Evie & the Lettuce Box Kitty Dream House

Mike Hetu

published Mar 20, 2015

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Name: Evie Stormzand
Location: Heritage Hill; Grand Rapids, Michigan
Size: Unknown; the front half of a house
Years lived in: 2 years; Rented

I met Evie when she was a senior in high school. She won several art scholarships and decided to attend the art school for which I recruit. Evie always had a hard-to-describe, artistic way about her. It must’ve been the cool hair, beautiful illustrations and perfect handwriting. (General art school rule of thumb: person with awesome handwriting = really talented artist.)

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(Image credit: Mike Hetu)

Evie’s home has that same hard-to-describe, artistic style. She shares the apartment with three roommates and two cats. Christmas light strands with clothespins become displays for Polaroid photos and artwork. Tiny baby figurines are carefully lined on shelves and picture frames. Evie transformed the storage space under the stairs into a reading nook. (Harry Potter would approve.) She also “built” a bedroom for her cat Annabelle and lined it with cat-sized trinkets.

It’s been five years since we met. Now Evie is a college graduate and she works in Downtown Grand Rapids as an illustrator/designer. Evie’s personal work hints at graphic design (with good layouts, stylized graphics and well-placed typography) and showcases her hand-drawing skills. Evie documents her everyday life through illustrations, which she posts daily on her Tumblr. Be sure to look at her website and Instagram for even more artwork.

(Image credit: Mike Hetu)

Apartment Therapy Survey:

My Style: Playful and functional

Inspiration: Personal artifacts, treasures, and trinkets that help me tell my story and line my walls to keep me in touch with myself.

Favorite Element: My desk/work area

Biggest Challenge: I am easily distracted and overwhelmed by clutter, so it was a challenge to become more practical and organized in my environment. I work in several different mediums regularly and I have many different hobbies, so I found it was easiest to make designated spaces for everything that I own.

What Friends Say: “I will never run out of things to look at in your house.”

Biggest Embarrassment: I’m a neat freak and that probably drives my roommates crazy at times.

Proudest DIY: Annabelle’s ‘Lettuce Box Kitty Dream House’ Bedroom

Biggest Indulgence: I spend a lot of time redecorating and redesigning my room. As a kid, I had two bedrooms and I feel bored and static if things remain the same for too long.

Best Advice: Surround yourself with the things that you really, really like so that you can create things that you really, really like.

(Image credit: Mike Hetu)

Resources of Note:

I have one shelf in my bedroom that I bought at IKEA. Everything else was thrifted, garbage-picked or gifted.

(Image credit: Mike Hetu)

Thanks, Evie!

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