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Roel Vestjens and Cheryl Vallely met each other at a trivia night and are set to marry this August. He previously owned a home in Frontenac, and she had a house in Webster Groves. When they were ready to blend their households in 2021, they wanted a fresh start — a home that was theirs together that reflected their lifestyle, tastes and personalities.

“We didn’t have young children anymore, so being close to schools wasn’t an issue. We really wanted to be able to travel and go where we wanted without having to worry,” says Vallely.

A real estate broker, Vallely had a listing that felt like a good fit — a two-story, 4,100-square-foot condo on the top two floors of a 22-year-old building on a quiet, tree-lined street within walking distance to all of the great restaurants and amenities of Downtown Clayton. She showed it to Vestjens, and he agreed that it offered just what they needed. A Dutch immigrant from Amsterdam, he craved the walkability and simpler lifestyle that echoed his roots.

“I loved it immediately,” he says. “I was done with a house. I work a lot and travel a ton so I didn’t want all the chores and work anymore. Also, I am European and that’s what we do — we walk — and if it’s too far to walk, we get on our bicycles.”

While the size and layout of the condo was ideal, décor-wise, it hadn’t been touched in the decades the previous owners lived there and was in need of a full refresh. Prior to her career in real estate, Vallely worked in interior design and had collaborated with Erik Kolacz, a premiere interior designer who now has his own firm, Contrast Design Group, in Chicago.

“I knew his quality of work. He is extremely talented,” she says.

Vallely and Vestjens discussed with Kolacz their needs and wants, some general parameters and their overall vision for the condo. Vallely really wanted a space that had an Amsterdam feel for her fiancée — one that embraced simplicity.

“We have a word for it in Dutch, ‘Gezellig.’ The closest translation in English is ‘cozy,’ That’s the feeling. That’s what I like — an easy feel, so when you come home, there is peace,” Vestjens says.

Fortunately, Kolacz had spent quite a bit of time in Amsterdam and was familiar with the Dutch design philosophy.

“One of the fundamental principles that I picked up from it is utility — there’s a simplicity in the utility of things. They don’t have to be over embellished; they don’t have to be over-tooled. There’s a respect to natural elements,” Kolacz says.

After much discussion, the couple went to Chicago and Kolacz presented them with the general concept and feel for his design. He also gave them two options for its execution: they could hire him to do everything without their involvement in the day-to-day and he’d present then with a big reveal at the end, or they could be there every step of the way. They decided go with the first option and let Kolacz handle it all.

“If you’re going to hire a designer, you either trust them or you don’t, and I had complete and total trust in him,” says Vallely. “There are very few times in life that you get something so surprising. I felt it was going to be a once-in-a-lifetime thing. It was a leap of faith, but it turned out perfectly.”

For Vestjens, turning over full control to a professional provided peace of mind.

“I run a company. When I get home, I don’t want to make any more decisions,” he says.

Vestjens and Vallely left Kolacz to work his magic in the condo unfettered for an entire year, not seeing the results until its completion a year later in June 2022.

“They opened the door, and we had champagne and they just walked us around and said, ‘This is your house!’ We couldn’t have done it better,” Vallely says.

The remodeled condo is a soothing blend of modern materials and textures in a calming color palette punctuated by the couple’s prized collection of art (much of it by St. Louis artists) and framed, signed concert posters from the many concerts they have attended together.

“She’s very proud of their art collection, so wanting to be able to highlight those things that obviously were important to them individually and collectively as a couple was really important,” says Kolacz. “The space really became a harmony of the two of them, that represented both of their personalities and the phase in their life that they were entering.”

With music being such a dominating force in their lives and their time as a couple, Kolacz designed a room for its enjoyment in the center of the main floor, between the living room and dining room. The cozy space includes a fireplace, large glass French doors and windows that fill the room with light and stylishly comfortable seating. Vestjens’ high-quality stereo equipment lines one wall for optimal listening, framed by their beloved concert posters. Guitars hang on the opposite wall, inviting a jam session on a moment’s notice.

“This room is heavily used. We have music nights. My son is a musician, so we’ll bring his keyboard down. My daughter plays ukelele and Roel plays guitar,” Vallely says.

In the adjoining formal dining room, a painting by St. Louis artist Ted Collier features an abstract image of a vinyl album in glossy black.

“Part of my design is just really tying things together and creating this unspoken rhythm. I think a well-designed space needs to have elements that repeat themselves throughout the whole experience. From room to room, you’ll notice there are certain textures that repeat themselves or certain colors,” Kolacz says.

Kolacz installed French oak flooring throughout the entire condo, making it feel larger and more cohesive. The white quartz with gray veining that graces the new kitchen countertops is repeated on a ledge in the dining room, in the second-floor primary suite’s sitting area wet bar, and on the living room fireplace surround.

Vallely’s daughter, Olivia, 17, and son, Connor, 20 each have their own bedroom in the condo. Vestjens’ two college-aged children visit for breaks, and a Murphy bed in a “flex room” off the kitchen provides easy on-the-fly accommodations.

With the remodel complete, Vestjens and Vallely are settled into a new life with their blended families and have turned their attention to planning and celebrating their pending nuptials.

“The gesture that Roel gave me by saying, ‘We’re buying this condo and everything is going to be new,’ was very symbolic to me of a fresh start,” Vallely says.

Kolacz was honored to a part of the transition.

“They were in a different phase in their lives and they were looking for a change,” he says. “I think that this process allowed them to transform into who they were becoming a little bit more.”