'Have bag of tricks - will help decorate and organize'
Chesterton Tribune
Thursday, May 25, 2006
By Alexandra Newman

Some people have a knack of picking just the right item, placing it in just the right spot, and making a room look like those featured in decorating magazines. Others need help.

Enter Laura Pannekoek, a tall, fashionable, decorator/organizer, carrying her red bag, "full of tricks."

"I recently traveled to Chicago to help a woman decorate and organize her graystone. It took six hours, and I couldn't have done it in that amount of time without my bag," Laura told this Chesterton Tribune reporter as they chatted in her living room, a model of her talent putting just the right items together with a touch of class.

More realistic than Mary Poppins' bag of tricks, Laura's red bag includes a screwdriver, picture hooks, super glue, furniture touch up marker, upholstery tacks, tape measure, and other tools that help in redesigning.

"I had to have the tools ready, because I wasn't about to make two trips (to Chicago)," she said. The woman had a lot of colorful Mexican clothes and souvenirs, which ended up determining the theme used in decorating.

"I normally give one half hour free consultation," she said. Fortunately, her "bag of tricks" allowed her to get the entire job done in one day.

Her own house is a prime example of how she puts together old and new, formal and informal items making rooms unique and cozy.

Her Chesterton living room features a large gold-framed mirror over the sofa. However, the mirror is set vertically, not horizontally.

"This way the mirror enhances the tall chest of drawers and the entertainment center," she pointed out. The mahogany chest of drawers used to be in her bedroom as did the end tables. Set between two windows, the drawers provide storage for lots of small items. The end tables are topped with family pictures in various kinds of frames. A large footstool doubles as a table, when she places a dish of fruit and glasses of sparkling water on a tray on top of it. She keeps sheet music in a "repurposed" piece of furniture.

Repurposed furniture is a coined phrase she uses with ease in her own home.

Instead of a china cabinet in her dining room, she has a massive entertainment center that looks stylish at all times. "This takes less work and you don't have to worry that it looks empty when the dishes are being used," she said.

Her garage also is unique. Two walls are painted in a mural depicting a garden and entrance into the house. A real clock is placed inside the painted replica of Marshall Field's famous State and Randolph Street time.

"It makes me smile when I enter the garage," she said.

Pannekoek, a graduate of Albion College in Michigan, worked for eight years in the furniture department of Marshall Field's flagship store on State Street. More recently, she has been assisting, on a part-time basis, Chicago designer Marguerite Judge and local artistic designer Joanne Mullin.

Basil Cross was one of the many prominent designers with whom she worked at Marshall Fields in the 1980s. Cross was a consultant for the renovation of the 1885 Brown Mansion on Porter Ave., now the Westchester Twp. History Museum.

"Many clients have a vision for their space. I usually suggest they show me pictures of rooms they love. The more pictures I see, the better I will understand how they want the room to feel. If a client does not have any pictures to show me, I suggest they check out Thomas Library. There is a large selection of current magazines in its reading room and non-current magazines to check out - from Architectural Digest, House Beautiful to Southern Living. There are hundreds of books on design and decorating in the library in the nonfiction section, about styles of homes and furniture (728 - 729) and about color, design and decorating (747 to 749).

"Preparing a client's home in such a way that it will attract and please prospective buyers. Sellers have a difficult job in conveying to prospective buyers the true potential of their house. Only five percent of people can actually visualize a space and determine its true potential. Staging will visually highlight the positive features of the house and make it appeal to the widest range of buyers.

"When you want to sell your car, you get it detailed. You need to do the same for your home (staging). She advises those who have a difficult time getting rid of items to take pictures of the things you love and keep them in an album. It takes far less room.

"Sometimes all a client needs is the confidence and a green light to go ahead with their ideas or projects. Sometimes all a client needs is help with placing art work, accessorizing or improved lighting," she said.

Pannekoek also offers redesigning a creative look for a shop with an interior vignette or window display.

She will also work with clients to make a house ready for the holiday season, a party or open house. "I will style tables, seating, bookshelves and arrange candles and flowers," she said.

She also helps clients organize their homes and offices.

"Therapists often advise clients to clean up their homes. Clients reply, 'How can I organize when I don't have time?' I can give you the time!" she said.

Contact Pannekoek at Interior Design and Organization, 476-5888.