Livable Luxury
Interior designers Lindsey Longacre and Kate Tomalis became close friends while working at Restoration Hardware. They discovered they shared a similar aesthetic, and as their friendship grew, so did the requests for help from customers that went beyond the scope of the store.
“Clients continued to ask us to work on projects beyond picking furniture,” says Longacre. “Eventually, we started to work on the weekends, and we quickly realized that this is what we should be doing.”
The women decided to join forces and named their new firm Laken Design — Laken being a combination of their maiden names. That was almost six years ago, and since then, the Wexford-based company has grown substantially. Not surprisingly, they have found a niche with young families, in particular. Longacre and Tomalis both have active households and understand the importance of balancing elevated yet effective design.
A lower level lounge has a bar area with cabinetry by Schlabach Wood Designs. The lighting is Visual Comfort and the stools are by Jamie Young.
“We aim for our projects to always be beautiful, but we also understand they have to be practical and livable. There are a lot of aspects involved in each project, but we always make sure the design fits with the client’s lifestyle,” says Longacre.
Both women have degrees in design — Longacre from LaRoche University and Tomalis from the Academy of Art University. She is also an attorney but “I highly disliked practicing law and decided my true passion was design.” Longacre also lived in New York, where she worked in furniture, landscape and residential design before moving to Australia and designing exhibits for a science museum.
Having similar taste has made it easy to develop a signature look of casual luxury.
“We tend to work with neutral and muted tones mixed with organic accents and found items to layer in a lot of texture,” says Tomalis.
“We like to use luxury materials but in a livable way, not fussy. Quiet luxury is very popular right now in fashion and design, but that’s always been our aesthetic: well-designed and well-thought through.”
That approach is apparent in a 20-year-old home they designed in New Wilmington, Lawrence County, for one of Longacre’s childhood friends. It was one of their first professional projects and they have continued to work for the clients, doing partial remodels as they have gone through the house bit by bit.
“When the clients bought the house, it was just at the cusp of needing an update,” says Tomalis. “Our clients have a minimal, airy aesthetic. They are a younger couple, with four children, and they wanted all of the spaces to be inviting, livable and open.”
Their biggest challenge was working through the time gap between having the plans approved and waiting for everything to arrive. That was compounded in some cases by Covid as manufacturing shut down. It meant the family had to live in an incomplete house for a period of time.
“The clients were ready to get their family settled and have it feel welcoming and homey,” says Longacre. “We learned through that to prepare our clients. We were so green! We have learned to say, ‘It takes time; you can’t expect to have everything there right away.’”
Tomalis and Longacre like to incorporate design elements that take the clients outside of their comfort zone — the lighting in the master bedroom, for example, is an oversized, beaded fixture in keeping with their affinity for statement lighting. The newly remodeled master bath features a marble bench that runs the length of the room and through the steam shower, serving as both shelf and seating. The handmade Zellige tile is laid in a herringbone pattern, adding an artisanal layer to the space.
“As we continue to work through new projects in this house, each space is like a new baby that you love and nurture,” says Tomalis. Which is good, because the clients have no intention of letting them go.
“My husband and I couldn’t be any happier with the renovation and styling of the home,” says the wife. “We haven’t changed anything. They have a way of creating something homey, but also elevated and classic and beautiful. My hope is that when people come, they won’t want to leave. It’s warm and inviting and welcoming.
“And they’ve been an absolute pleasure to work with. They’re so talented. They’ve really become family. They know me so well, when I need something, I just leave it up to them.”
Marylynn Uricchio is the former film critic and SEEN/society editor for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. She now writes fiction in addition to articles about architecture and design.
