Sometimes the challenge of having to work with a space just as it is—no demolitions whatsoever—can invigorate a designer’s imagination. Just look at the sofa that Susannah Holmberg created for the oddly shaped living room of this home in Salt Lake City: It’s a sculptural piece loosely inspired by tête-à-tête styles that anchors the room and has become the clients’ favorite hangout. “We’ll all kind of slowly gather there one by one,” says homeowner Amy Furstenau, who lives with her husband, Chris Furstenau, and their four kids. “It just feels like a special spot.”The Furstenaus moved into the property, a five-bedroom home with a classic Tudor exterior, more than five years ago. Since the interiors had been recently renovated, they didn’t think to work with a designer. But the space didn’t quite reflect their personalities, and after spending the long months of 2020 huddled inside, the couple were ready for a change. They called Salt Lake City–based AD PRO Directory designer Susannah Holmberg to help them transform the property into a soulful haven filled with color and whimsy. The catch was that they didn’t want to rip out any recent additions, things like kitchen cabinets, bathtubs, or even a massive marble floating shelf by the fireplace.Holmberg made the entryway stand out with this Lee Jofa abstract wallpaper and matching paint color—a hue called Rue from Portola Paints—applied to the ceiling in a swooping offbeat form. Susannah Holmberg designed this Salt Lake City home for a young family of six. To make the most of the existing layout, she created several bespoke pieces, including this multidirectional sofa loosely inspired by tête-à-tête styles. ”It’s a really tricky floor plan; you’ve got octagonal windows, a nook under the stairs and this fireplace, so we felt like we needed something versatile,“ she says. “We really had to get strategic to figure out how to give the house a full remake without going too deep and working around what was existing,” says Holmberg, one of AD’s 2024 New American Voices. “It was a fun challenge.” To achieve a thoroughly custom look, she had to pull a few tricks, such as designing offbeat furniture and built-ins. There’s an organically shaped banquette hugging an entire section of the kitchen, for example, and a sinuous headboard that flows into a corner seat in the primary bedroom. These one of a kind, flowing silhouettes, along with an eclectic color palette where dusty pastels feature alongside deeper shades like rust orange, malachite green, or midnight blue, reflect the cheeky style of Holmberg’s clients. “We’re a creative family and we wanted it to inspire,” Amy says. “We didn’t want it to feel like every other home.”With that in mind, the designer chose a series of whimsical objets for the residence. A gorilla-shaped chair by Marcantonio, tucked into a nook in the living room, immediately catches the eye, as does a vintage wooden floor lamp reminiscent of cacti, placed near the main dining table. But she was careful not to overdo it. “It doesn’t feel like a funhouse when you’re inside,” Holmberg says. “Even though there’s a lot going on, it’s just so calm.”Holmberg’s clients wanted to keep the existing cabinets. To give the kitchen a new look, she repainted them in French Beige from Portola Paints, and outfitted them with wavy bronze pulls from Lo&Co. The backsplash tile, a trapezoid-shaped zellige from Zia Tile, is also new. This breakfast nook sits on one end of the L-shaped kitchen, which gave Holmberg the opportunity to create this enveloping built-in banquette. “She loves playful forms, rounded legs, and quirky, non-linear shapes,” says the designer of client Amy Furstenau. With that in mind, Holmberg picked fabric-covered tubular chairs, from Moustache, to pair with the banquette. While the overall palette of the home is indeed fairly soft, one notable exception is the primary bedroom. There, a midnight blue on the walls and ceiling and a burnt orange fabric covering the bed and built-in seats create a sexy, cosseting atmosphere. The clients, who are world travelers, said they wanted to be transported to a luxurious hotel suite in some faraway land.“In Utah, a lot of the homes look the same, and I feel like our home is a great conversation starter,” Amy says. “I hope people get a little bit inspired when they come over to step out of their comfort zone and do something different.”In the dining room, which occupies the same space as the living room, Holmberg paired vintage oak chairs with funky chrome chairs from Love House. “I just think it’s such a fun chair,” she says of the ball-footed design. “And I think those coupled with the wood created a really nice tension.” The three-globe chandelier is by Astraeus Clarke, a studio in Brooklyn. “Every time we go to bed, it just feels like we’re transported to a different place,” says Amy of the moody, enveloping color scheme of the primary suite. The headboard, which extends into a corner sectional seat, was custom made and upholstered in a burnt orange velvet from Kirkby Design. On either side are checkered wooden nightstands from Claude Home. Black walls and accents in wood and leather add depth and a touch of rusticity to the primary bathroom. Family heirlooms make the family room on the main floor extra special. The horns on the wall belonged to Amy’s grandfather. “They were up in a family cabin in Lake Arrowhead for years, and I remember being young and thinking they were so cool,” she says. “When he passed away, that was the one thing that I wanted.” Below them is a black-and-white photo of Amy’s grandmother. The wallpaper, a sand hue with peach undertones, is by Alyson Fox for Hawkins New York. To update this second-floor bathroom, which was not renovated, Holmberg added new organically shaped mirrors from Ethnik Living, a Muni sconce from Black Rooster Decor, and hardware from Lo&Co. The wide-legged stool used as a coffee table in the downstairs playroom, from Squares and Things, was inspired by Brazilian modernist Oscar Niemeyer. The hand-braided rattan lamp is from Ferm Living. This colorful nook is by the playroom on the basement level. A green lacquered desk—it matches the Zebra Fern wallpaper from Paper Mills—was paired with a wavy-back accent chair designed by Sarah Sherman Samuel for Lulu and Georgia. 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