Tricia Heliker has lived in her century-old Tower Grove Heights home for more than three decades, reincarnating its interiors every few years to suit changing trends and satisfy her artistic cravings.
T&S | What drew you to this house?
TH | The exterior, actually. It has vines growing up three sides of the house; I fell in love with that. I found this one, loved it and I’ve been working on it ever since. I saw there was great potential. I knew I wanted to make it my own.
T&S | Describe your decorating process.
TH | It’s been decorated and redecorated because I love to do that. Originally I did it Victorian, which is what the house probably first looked like on the inside. I get done with everything and then with three floors, it’s time to start over. Another thing that prompted me to do a whole-house redecoration in the past year and a half was that this house never had a bathroom on the first floor. I wanted to put in a powder room. [Now] everyone says you wouldn’t believe it wasn’t always there.
T&S | How do you design a room?
TH | Usually something will dictate. In the dining room it was the fabric, the black floral curtains. I saw it and said, I love this, I’m going to make this work. The whole color scheme came from that. In the living room, I had gotten a sofa at Little Shop Around the Corner. It was brand-new; someone had custom-ordered it but didn’t want it. It’s kind of an unusual green color, but I worked everything around that couch. In the foyer, it was the tile on the fireplace. Upstairs, I have a room that has things I like but that wouldn’t go [anywhere else]—a dress form, suitcases, old typewriters. I have curtains in my office upstairs that are burlap and I painted a big purple stripe on them.
T&S | Where do you find your pieces?
TH | I shop at thrift stores, resale stores, Craigslist, and the alleys and curbside. The ottomans, those were curbside; my brother saw them, grabbed them up, and I had them reupholstered. There’s a buffet in the dining room I got for $10 at Goodwill. I love getting a piece of furniture that needs TLC, and I love to paint furniture. I go to estate sales. I don’t go a long way from home to find things; I seem to be able to find whatever I want in the city: Miriam Switching Post on Big Bend Boulevard, the Clubhouse Shop on Forest Park Avenue, the Habitat for Humanity ReStore, the Refind Room on Brentwood Boulevard, the Green Goose.
T&S | Do you have art or design training?
TH | I was always interested in it. In the ’90s I took interior design classes at Meramec Community College. I was working another job at the same time, so they were night classes. I also took faux-finish classes. I went to Kentucky and Phoenix for classes, and did a workshop in Chicago. I started a blog about all my projects: zoomin24-7.blogspot.com.
T&S | Where do you do your work?
TH | I’ve got a studio out back. I got a book from the library on 1940s garages and compiled some of them to come up with this design. A friend who’s a draftsman worked with what I had. All the windows came from a business that was getting rid of its windows; it looks great.
T&S | There are several unique floor coverings in the house.
TH | I like hardwood floors a lot, and I don’t like carpets, so I end up doing a lot of area rugs. That’s just enough to soften it. The woodwork is oak and it was all natural, but I so wanted painted woodwork that I said finally, I’m going to do it.
T&S | Do you decorate for anyone else?
TH | I have two brothers who are contractors, and occasionally they’ll call me in to do a color consult for a whole house. That’s what I really like to do. And the owner of Cafe Mochi, who built the restaurant, later added another section and I helped him with those. For Pho Grand, I did the faux-finish on the walls years ago, and I have painted furniture for other people.
By Rebecca Koenig
Photos by Suzy Gorman
