Designer Q&A: 6 Ways to Jazz Up Your Home

Designer Andrew Flesher, the master of mixing it up, gives us a lesson in decorating with impact.

By Kathy McCleary
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Andrew Flesher, Gunkelman Flesher Interior Design, Minneapolis, Minn.
Do you ever walk into your house, look around and just feel bored? Admit it, once in a while we all long to do something more dramatic with that lovely living room or cozy family room—to make a statement of some kind, to decorate with impact. Andrew Flesher knows that feeling, and more importantly, he knows what to do about it. Flesher, 40, of Gunkelman Flesher Interior Design in Minneapolis, once lived in an all-white loft he designed—white painted walls, white cabinetry, white epoxy floors, white furniture. "You have to listen to what you like," says Flesher. "I know hardly anybody would have wanted to live in a white loft. I didn't care, because I loved it."

That may have worked for Flesher, who doesn't have kids, but can those of us who aren't quite ready for something as intense as an all-white loft still make a statement? Of course, says Flesher, whose credits include a spot on House Beautiful's "25 Top Young Designers" list in 2003. Here, his advice on how to jazz things up:

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  • Have a concept
    "What really makes a statement is when you have a strong concept from the very beginning about the direction you want to go," says Flesher. Too often, people will buy a sofa they love and then try to make their old armchair work with it, and then toss in Aunt Jessie's antique corner cupboard. Instead, Flesher advises, define a concept up front that you carry through all the way to the end of the design process. In his loft, for example, the dramatic architecture (high ceilings, a 50-foot long living room, walls of windows) cried out "art gallery" to Flesher. "My concept was to make a gallery and fill the space with objects, from furniture to countertops, that would act as art." Your concept can be simple. When he designed a bedroom for his then 8-year-old niece, Molly, her concept was straightforward: Pink.
  • Use materials in unexpected ways
    In Molly's bedroom, "I really wanted something unique and different," Flesher says. "I wanted to make a statement with color and material." So he took her favorite color, pink, and painted it in bright horizontal stripes along one wall, with intense tangerine orange stripes in between. He covered another wall with quilted green Astro-turf and silk daisies. "I used materials, like the Astro-turf, that were relatively inexpensive to create a big impact." Similarly, you could turn an old ceramic flowerpot upside down and use it as a drink table, or have a stand made for an antique tray to turn it in to a whimsical side table. "Use things that other people might not use, and use them in ways that are not expected."
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