Lauradeen Potretzke
Senior Interior Designer
Sit a Spell

Sit a Spell

You never get a second chance to make a first impression. With this in mind, the design team of Heidi Dockter, Karlene Hunter Baum, Lauradeen Potretzke, and Christine Sutphen created a welcoming outdoor living space on the L-shaped porch that also serves as the primary entrance to this grand historic home. The Victorian mansion was built in the 1880’s and recently restored to serve as a Bed and Breakfast and a family home. The purpose of the porch is to accommodate romancing couples, retreating guests, or small gatherings. The Designers celebrated the historic architecture while bringing a fresh interpretation of gracious outdoor living.

About the result:

A decorative painted medallion with leaf motifs was painted on the floor to provide visual warmth with easy maintenance. This medallion echoes the masonry design above the windows.

Lauradeen Potretzke
Senior Interior Designer

Awards

MN ASID Showcase Home 2013 People's Choice for Favorite Room
MN ASID First Place 2013 Residential Showcase House for Sit a Spell

"A designer needs to be a good communicator and problem solver. I make a point of listening to my client's wants and needs, and then I create a design that combines both beauty and function."

Lauradeen is an award-winning designer with over 25 years of experience, applying her proclivity for composition and engineering to masterfully unite design and function.

With over 20 years of design experience, Lauradeen loves all aspects of design from contemporary to traditional. She has a particular enthusiasm for fine rugs and often uses a rug as the point of origin for an interior design plan. Lauradeen has a passion for working with people and understands that each of her clients is unique. She believes that trust is the cornerstone of every successful client relationship. Her strong sense of personal integrity, along with her design philosophy, has ensured that she has many lifelong clients.

Lauradeen has an A.A.S. degree in Interior Design from Dakota County Technical College. She also has over 15 years experience as an owner/operator in the hospitality industry

Praise

Our family room feels like an entirely new space, thanks to Lauradeen’s good work! The furniture placement, the warm inviting color scheme, the change in lighting - all have made the room our favorite place to be. It was a pleasure to work with Lauradeen, and I look forward to more projects with her in the future.

Kathy R.

I appreciate Lauradeen’s help with redecorating our home. I commend her for her patience, since we struggled to explain what we were looking for. She was able to understand what we meant, and transformed our vision into reality. I would certainly recommend Lauradeen to any of our family or friends. The results were certainly far better, and actually less expensive, than what we could have come up with on our own. I’ve done DIY (Do It Yourself) projects, but for this, I needed a professional, and it paid off. It saved me so much time and money, using Lauradeen’s advice and expertise, rather than trying to do it myself. In the end, it was exactly what I wanted. Lauradeen was such a warm and caring person and we had such fun working with her!

Susan K.

Lauradeen Protretzke is simply a pleasure! First & foremost she is an excellent listener so when you describe a piece of furniture or a look you’d like to achieve, she zeroes in on your preferences. From a single piece or a whole room do over, her advice and the results was exactly what we wanted to achieve. Not to mention, she is a delight to work with in any situation.

Chris and Jo P.

Gabberts