Ali Mailander’s 1924 stucco home makes you want to curl up on the couch, sip a cup of tea, and talk for hours. Her keen eye has created a space that radiates warmth, comfort, and beauty. In the living room, natural light streams through the sliding glass doors and windows, while sconces and lamps—thoughtfully placed—cast a warm glow. Her home faces Minnehaha Creek, and the front window frames the trees around the creek like a painting. The light is both soothing and restorative, much like the home itself. 

Ali’s living and dining room are filled with natural light from the windows and sliding glass door and the soft lighting from lamps and sconces. Photo by Jon Carnes

“Being across from the creek is a reminder to just go sit there for even 5 minutes, if I can,” says Ali. 

Ali moved in just this past November, but the home feels like she’s been there for years. And it’s no wonder the lighting is so well done. She runs a lighting consultation business called Lighting by Ali. Her website states, “Carefully crafted lighting can transform a room from ordinary to magic, profoundly affecting mood and positively enhancing the overall dynamics of your home.”

Ali’s home is filled with art, vintage objects, and plants. Photo by Jon Carnes

Magic is another word you might use to describe Ali’s space. The palette is colorful, but soft. In the living room, she painted two walls a custom, pale pink that she mixed by combining “Swiss Coffee” by Benjamin Moore and “Portuguese Dawn” by Behr, and she created a faux lime wash effect to add texture and interest to the walls. Mustard yellow velvet drapes frame the sliding glass doors, which lead out to the backyard. A soft green sectional couch divides the room, while art, mirrors, and vintage objects add to the cozy, comfortable atmosphere. The sectional couch is one of the few new pieces in her home.

Vintage objects add character and are low maintenance

Ali loves vintage objects. Her house is filled with inherited pieces, thrift finds, and items passed on from friends and family. 

A corner of Ali’s remodelel kitchen houses pottery, vintage glassware, a collection of feathers, and of course, a lamp that throws a warm glow. Photo by Jon Carnes

“I like it when items are useful for the space and not just decorative,” says Ali. “I have an old coffee grinder—it’s a piece that tells a story about how coffee is ground, and it looks cool.”

The kitchen was remodeled before Ali moved in. It is a small, but well thought-out space. Photo by Jon Carnes

The coffee grinder sits on Ali’s counter in the kitchen. The kitchen was renovated by former homeowners when the house was on the DIY Network show, “Sweat Equity.” The renovation added a bathroom and another bedroom to the first floor. Ali uses the bedroom as an office and a guest bedroom.

The office and guest bedroom are a welcoming space filled with books, plants, art, and art-making supplies. Photo by Jon Carnes

This bathroom is off the office/guest bedroom. It was added when former homeowners were on the DIY Network show, “Sweat Equity.” Photo by Jon Carnes

Ali has the ability to style even a bathroom into a beautiful space. Photo by Jon Carnes

The homeowners that Ali purchased the house from, Amanda Devoogdt and her husband, also renovated the home, adding some charming details, like the damask wallpaper and fluted glass cabinet in the upstairs bathroom. Amanda is a real estate investor who “specializes in small to full-scale renovation projects that honor the history of the home while designing for the future.” You can follow along with Amanda’s renovation projects on Instagram @ mandalalalala. Ali appreciates these thoughtful renovations, which match the character of the old home.

The upstairs bathroom with this gorgeous damask wallpaper. Photo by Jon Carnes

“Old stuff is a reminder of the past, and it connects us to our history,” says Ali. 

Vintage items often have scratches, dents, and flaking paint, known as patina. For Ali, patina not only enhances the character of a piece, it also makes it more practical. She shares her home with her 9-year-old son, Hap. Like many parents, she doesn’t want to worry about him damaging furniture, so vintage pieces solve that issue. 

Hap’s room has loads of organization and is painted a soothing blue. Photo by Jon Carnes

Hap also has a well-worn desk, perfect for 9-year-old. Photo by Jon Carnes

“If something is too nice, I’m stressed being around it,” says Ali. “I like to be able to be rough with stuff.”

Handmade, old objects also add romance to a space

Vintage pieces are also central to Ali’s style. Her interior design style is eclectic, tropical, and romantic. 

“I would describe my style as eclectic because it’s based on my finds at thrift stores or heirloom stuff that has been passed down. Basically, if I’m drawn to it and like it, I’ll usually buy it; I don’t care if it fits into some category of style,” says Ali.

A tropical scene hangs opposite Ali’s dining room table. You can see the lime wash effect on her pink walls here. Photo by Jon Carnes

As for the tropical part, Ali grew up in Florida and enjoys bright colors and tropical scenes. A jungle scene with zebras, a giraffe, an elephant, and a tiger hangs on the living room wall. She bought it from a man selling art on the street in Miami. Nearby is a print from Key West, Florida, where Ali and her family spent time when she was growing up. 

As for the romance, she says, “I like anything that hearkens back to a more romantic time.”

Ali has a large main bedroom filled with light and vintage treasures. Photo by Jon Carnes

A view from the opposite side of the bedroom. Ali has put a small mattress on the floor opposite the house cabinet, which holds a tv. Photo by Jon Carnes

The house cabinet is another thrift store find. Photo by Jon Carnes

Pieces that evoke romance are often handmade, intricately carved, or thoughtfully constructed, things you can’t buy at Target or Home Goods. That might include brass candlesticks, velvet upholstery, cloth hardcover books, and handmade pottery. 

