Maggie Strom has great taste. Her living room is painted a smoky lilac called Porcelain by Benjamin Moore with a slightly darker trim color in Mauve Desert by Benjamin Moore. There’s a gorgeous grey couch with a stunning rust-colored armchair, both from Blu Dot, juxtaposed with vintage furniture from a variety of eras. Her midcentury modern coffee table is stacked with books about art, food, and interior design. 

Maggie’s original fireplace with a view into her dining room. Photo by Jon Carnes

The living room walls and the built-in shelves on either side of the fireplace are filled with paintings, art prints, sculpture, and pottery. Some of the art is framed photographs by Maggie’s older sister, Julie Keefe, the photographer. Beautiful floral pillows, in a William Morris pattern, adorn the living room chairs.

Pillows are a pattern by William Morris. Photo by Jon Carnes

Colorful floral patterns are repeating theme throughout the house, mostly in gorgeous wallpapers, but also in the art and textiles. 

Maggie and her boyfriend, Joe Kokal, live in the South Minneapolis home with their small dog, Ira. She bought her 1924 home in 2021, and they’ve done a lot to update it, while still maintaining much of the vintage charm. 

Another view of Maggie’s living room. Photo by Jon Carnes

Maggie’s great taste makes sense when you find out what she does for work. She’s the Chief Hospitality Officer at Blue Fox Concepts. Blue Fox Concepts is relatively new hospitality company with two restaurants/music venues: Berlin, a jazz, electronic, and experimental music and cocktail lounge/restaurant, and Animales BBQ, a much-beloved barbeque restaurant with live music. She says there are plans for more restaurants over the next five years.

While Blue Fox Concepts uses interior design firms, Maggie says she does “put her two cents in” on interior design plans. 

“In a restaurant, the entirety of the space ties into the experience. So, what the concept says ties into hospitality, and you want to make sure the space is appointed appropriately,” says Maggie. 

She makes a good point. I’ve been to plenty of restaurants and bars just to experience the beauty of the space. And when a restaurant is beautiful, the staff is gracious, and the food is delicious, I’m definitely going back.

A home with a relaxed, comfy vibe

“People remember how they were cared for, not even so much what they ate,” Maggie says. “You go out to be nurtured not just nourished. I love to create a relaxing, comfy, cozy vibe.”

Maggie’s dining room with built-in china cabinets. Photo by Jon Carnes

This is also how Maggie describes her home’s interior design: comfy and cozy with a mix of lived-in and vintage. She also credits her mom for her sense of style. Her mom collected art while Maggie was growing up. It wasn’t the type of art that you’d find at Sotheby’s, but her mom had a good eye. 

“I’m not a maximalist or a minimalist, but somewhere in between,” says Maggie. “I want the things in home to look intentional and thoughtful.”

Maggie’s thoughtfully appointed dining room with vintage recovered chairs. Photo by Jon Carnes

Maggie’s dining room chandelier is vintage Murano glass. Photo by Jon Carnes

Building “tension between history and modernity”

While Maggie has great style, she did have help with some of the design. Local Interior Designer Anne McDonald picked out the purple paint colors for her living room and also helped with furniture arrangement. Anne also recommended the brass picture lights that hang over several of Maggie’s art pieces.  

A vintage dresser with a collection of artwork highlighted by a picture light. Photo by Jon Carnes

Maggie like Anne’s design style because of its warmth and elegance. The Anne McDonald Design website states that her designs hold “the tension between history and modernity,” and that she’s “committed to innovative yet timeless design.” When you look a Maggie’s home, you see this juxtaposition too. Thoroughly modern pieces are mixed with a lot of vintage, all inside a house built in 1924. 

Hiring an interior design can be expensive, however, Maggie was able to hire Anne as a consultant. You, too, can book Anne for flexible, hour-by-hour consulting via The Expert. 

A small space with a huge visual impact

Designer Anya Kordonowy of Ornament also helped Maggie create her beautiful home. Anya helped design both bathrooms and finish and design the basement space. Maggie’s main floor bathroom is a knockout space with black and white hex tile installed in a floral pattern, lovely blue and green floral wallpaper by William Morris, and emerald green zellige tile in the shower. Though the space is small, the visual impact is huge. 

Maggie’s main floor bathroom was designed with the help of Anya Kordonowy of Ornament. The wallpaper is the Campanula pattern by William Morris . Photo by Jon Carnes

Maggie’s downstairs bathroom is also a masterful mix of tile and wallpaper. The floor tile is black-and-white checkerboard, but installed in a way that it looks like plaid. It covers the entire floor into the shower basin. The shower is huge with a massive built-in bench and blush zellige tile on the walls. There’s another delightful, whimsical floral wallpaper from Spoonflower, with swirling leaves and vines in shades of green, pink, and blue. Anya designed this bathroom for Maggie too. 

