Pro Spotlight: Make Your Mountain Home Feel Like Magic Every Day

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Who: Talie Jane of Talie Jane Interiors
Where: Lake Tahoe, Nevada
In her own words: “I love getting to know and understand our clients so that I can personalize their homes for them.”

Your family home in the mountains can feel just as luxurious as a vacation stay. Plus, when designed with you and your family in mind, your everyday spaces will feel special — and suited specifically to you. Talie Jane, the owner and principal designer of Talie Jane Interiors, knows how to create a home that celebrates life in Lake Tahoe, particularly because she’s a resident herself. “Lake Tahoe is a tight-knit community with a small-town feel,” she says. “I love the connectivity between where I work and where I live.”

Talie Jane Interiors

Transparent communication is key. For Talie Jane, who developed her business acumen in advertising (as an account executive working for brands like Proctor and Gamble, Loreal, Corona, Hyatt and Heinz) before falling in love with transformative home design, an open and honest dialogue is essential to client-designer success. “We pass along 100% of trade discounts to our clients, anything we’re procuring, from rugs to artwork to tile to countertop materials,” she says. “We share each receipt, which breaks down that difference between the retail and trade cost.” She also insists on frequent touch points with her clients throughout the project, not just at certain milestones.

Talie Jane Interiors

Finding inspiration in every corner. Talie Jane considers the initial discovery session — a deep dive into scope, timeline, goals, tastes, preferences and lifestyle — the key that unlocks the entire project. From there, she asks for visual inspiration to ensure that everyone is speaking the same language. “Importantly, we ask them to show us what they like but also what they don’t like to steer us in the right direction,” she says.

Design inspiration may also come from pieces the client already has. “We finished a project where the client wanted to incorporate antique rocking chairs she had inherited,” Talie Jane says. “Or sometimes we’ll pull the color palettes from existing, sentimental pieces of art.”

Ready to revamp your mountain home? Talie Jane shares some tips below.

Talie Jane Interiors

1. Get Personal to Make Your Home Deeply Special

When designing dramatic upgrades for Tahoe residents, Talie Jane finds a way to make every aspect special: “A mountain modern feel with wow factor in every room,” she says. To find your wow factor, collaborate closely with your designer to consider the touches of family history or shared passions you could include.

The complete interior and exterior renovation of this home in Washoe Valley was influenced by the fact that the homeowner’s family owns a steel company. “One of the recurring themes throughout the design is the use of metal because it was meaningful to the clients,” Talie Jane says. “Steel and metal are featured in the fireplaces, throughout the bar area, the outdoor beamwork, as trim on the bay windows and much more.” The home exemplifies how successful design isn’t one-size-fits-all but rather defined by elements that are meaningful to you.

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Talie Jane Interiors

2. Choose Cabinetry That Accommodates Your Lifestyle

Even if you’ve been inspired by a certain design and are looking to replicate a specific style, your cabinetry choices will give your home a customized flow. “We design all of our cabinetry in-house,” Talie Jane says. “We start with a laundry list of questions, like how much you like to cook or bake, where you want to turn to find your microwave, how much storage you need, where you like to eat breakfast and so many more, to make it personal.”

For this South Point Place kitchen remodel, the homeowner knew she wanted a modern farmhouse aesthetic and palette. Talie Jane tailored that broad concept to her client’s specific tastes and together they opted for cabinets with white painted doors, a large farmhouse sink facing the bright yard, a dishwasher that blends smoothly into the cabinetry, a kitchen island with shelving rather than seating and plenty of storage along the wall behind the dining area.

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Talie Jane Interiors

3. Add Character to Create a Timeless Design

In the 1970s and ’80s, Lake Tahoe home designs leaned heavily on the orange-stained-wood aesthetic. Now that Talie Jane is part of the area’s remodeling history, she wants to make sure that every home looks unique, even as styles change and become popular. “Right now the mountain modern look is prevalent in Tahoe,” she says. “But there’s a broad range along the spectrum, from rustic to modern.”

This Tahoe home boasts a showstopping transformation that relied on several unique design ideas to make it sing. For the bar area, the orange-hued wood was replaced by a green onyx countertop with a custom LED light panel underneath for added glow. For a more rustic touch, reclaimed beams from nearby barns were brought in and used throughout the home. Their divots and character add charm the family can enjoy for years to come.

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More: For more information on Talie Jane and examples of her work, visit Talie Jane Interiors’ Houzz profile.

This story was written by the Houzz Sponsored Content team.