Joni Spear— Interior Designer

“For design inspiration, I love to shop architectural salvage yards, antique shops, auctions both — online and at auction houses. I love to find that one gem, be it a light fixture, a piece of marble, even unusual art and then the journey begins. I design the entire space around that object for impact and inspiration.”

It is often said that we must look to the past to set a better course for the future, and no one embodies this more throughout her work than Joni Spear of the St. Louis, Missouri based — and eponymously named — design house, Joni Spear Interior Design. Joni’s approach includes thoughtfully designed interiors that are stylish, yet never trendy because she balances the aesthetic with pieces and antiques from the past. These special finds are curated from salvage yards or auctions and are often the focal point of the room from which the space’s design simply falls into place.

“I’m extremely proud of all of my projects, but when it came to my own home, I was my own client. As an example, when designing my dining space, I found an eight-foot-long China cabinet at a salvage yard — it was 100 years old and was taken out of a butler’s pantry. My husband thought I was insane, it was so rickety, but I instinctively knew it would work — and it was seamless.”

“Sometimes I simply have this gut instinct when I walk into a room, but typically I sit with the floorplans and when I go to sleep, I often dream about the space. My clients joke that I never sleep because I email them at 3am in the morning!”

Joni’s full-scale interior design services include e-commerce, online services, home decor, kitchen and bathroom design for new construction as well as renovation projects. With more than 20 years of experience, Joni offers her busy clients the confidence and empowerment to let their spaces be an extension of their personalities and the places and spaces they want to be, while respecting the realistic aspects of their lives, such as budget and time.

— Excerpt from modish: the book of great design

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