Some of her favorite items fall into the romantic category and were also thrifted or passed down from a family member.

For Ali, a good deal also adds charm

“My favorite pieces are mostly if I got a deal on them,” says Ali, laughing. As a long-time thrifter who also loves a good deal, I get it.

This charming vignette with thrift and heirloom pieces. Photo by Jon Carnes

She points to a vignette near her front door, a gorgeous vintage chair, which she paid $30 for at St. Vincent de Paul, and a charming wooden cabinet that she found at Minneapolis ReStore for $45. The cabinet sits below a vintage mirror, which reflects and bounces light from the windows and a small vintage lamp, inherited from her aunt. Above the mirror, there are two shelves with more vintage lamps, books, plants, and sculptural pieces. Nearby sits a gorgeous Mission-style shoe bench that Ali bought for $20 at Salvation Army. 

Family pieces remind her of her childhood and loved ones 

Another favorite of Ali’s is a small, stained-glass turtle lamp that sits on the end table next to the couch. The lamp was her grandmother’s. 

Ali’s beloved turtle lamp from her grandmother. Photo by Jon Carnes

“I was very close to my grandma, and I have a lot of her things. She was a creature of habit. Every night, she’d watch Jeopardy, have a beer, then have dinner, and then after dinner, she’d have her nightcap, which was a glass of whiskey. Near where she’d sit every night during this ritual, was a radio and the turtle lamp. She was a minimalist, and the turtle was one of the few frivolous things she had. The turtle lamp reminds me of her and my childhood,” says Ali.

The vintage trivet was also Ali’s grandmother’s. Photo by Jon Carnes

Some of Ali’s favorite places to find vintage treasures are Minneapolis ReStore, St. Vincent de Paul in St Paul and Minneapolis, Goodwill stores in the suburbs, Hidden Treasures in St. Anthony, MN, and The Depot Outlet in Decorah, IA.

Art and art-making is central to Ali’s home

She also collects vintage art and displays it alongside her own art, her mom’s art, and art made by her great aunt. Making art is a part of Ali’s heritage. Her mom taught art at a performing arts high school in Florida and is a painter, sculptor, and photographer. A striking portrait of a rakish-looking man in a robe was painted by her mom and has joined her gallery on the stairway wall. She also has several charcoal and ink pieces drawn by her aunt.

The gallery wall that leads to the upstairs, complete with the rakish-looking man Ali’s mom painted. Photo by Jon Carnes

The face planter was made by Ali’s mom. Ali rescued it from her yard. Photo by Jon Carnes

But in typical teenager fashion, Ali rebelled against her mother’s passion.

“I resented art for a long time,” remembers Ali, “It wasn’t until sophomore or junior year of high school that I started doodling with Prismacolor pencils. My mom said they were pretty interesting designs.”

Encouraged, Ali kept making art. In college, she minored in art, with a focus on art history. She eventually earned a master’s degree in public health and has worked in various roles, including managing an Airbnb. 

Two abstract paintings that Ali made with her son, Hap. Photo by Jon Carnes

She prefers to make abstract art because she likes the creative and expressive process of abstract art. Her art pieces are placed throughout the house, including a pair of mixed media pieces she made with her son, hung behind the sectional. Currently, she is creating art with watercolor, pastels, and acrylic paint on wood. She made the coatrack hanging in the guest room/office and the long wood art piece next to the sliding glass doors. Both pieces are made from salvaged wood from Wood from the Hood.

A coatrack that Ali made and painted with wood from Wood from the Hood. Photo by Jon Carnes

Wood from the Hood “reclaim[s] wood from Twin Cities neighborhoods” so that “these trees are able to live on in the form of sustainable, handcrafted wood products.” The company harvests trees that need to be removed because they’re damaged (like those damaged by emerald ash borer) or leaning too close to a house or power line, and turns these into lumber, wood slabs, and handcrafted items like cribbage boards, tablet holders, and cutting boards. It keeps trees out of landfills and from being burned for disposal.

Another facet of Ali’s art practice is hosting art-making workshops and camps for children, ages 5-12.  When she first started, her neighbors donated art-making supplies for the workshops. At her former home, she’d convert half of the garage into an art studio to host the classes. 

An end table piled with treasures in Ali’s basement. Ali finds spending time in nature restorative. Photo by Jon Carnes

Her new house has a finished space in the backyard—kind of an art shed that was formerly part of the garage—which Ali uses to host the workshops. However, the last workshop group was too big for the art shed, so she moved the art-making to her basement. 

A mural that the children in Ali’s art workshop helped create. Photo by Jon Carnes

The children pitched in on an evolving mural on the basement wall and also participated in a drawing game known as “exquisite corpse,” which was popularized by the surrealists. The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) states, “[Exquisite corpse is] a game in which each participant takes turns writing or drawing on a sheet of paper, folding it to conceal his or her contribution, and then passing it to the next player for a further contribution. The game gained popularity in artistic circles during the 1920s when it was adopted as a technique by artists of the Surrealist movement to generate collaborative compositions.”

Ali moved her art-making supplied down to the basement for the last art workshop she hosted. Photo by Jon Carnes

Ali believes in giving kids free rein to create.

“The kids really love a free space with hardly any rules, and to be honest, I do too. Sometimes, it gets a little nuts, but it’s still worth it, overall, to me, to allow them to freely express themselves,” says Ali.

The front of Ali’s home. Similar signs dot the neighborhood, as Ali and her neighbors protest the invasion by ICE. Photo by Jon Carnes