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Family Style
Ivy inherited the art above the sofa from her mother. “Growing up, I lived in a says. Her husband designed the built-in bar.
8- x 8-foot room to what we have now is a ginormous
Meet the Schusters:
Designers at Home and at Heart
Josef Schuster (above with wife Ivy and daughters Julia and Milly) and his dad, Mike, are the designers/renovators behind longtime local business Kitchen Potential. “He’s a craftsman,” Josef says of his father who learned construction growing up. “He doesn’t cut corners and is inspired to do things the right way.” Josef grew up helping in the backyard cabinet shop and later worked summers and school breaks with his dad. “I stayed the course after graduating and worked my way up to do framing, trim work, and installations,” he says. “Then I moved into the shop and, most recently, to the position of design and sales. Because I enjoy cooking and being in a kitchen, I have a good grasp of what’s functional.”
Ivy Schuster’s background is in commercial design, but recently she has started doing more residential work. In 2006, Ivy joined Rebecca Hatcher, one of Birmingham’s first commercial designers, in the firm that Rebecca founded in 1979. In 2015, Rebecca o ered Ivy the opportunity to buy the business, and Hatcher Schuster Interiors was born. “Rebecca continues to be a great mentor and friend,” Ivy says. “I am grateful to her for trusting me with the business she created.”
—Ivy Schuster
—Ivy Schuster
ivy Schuster comes by her interior design talents naturally. “Growing up watching my mother and grandmother pursue their artistic endeavors certainly inspired me to pursue mine,” she says. Her husband, millwork pieces designed to look like high-end furniture, were speci cally made by Josef.” e Schusters’ home is a cottage in the Hollywood enclave of Homewood. When the couple rst married,
Josef, also bene tted from growing up with his craftsman they felt comfortable in the small home of 1,900 square father who started a home-remodeling business 47 years feet. But once their rst child was on the way, they began a ago. Today, father and son work together creating custom renovation to enlarge the tiny 8- x 8-foot kitchen. “ en it cabinetry and designing renovations in the family business developed further to add a master suite on the ground oor called Kitchen Potential. “My husband is incredibly talented,” and playroom on the second oor,” Ivy says. “Eventually, one
Ivy says. “A lot of the features that set our house apart, such as decision led to another, as most renovations do, and now
almost no room has gone untouched.” e three-bedroom, three-and-a-half bath home includes a large, open kitchen, as well as formal living and dining rooms and a master suite on the main oor. “ e kitchen is the room Josef and I felt the most passionate about,” Ivy says. “He is the cook in our family, and he studied every aspect of the space to get the layout just right.” Cabinets and appliance panels are a beaded inset Shaker style painted slightly darker than the walls. “ is look is one of our specialties,” Josef says. “ e bead and the frame are one piece.” Countertops and backsplashes consist of a honed quartzite that looks like marble. “For the ceiling where the new and old roo ines come together, Josef had the idea of covering it with 6-inch, tongue-and-groove, white oak planks,” says Ivy. A contemporary drum light xture adds the perfect, simple silhouette that complements the more complex ceiling transition. anks to architect Michael O’Kelley, the addition melds seamlessly with the original structure. “I think the best renovations make it di cult to tell where the new structure begins, so we thought carefully about how to achieve that,” Ivy says. ”I love that we were able to maintain the historic feel of our home while modernizing it to be more livable for our family’s lifestyle.” e added square footage gave the Schusters room to grow, but, Ivy says, she and Josef were diligent about how they out tted both the new and the old. “I wanted to do this right and know that we had thought through everything in great detail,” she says. “We also wanted to avoid any trends so that our home would stand the test of time.”
To that end, the couple chose neutral nishes—plaster
walls with a venetian-like texture, wood oors in a warm custom stain, and accents of stained white oak for warmth. “All of these elements can go with anything, allowing the space to evolve over time as each room takes on its own personality through the furniture and art.”
Atop that neutral canvas, Ivy created a masterpiece for her young family. “I think interiors are essentially a work of art that you get to live in,” she says. “ e best ones are not only beautiful but also extremely well-planned and functional.” e home’s furnishings re ect both Ivy and Josef’s personalities and in uences. “We’ve incorporated pieces that hold great memories from our travels and from our families,” Ivy says. “I think mixing our more modern design aesthetic with these items that remind us of people and places we love makes the interiors one of a kind.”
bathroom has swan wallpaper from personality with dark green tile a shield-shaped mirror—bathe the
RESOURCES: Builder: Kitchen Potential • kitchenpotentialcom 205.870.8467 Interior Designer: Hatcher Schuster Interiors hsinteriordesign.com • 205.324.3442 Architect: O’Kelley Architecture okelleyarchitecture.com • 205.637.1124 Landscaping: Brown Pratt Landscapes Inc. • 205.965.0391 Millwork: Kitchen Potential Plumbing Fixtures: Fixtures & Finishes • fixturesandfinishes.com 205.323.5616
in white oak separates the master bedroom from the ensuite bath. nightstand save tabletop real estate on either side of the upholstered, button-tufted headboard.
