean's often have arches. And so our entryway is a beautiful arch detail. And in the foyer, I'm going to change both the end, you know, it's kind of a center entrance where you have your dining room and your living room, I'm going to change those openings to be beautiful arches. And so on the back family room, we are doing three sets of beautiful arch French doors to the backyard. So that was sort of like my, the big sort of dream moment. And then several windows throughout the house are changing or being updated.

28:06Um, particularly in the kitchen, we are making one really large window and kind of getting rid of two smaller. So those are, I think, some of the bigger kind of changes that I'm excited for. What about like systems or, you know, were there any like some of those renovation must do? Yeah, the boring stuff where you're like, I don't want to spend money on this, but I'm on. You're spending a lot of money on the HVAC system. So one of the main updates this house needed, which we knew when we purchased it, was all new heat and air conditioning. So that's one of the largest line items, honestly. and at one point everything was updated to have you know old radiators right like the big wall radiators that everybody kind of knows what those look like at some point when the house was renovated then they moved to baseboard radiators which you know they they're not terrible but like when they're kind of all over your house it just I really don't like it it takes away from all of the baseboard molding and kind of so we're taking all of those out and you know doing kind of a more traditional force air system and really I mean we're updating tons of plumbing tons of electrical I mean I would say a majority of what we're spending money on is behind the walls yeah but that's that's really what you need to do when you buy these old homes and that's why you typically, you know, get a great deal because people don't want to take the walls apart and put that stuff back together.

29:48Sure. What is, what is like your vision for the, you know, the style, the, in the decor? Well, I think it's, it's a balance of, so because I do love to remain, you know, somewhat true to the home. I certainly want some Mediterranean aesthetic, which is often, you know, I think people think of Greece or the south of France, you know, white and blue and woods and natural. And so while there's one part of me that like loves and really appreciates that simplicity, I think if you look at our portfolio, right, we tend to mix a little bit more color and pattern. Sometimes I think we're, you know, a bit more European in terms of like a little bit of like a British eclectic sort of mix.

30:47So I'm having a bit of a struggle of like how to meld those styles. but for me I think um it's often about kind of like pulling back and just really again like looking at sort of the shell without any of the furnishings like how do I really want the shell to feel and I think the shell will feel more Mediterranean and then I'll start to layer in colors and patterns um that sort of feel appropriate to me which I would say if you can picture, you know, the south of France or Provence, or I tend to really love just like romantic, more pale. That's like what this house is feeling like to me. Nothing too bold.

31:37I like kind of calming spaces for myself personally, because I'm always kind of all over the place. And I like my house to be as kind of centering as possible. Have you basically mapped out the fabrics and pieces you're going to use in every room or are you kind of letting that evolve once you get through the renovation? I definitely have like picked up a lot of pieces along the way. I have a vision for a lot of the rooms. I mean, so the kitchen and like the laundry mudroom, which is actually quite a large space. Those are both fully kind of designed and figured out. I purchased some art so I often lead a lot with art I have some really beautiful art that I'm pretty passionate about that I like have a sense of where it's going um I have a wallpaper collection with um a French company and so I will likely put a few of my wallpapers in the house but like I change my mind every week on what is going where so I think until like I really have to nail it down, I probably won't.

32:55I'll probably just kind of keep letting it evolve. Yeah. Was there anything, this kind of goes back to what Taryn was asking, but was there anything that you maybe had as a vision, and you did talk about your kitchen, but anything that you changed while you've lived there? Maybe you thought was what you needed in terms of the layout of the flow, and then as you've lived there, you've changed your mind. I know you mentioned at the beginning that you you advise your clients to do that so I was curious what sort of things there's there's a lot of little things I mean like we're talking about just like the way that a closet is used or like the mud room laundry room I've had like several different iterations of what those could be or how those things would function like where a drop zone is or where one isn't.

