DIY Design: Local couple lets their creative side show

When house hunting, most eager buyers go gaga for closet size, beautiful views or kitchen cabinets. But for Bev Weidner and her husband, Aaron, it was all about the laundry chute.
 
“It kinda sold us on this house,” she grins. “We just found it to be a little charming convenience that added flavor to the house.”
 
Laundry chute aside, their quaint three-bedroom Prairie Village ranch bursts with flavor and subtle quirky charm. “We’re total garage sale, flea market, thrift store junkies!” she enthused, pointing out the numerous colored jars, secondhand vases and vintage mirrors sprinkled throughout their home. “I call our place ‘Garage Sale Chic.’” 
 
These former indie rock bandmates have accumulated many fun, stylish finds. Their home is a mixture of groovy vintage and modern functionality with a twist. Just check out the master bathroom’s small details: galvanized steel pipes hold toilet paper rolls, and Aaron’s childhood plaster tooth molds are repurposed into a wacky-cool toothbrush holder.
 
“I don’t go somewhere to find something that matches,” Bev says. “I look for things that are visually stimulating and fun.” This is evident in the open living room, which features a long L-shaped sienna-colored couch dotted with aqua throw pillows, accented by a beloved mossy-green velour chair. Much of Aaron’s colorful collage artwork decorates the pale celery walls, and many simple, shapely white or colored glass vases hold fresh-from-the-garden flowers and branches. 
 
Bev and Aaron share similar tastes in home décor — lots of pale or white with pops of color (burnt orange is a favorite), clean lines and plenty of natural elements, like plants, flowers and light. Their decorating philosophy is simple: less is more. “Don’t overthink it,” Bev says. “Things shouldn’t be cluttered. Think about balance and how colors flow together, but be creative and have fun with it.”
 
This creative couple isn’t afraid to tackle a project … or to scavenge, for that matter. A square retro ceiling fixture in the kitchen is a roadside find, along with a giant tin “B” that adorns a basement wall. Using DIY magazine ReadyMade as inspiration, Aaron, an associate creative director at Gatorade, lets his artistic side shine. He’s built a low-slung living room plant stand, a sleek, wooden bed frame, various lighting fixtures and a pair of funky wooden stools. 
 
“I told him I wanted a ‘grain shelf’ to display all my jars of pastas, lentils and grains,” Bev, a full-time food blogger for bevcooks.com, recalls. “So he comes up from the basement with this old stainless steel air duct that was rounded on one side and turns it into a small shelf. It was unbelievable how it fit in the corner  it was just perfect!” 
 
Sounds like the laundry chute isn’t the only charming feature anymore.