Maggie’s downstairs bathroom is another joyful space with another stunning floral wallpaper from Spoonflower. Photo by Jon Carnes

What appealed to Maggie about Anya’s style is that she’s pretty outside of the box. The Ornament website states, “Ornament exists to serve those who believe that homes have a soul; a history that should be respected and who have personal investment in honoring what it takes to preserve what they’re fortunate to own.” Also, unlike some interior designers, Anya has a background in remodeling and construction, so Ornament’s “primary offerings encompass interior design, project management, and comprehensive general contracting services.”

Maggie and Joe’s bedroom is a serene space. Photo by Jon Carnes

As you might expect for someone who’s worked in restaurants and the hospitality industry for years, Maggie likes to cook and enjoy a glass of wine. One of the first renovations she tackled in her home was the kitchen. Maggie installed slate floors. She sanded and painted her kitchen cabinets a lovely sage green and added new brass knobs. She also had new sink and quartz countertops installed. A carpenter built a custom cabinet around her fridge, to maximize her storage. 

Maggie’s kitchen was one of the first spaces she remodeled. Photo by Jon Carnes

Maggie’s guest bedroom with another lush wallpaper. Photo by Jon Carnes

A great neighborhood with the BNEs: best neighbors ever

She did keep some of the kitchen’s original details, like the charming kitchen nook with the banquettes and a table. If it looks familiar, maybe you’re remembering the nook in Robbie and John’s home? It makes sense; Robbie and John are Maggie’s neighbors. 

Maggie’s kitchen has its charming, original nook. Photo by Jon Carnes

In fact, Maggie enjoys Robbie and John so much that she refers to them as BNEs: the best neighbors ever. When her boyfriend, Joe, hurt his back last year, he couldn’t find any way to get comfortable. So, Robbie and John let Joe sleep in a recliner in their living room. Robbie and John eventually gifted Maggie the recliner, and it now lives in her basement.

In the basement, Designer Anya Kordonowy of Ornament turned what was once a large empty space with a weird bar area into a cozy living room, bedroom, and bathroom. Photo by Jon Carnes

Other than the BNEs, Maggie really enjoys her South Minneapolis neighborhood. She likes that 34^th Avenue is basically a main street in a small town, with a library, hardware store, grocery store, post office, and restaurants like Asa’s Bakery. 

“I feel safe, seen, and supported here,” says Maggie. “I like that everybody in the neighborhood kind of does their own thing; they aren’t trying to keep up with the Joneses.”

Maggie has been gifted other pieces in her home, like the beige chair with wood arms in her living room, the living room coffee table, and a large vertical weaving in the dining room. These pieces came from Genna Golden, a designer in Portland, OR, whom she nannied for.

A large oak dresser sits opposite her porch door, which leads out to a small front porch and the front of the house. Maggie received the dresser from her neighborhood Buy Nothing Group. 

A collagraph by artist Stanley E. Lea was a gift from Maggie’s parents. Photo by Jon Carnes

Along with her sister’s photographs, Maggie’s family has passed on other artwork. The striking “collograph” hanging over her mantle is by artist Stanley E. Lea and was given to Maggie by her parents. Avant Arte states, “A collagraph is a collage of materials with different textures adhered to a printing plate, typically made of thin wood or cardboard.”ArtworkArchive.com states, “Lea was known for his experimental printmaking techniques and collage work.” It’s the first art piece her parents bought after they married. 

A sculpture by artist Charles Pebworth. Photo by Jon Carnes

A sculpture made of metal, malachite, and wood sits on one of the shelves adjacent to the fireplace mantle. It looks like four rectangular panels, and it folds up into a box with a latch. The sculpture was displayed in Maggie’s childhood home, and she inherited it from her mother. It was made by Charles Pebworth. Pebworth “was an American artist and educator of Choctaw descent, known for his abstract relief sculptures in metal and wood, cast-bronze and marble works, and figurative watercolor paintings.”

The art of the Marketplace deal: patience

Of course, Maggie has purchased artwork too, from local artists and also on Facebook Marketplace. She also likes shopping at local stores Carousel & Folk and Find Furnish. A few of her art prints, from Paul Gauguin and Claude Monet, she bought on Marketplace. Her connection to Monet is sentimental; her mom really loved Monet.  

A print by Gauguin hangs in one of Maggie’s bedrooms. Photo by Jon Carnes

Maggie has a strategy to get a good deal on Marketplace art. She messages the seller and says, “I really don’t need this piece, but if it doesn’t sell, I’ll buy it for half the price.” This technique works more than you might think. She shared that she was going to pick up another Monet print later that day.