{"id":98065,"date":"2025-10-25T23:48:20","date_gmt":"2025-10-25T23:48:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/98065\/"},"modified":"2025-10-25T23:48:20","modified_gmt":"2025-10-25T23:48:20","slug":"how-good-design-creates-everyday-ease-jess-cooney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/98065\/","title":{"rendered":"How Good Design Creates Everyday Ease: Jess Cooney"},"content":{"rendered":"

Interior designer Jess Cooney is one of Homes & Gardens’ new Editors-At-Large for By Design, sharing her thoughts on decor through her lens of soft light, vintage pieces, and a sepia-tinged palette. See the rest of her articles here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On the day of the first meeting, my clients are often nervous when I walk through their home. They feel vulnerable, apologetic, worried that I\u2019ll judge the condition of their home \u2013 or them \u2013 for how they live. But that moment, stepping into someone\u2019s space for the first time and seeing exactly how they live, has always been one of my favorite parts of the design process. It\u2019s an opportunity to listen, to really understand them and their pain points. Anyone can ask about room color ideas<\/a> or decorating with patterns<\/a> \u2013 that\u2019s the easy part. The real design work begins with uncovering what isn\u2019t working.<\/p>\n

I look for places where the energy feels stuck. I listen for frustration, and I notice where clutter gathers \u2013 and why. I often hear a familiar refrain from women with small children: \u2018Maybe I\u2019m just really type A, but I need things a certain way and I feel overwhelmed all the time.\u2019 Over the years, I\u2019ve come to understand what they really mean: \u2018My home doesn\u2019t feel right, and I can\u2019t quite put my finger on why. So I blame myself \u2013 my anxiety, my constant feeling of being flustered.\u2019<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

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\"mudroom\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Design by Jess Cooney)<\/p>\n

But the chaos these homeowners describe isn\u2019t a personal failing \u2013 it\u2019s a space failing. It\u2019s the poorly planned kitchen that forces you to zigzag just to unload the dishwasher. It\u2019s the back door that dumps backpacks, shoes, and soccer gear straight into the living room. It\u2019s the missing pantry, the undersized laundry area, the closets that never quite fit what they need to. These design flaws create daily stress. My job is to design homes that support the people who live in them \u2013 spaces that make life flow more easily instead of working against them at every turn.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve walked through stunning homes with tennis courts, swimming pools, and sprawling family rooms \u2013 yet nowhere to hang a coat when you walk in. I\u2019ve seen massive houses where all the daily chaos bottlenecks into one narrow hallway, shoes piled up, a single closet crammed with three seasons\u2019 worth of jackets.<\/p>\n

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\"mudroom\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Design by Jess Cooney)<\/p>\n

When it\u2019s time to help clients prioritize their wishlist, there\u2019s one space I almost always recommend tackling first: the mudroom. When designed well \u2013 with smart storage, durable materials, and a thoughtful flow \u2013 it becomes the launchpad for family life. Get this one room right, and the rest of the home naturally falls into place. Despite its modest name, the mudroom sets the tone for how life moves through a home. It\u2019s the threshold you cross each morning as you head out, and the landing pad you return to at the end of a long day.<\/p>\n

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We ask so much of this space \u2013 it now often serves as the main entry for family and guests alike. Four seasons\u2019 worth of backpacks, pet gear, laundry, and ski equipment all converge here, and without a system, it\u2019s easy to feel overwhelmed before the day even begins.<\/p>\n

Design expertise in your inbox \u2013 from inspiring decorating ideas and beautiful celebrity homes to practical gardening advice and shopping round-ups.<\/p>\n

As I walk through a home for the first time, I\u2019m already imagining soft-close drawers with hidden charging ports, hooks hung at just the right height for heavy backpacks, a mix of open and closed storage, and tumbled stone floors that can stand up to snow, mud, dog hair, and daily life. I know I\u2019ve done my job when my clients feel that elusive sense of calm \u2013 standing in their mudroom, grabbing a coat and the dog leash, and heading out for a Berkshire hike with ease.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Interior designer Jess Cooney is one of Homes & Gardens’ new Editors-At-Large for By Design, sharing her thoughts…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":98066,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[437,434,435,436,438,146,85,46],"class_list":["post-98065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}