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Amy and Sean Whalen have lived on Saint Francis Court in Red Tail for five years. Although their house is only about 2,500 square feet, it has six bedrooms and five full bathrooms, which is exactly what they were looking for. They have four kids but wanted to move to a house that had only one connected living space but several bedrooms and bathrooms for their young adult children. 

The Whalens redid the whole first floor just as they envisioned it. They replaced all the flooring with real, hardwood hickory in a natural finish. When they moved in, all the walls were painted white, and the trim was cream. They really liked the clean look of the white walls but painted the trim to match. They added all new decor and furniture to the front and back rooms, and Amy handmade the pallet wood and feather art on the front feature wall. The biggest change was their custom kitchen. Their original kitchen had cheap, builder-grade cabinets and a small island. They incorporated a massive island, floor-to-ceiling custom cabinetry down the whole wall, and accented the kitchen with cabinet towers flanking feature artwork.

The Whalens used their very own companies to design their main floor: Tafel Home and Custom Amish Cabinets, which will have a new showroom opening soon in Avon. Amy assisted in the design, style and functionality. In her travels to Amish country, she decided to open a custom furniture company called Tafel Home (“Tafel” means “table” in Dutch, their native language). She has several Amish furniture makers and assists clients in choosing and designing pieces to fit their space. She also sometimes assists them with the interior design of their space.  Several of her custom furniture pieces are featured in these photos. 

What inspires the Whalens?

They always tell their kitchen clients to bring a photo of a kitchen that they absolutely love. They start there and design a kitchen around that.  For their own kitchen,  they were inspired by a photo of cabinet towers very similar to the ones they have now. Just as they do for their clients, they designed the space around those. 

The main floor was a process but completed within about six months. After the floors and kitchen were installed, it was just a matter of sourcing items little by little when they were inspired. Understandably, their kitchen is their favorite room in the house! It’s so warm, bright and inviting. It opens to their main room, so they feel that their whole family can be in various spaces but still connected in conversation. They love the way it turned out and wouldn’t change a thing. 

As far as their favorite decorating store, of course, they use Tafel Home for their custom furniture. However, they really feel that people can find amazing decor at HomeGood and HomeSense.

Advice or Sprucing Up One’s Home

Find inspirational photos and go from there. Stop by HomeGoods and Homesense about once a week, and when you see something, get it. Amy likes leaving some spaces and walls open for future inspiration. She believes that  If you do everything at once, you will eventually want to change things up. If you are patient and wait for that perfect piece of decor, it’s fun and fresh to add to your existing project. Keep most large items neutral and add color to your soft, finishing touches.