CREATE A COHESIVE NEST

CREATING A COHESIVE NEST

WITH CASSIE BUSTAMANTE

DESIGNER tip

Before you begin tearing out walls, give yourself time to discover the little things that make your home special, like the way the afternoon light dances through your living room.

DESIGNER Cassie Bustamante

LOCATION Greensboro, NC INSTAGRAM @cassie_bustamante WEBSITE cassiebustamante.com

Moving into a new home is exciting, exhilarating, and fun. But let’s be honest, decorating it can also feel overwhelming. We reached out to designer Cassie Bustamante to get her advice on creating a cohesive home.

Bustamante lives in a 1966 ranch-style home in Greensboro, North Carolina, along with her husband, three children, and two dogs. Her journey to becoming a popular interior design Instagrammer began out of necessity. “When we moved from Louisiana to Maryland, the cost of housing was signifi cantly higher, so all of our money went to the purchase of a home. We had to be thrifty and thoughtful with how we decorated, so I started going to secondhand stores and redoing furniture myself,” explains Bustamante. As her vintage furniture collection grew, and her restoration skills blossomed, she saw the opportunity to open a vintage shop in Frederick, Maryland. In tandem, she launched a home improvement blog and Instagram account.

Nowadays, thousands follow along on her Instagram feed and blog as she documents the design process of her home, aiming to inspire and empower others to create homes they love. Read on for her tips to create a cohesive home that’s uniquely you… LET THE HOME SPEAK TO YOU

While it can be tempting to immediately begin tearing down walls and adding fresh paint, Bustamante advises taking time to let your design direction develop organically: “I believe that each house has a soul of its own. You need to live there for a moment and let it speak to you.” The style, history, and architectural features of a home can and should inform the design choices. After all, if you were drawn to the overall style of the home, chances are that you are drawn to that style of decor as well. Go with it!

Give yourself at least a month to evaluate how your family will utilize the space. Will an open concept fl oor plan serve you in the long term? Or does having dedicated spaces make more sense? In these bizarre COVID-19 times, Bustamante says she’s grateful that they don’t have an open fl oor plan. “With our entire family home all day, it’s nice that we can each fi nd a quiet place to work or play. It would be so loud if we were in one large, shared space.” She initially debated tearing down a wall between her kitchen and living room, but decided to keep the wall since it off ered valuable pantry space.

Shop this print on page 18!

FIND YOUR UNIQUE STYLE

“Your house should be an expression of who you are and what makes you happy—what speaks to you,” says Bustamante. Whether you fi nd inspiration through Instagram, magazines (like this one!), or Pinterest, start looking for your patterns. Are there certain colors that keep making an appearance? Are you drawn to bold punches, or subdued textures? Give yourself permission to hone in on that. Bustamante suggests asking yourself what you want to get out of the room.

“As a Leo, which is a fi re sign, I need calming hues that counterbalance my energy. If I had a red room, it would just agitate me,” she laughs. Instead, she’s carefully chosen varying tones of green, paired with white, black, natural elements, and touches of soft pink. Then to really amp up the fun, she uses bold graphic punches like the hand-painted black and white rainbow mural in her hallway, and the Twinkle Star stencil from Stencil Revolution in her entryway.

“As you’re designing your home, allow yourself to evolve, learn, and make mistakes along the way. Look at it as a stepping stone to fi nding your unique style.” Find elements that fi t your aesthetic and bring you happiness. The cheeky “If you’re waiting for a sign” poster by Etsy artist BT Design Co, and the “Dang you look good” mat in the kitchen by Etsy shop DeclarationHome, do both for Bustamante.

DESIGNER tip

For open shelving, if you place your daily-use items like plates, salad bowls, and drinking glasses, you don’t need to worry about them gathering dust.

CONSIDER THE VIEW

You don’t necessarily have to restrain yourself to a strict color palette throughout your entire home, but you should be cognizant of sight lines between adjacent rooms. “Make sure that the rooms are in a happy relationship,” quips

Bustamante, “consider the view.”

For Bustamante, when someone enters through the front door, they have a clear sight line directly into the kitchen and the kitchen sink. “The individualist in me wanted a statement-making sink that I had never seen before,” shares Bustamante. She collaborated with local Greensboro company, Thompson Traders, for the jaw-dropping brass farmhouse sink. White shaker cabinets and matte black hardware set the stage for the refrigerator, range, and dishwasher by Café Appliances. For the countertop and backsplash, Bustamante wanted a seamless look, but common materials like quartz countertops proved to be far too expensive. Instead, she opted for a custom terrazzo piece from Concord, NC, company Terrazzco. The colors in the terrazzo and the decorative objects on the open shelving off er a visual connection to the adjacent rooms—the entry, dining area, and living room.

Consider the connections between rooms in your home. An orange-drenched bohemian room with wicker may be a bit jarring next to a Victorian-inspired parlour dripping in lace. Or who knows, it might be amazing! Do what makes your design heart happy. Simply ask yourself if you like how the rooms speak to one another. If you do, then go for it!

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