33:48I think those all like in themselves are pretty small, but like when you start to add them all up, I think it's quite important to the overall project. And I think until you really like see how you function in a space, it can be hard to guess how you would want those things. I mean, I think that's what people can also trust a designer and architect to help them figure out if they're not going to live in a space for a period of time, but it's definitely informed. Again, I think some of my initial grand ideas didn't really take into consideration, like, where is the drop zone where all the mail gathers that my husband will create in the kitchen if I don't define one?

34:36So those kinds of things are just kind of easy to forget about, but really can be, you know, important as you're moving through it. Upstairs are, there's a fourth bedroom, but technically it doesn't have a closet. So, I mean, maybe it could have been like billed as a nursery or something. And we could move the entrance to our room to connect to that so that we'd almost have this like lounge off of our bedroom which would be lovely and then if I move the door it would allow me to center my bed on the fireplace in my room because it kind of drives me crazy that the bed is off center from the fireplace but it's like is that good for resale like all of those questions again that like people ask themselves or like do we need a bigger room but like if we're living here forever then who cares if that's a fourth bedroom or whatever so like those kind of things i just think you have longer to sort of debate which i don't know if it's you know good or bad but those are the kind of things we're going back and forth on yeah you don't have to make like a good a walk-in closet like that currently you kind of enter on a side but i'd love to make a center entrance like these are the things that I'm thinking about, you know.

36:06Okay, so I did go on your blog because I had to see, I needed to see these before photos of these bathrooms. So I was like diving deep in here. And yeah, they're bad. So I see why you're really pumped. Yeah. But yeah, I recommend people going to look at this because this is fun. But yeah, there's a whole tour, I think, right? Yeah, there's a whole tour. Yeah, there's a whole tour. I had, so this laundry room that you speak of that has a skylight in it is huge it looks huge massive yes so what are you planning to do in there so that's that's going to be my flower arranging room oh no it's gonna be it's kind of it is it could it it will hopefully be amazing so it's going to be part mudroom part laundry room slash flower arranging room or the room with all of my pretty things like stored in there um so i do get a lot of joy like if i if i didn't do this i would like probably do flowers for a living um i love it and then there's a bathroom in there as well so we're turning that into like a little spa bathroom moment with a steam shower and yeah and it's all going to be kind of in the same cabinetry color so it will feel somewhat cohesive and it another like originally I built a whole wall with sliding doors because I was like okay I don't want to see the laundry room I'm just going to kind of like close it but that was expensive and then also kind of made this like very long hallway of a mudroom so in the end I decided to kind of we're gonna we're gonna frame it out and you'll have like a big opening so it'll still kind of feel like two different spaces but we designed the laundry area to look really beautiful and tried to hide the laundry machines behind doors.

38:06Because my biggest issue with that space, it's like, that's where we walk in right from the garage. That's what I see all the time. And right now it's a disastrous dumping zone. And I don't want to walk in and just like see laundry every day. That's just not the aesthetic. I mean, my life is about aesthetics. And like, if I'm going to have my way, it's not going to be to walk into a messy laundry room. So yeah, we're trying to make that really pretty yeah if you see it online it looks like it has a big it looks like it's a big skylight and then it's a big white box like a very large box with floating washer dryer currently yeah and it feels like a whole sort of like other side yeah fair enough um but i love that you're making it into a little like how can i make this a retreat like i'm coming in i'm i'm done with my day shuffling kids in and out how do i make this wonderful for me um and and my family but you know I think that's just a beautiful way, again, to focus on your own home and remind people to.

39:08Everyone pays attention to the entry for their guests, right? But many of us neglect the entry that we use. But it's a space you're walking into multiple times a day. I was thinking about this recently. And you want to come home and feel relaxed and peaceful and happy. And you're not going to do that if you're coming into a junky, discombobulated mess. Not saying that yours is. I'm really more talking about myself here. So if you do, if you can put some effort into making it, you know, tidy and beautiful or just tidy. But I always think that goes a long way for your mental health because, you know, you're not always using your own front door.