Traveling southbound on Interstate 71, parallel with the city of Cincinnati, drivers enter the Lytle Tunnel to travel underneath Lytle Park. The Procter & Gamble complex is off to the right and the hills of Mt. Adams are off to the left. And in between, appearing to balance on top of the tunnel, sits the condo of Jennifer Day.
It seems fitting her home is nestled between the hustle and bustle of downtown and the relaxing atmosphere of Mt. Adams, because the condo itself has become a middle ground between Day’s fast-paced life in California and her quiet upbringing on a farm in rural Ohio.
The palatial penthouse unit has three bedrooms, an open floor plan and million-dollar views. Yet, there is a sense of warmth, familiarity and coziness that Day attributes to the collections found throughout her home.
The interior designer who worked on this home design was none other than the homeowner herself, and she was gracious enough to share some tips and give the scoop on how she created a space so perfect for herself.
First, surround yourself with things you love. For Day, these are collections of bottles and buttons, family photos, trinket boxes and her father’s trumpet.
Day suggests putting knickknacks in bottles for display instead of leaving them empty. She has her grandmother’s buttons, her dad’s marbles and shells from her brother’s wedding carefully nestled inside her bottle collection.
Normally the dining room table is kept bare (it was set for company the day we visited) because it is positioned next to the lounge where the room is full of furniture and the shelves are full of collections.
“This design style gives the eye a break when it needs a break, but it also provides comfort when you need comfort,” Day explains. “My bookshelves tend to be full, so I usually keep the space around my bookshelves pretty minimal.”
Always remember to keep things functional. This principle came into play while Day was redesigning the fireplace in her living room. She wanted the fireplace to be vertical to bring drama and height to the space, but she also wanted to create a sitting area beside the fireplace. The seat needed to be just the right height so people could enjoy the view yet allow space underneath the seat for storage.
“I mocked everything out in cardboard to make sure it was perfect before it was built,” Day says.
Whether you enjoy pottery or art, Day recommends saving money to splurge on the real thing.
“When I was in my twenties, I told myself I wasn’t going to have anything on my walls until I could afford the real thing,” she explains. “My walls were bare for a long time. When I was thirty, I finally bought my first piece.”
The first big art purchase was Venus. “I was sitting at a red light outside Malton Art Gallery, and I saw her through the window,” she explains. “I knew I had to have her.”
Despite the tips on how she designed her own space, Day reminds us of the Golden Rule of design—there really isn’t one right way to design.
“I think there’s this misconception that interior designers spent time in school arranging shelves and hanging artwork on walls, but we didn’t do that,” she explains of her degree. “In school we learned things like the physics of heat, light and color and science behind design. When it comes to decorating, I just do what feels right.”