Tour an Artist and Home Product Designer's Cozy Iowa Bungalow

Iowa-based product designer Candice Luter is an all-purpose creative, equal parts artist, designer and entrepreneur. When the advent of the pandemic in 2020 saw her laid off from her full-time job, Candice found one of the year’s few silver linings, turning her furniture-making hobby into a full-blown enterprise. Now she’s quickly making a name for herself as one of the industry’s most innovative new voices, taking us inside the two-bedroom bungalow that has been her home and design canvas for the last five years.

When Candice saw her home for the first time, it took a creative’s eye to see the potential. “It was old and outdated,” she explains. “Green shag carpet and wallpaper everywhere — even on the outlets!” Yet despite the urgent need for an update, Candice found she had a soft spot for the home’s history. “The prior owner purchased the home in 1950 and raised her family there, so it was important to me to keep a lot of the original aspects of the house while upgrading things to my personal style and taste.”

Getting things to her personal taste has become a continual act of revision and renewal. It sounds complicated, but the designer assures us that her first steps were simple. “The first thing to go was the green shag carpet,” she recalls, “and after that the big task of removing all of the wallpaper — even from the ceilings — and updating the entire home with a fresh coat of paint.” Candice’s approach to the work of designing her home is a reflection of the life she lives within its walls. “Since my life is in a constant state of transition,” she muses, “my home has definitely reflected those changes over time.”

Serving as a reflection on her constantly changing life, the look of Candice’s home has evolved and refined as she’s found her voice as a designer and her footing as a business owner. “I first started out designing my home a little more on the boho side, but it is much more modern in its current state,” she says. That modern look is far less thematic, combining influences from many sources into a single, coherent look. “I love incorporating nods to [midcentury modern and] Art Deco with a modern twist on boho to bring everything together,” she reflects. “I like to think it works!”