A Legacy in the Business of Home

While I want to feature my projects and what I’m working on as a designer, I would be remiss to not mention the inspiration and generations of Berardis in the “business of home” who came before me. In fact, it’s the main reason my family moved to North Carolina back in the early 90s.

Caption: The wedding of my great grandfather Nick and my great grandmother Rose, who both immigrated to the United States because they wanted more for their kids. This may be one of the oldest family photos my family still owns!

My grandfather’s generation brought the first generation of Americans after their parents immigrated to the United States from Italy. Michael Berardi Senior was my grandfather, and he and his brothers served in World War II, met and married European war brides, went to college on the GI bill, and started in the business of home soon after.

Caption: My grandfather, working at his desk in his office approximately mid to late 1970s when he was with Monsanto.

Michael Senior went into the business of home textile sales. I remember as a kid hearing all his magical stories traveling across Brazil, Argentina, the Middle East.  In one story, he is flying in a bush plane with someone over Rio, and in another he is having tea with the sultan sitting cross-legged on the floor to be able to return home with precious cargo: the textiles. Even at Christmas, long after retiring from the industry, my grandfather would ask questions about the yarn quality of the sweaters I had been gifted and would explain how that fabric and yard was produced. My father is Michael Junior, and I am the next Michael with my middle name being Michelle – keeping Michelle in my married name and business name is a way of honoring both important men in my life and their legacy.

Caption: My grandfather and his brother Nick with their father.

Michael Senior’s brother, Nicholas Berardi, also went into the business of home, but this time for a furniture manufacturer: Herman Miller. My great Uncle Nick’s and great Aunt Nicole’s house was filled to the brim with the stylish midcentury modern furniture from Herman Miller. When they moved from their home, the furniture was divided among their children so everyone could have a Herman Miller treasure.  Our family still has one of the original Eames chairs, which now sits proudly in my cousin Cynthia’s beautiful home.

Caption: One of the original Eames chairs from Herman Miller featured today in my cousin Cynthia’s house in Maryland (Photo credit to Cynthia Berardi).

Caption: An Eero Saarinen “tulip” table sold by Knoll International for many years. My cousin Cynthia believes her maternal grandfather who had a textile import business sold to Knoll. Photo credit to Cynthia Berardi featuring her beautiful Maryland home.

Caption: Seating by George Nelson. Herman Miller focused on commercial furnishing, so seating was designed for reception areas, airports and offices. Not intended for curling up with a good book, while that may be the use now in my cousin Cynthia’s house. Above the seating, there is an original work by Alexander Girard printed on textile and hung as a tapestry. While my cousin Cynthia grew up with this in the house, she remembers looking at the piece a lot, trying to decide which woman’s dress or hair she liked best.

Caption: The midcentury house of either my grandfather or his brother Nick - their wives Jacqueline and Nicole are having a ball serving dinner for the family.

In the next generation, my Uncle Dan had a very successful start in the furniture business and also worked alongside my father’s brothers, Guy and Garry, in this business of home at a few different furniture manufacturers. Dan had married my aunt Carole, and my grandfather had a business meeting with Flexsteel in 1975 sharing some of the first stain-resistant fabrics. While meeting there, he was asked if he knew of any young men looking to build a career in furniture (his questioner was likely thinking about one of his six boys at home ready to graduate high school and college). My grandfather mentioned his son-in-law was a fantastic salesperson, and the rest is history.

As my uncle’s career took off, he began to ask about policies around hiring family. The general notion was that family could work for each other, but in Uncle Dan’s words, “they didn't have any problems with it, as long as you treated them lousy, as demanding of them, or more demanding if they were family, [than] anybody else.” With that, Dan’s brother Ronnie, my Uncle Garry, and my Uncle Guy all found their way into the furniture world one way or another thanks to my Uncle Dan.

Caption: My Uncle Dan and Carole pictured with my Uncle Garry, Uncle Paul, Grandee, and Grandfather.

Caption: Another High Point family reunion where my Uncle Guy was in town from California for Fall Market at High Point. My grandfather, father, Uncle Paul, and childhood dog Daisy also featured here.

At one point, we had at least five furniture sales reps in the family!  Homes in the family were filled with Jasper Cabinet, Lane Furniture, Flexsteel, Drexel, Stylecraft, and many other manufacturers.  Furnishings were almost always purchased after saving up for many years only to make a large family furniture order when the time came to cash in on those savings. As you can imagine, the twice-yearly High Point Furniture Markets became mini family reunions with everyone making sure to stop in Charlotte to see my siblings, parents, and grandparents. When folks were in town “for Market,” that meant we could expect the best homemade pasta dinners in the dining room of my grandparents’ house and then my parents’ house.

Caption: My Uncle Guy in town for Market laughing over dinner with my grandfather.

Today, a few family members are still in the business, including Uncle Dan, and I feel proud to follow in these footprints.

Caption: My father, mother, and me eating dinner at my grandfather’s house in Park Crossing with their Baker dining room set and antique chandelier made in Italy, which now resides in my parents’ house. Notice the amazing hunt country prints in the background - only my grandmother’s version of hunt country was England and not Virginia. Their dining room was the peak of 80s opulence.

As I am starting this business venture, I am incredibly touched to see support even from my more distant family members. We went to Market this past spring and connected with my Uncle Dan’s brother, Ronnie, and we had a blast sharing stories of what it was like working in the same industry among both the Masters and Berardi brothers. In the furniture industry, sales reps and execs can tend to move around a lot, so it was especially touching to hear Ronnie exclaim to my father, “we don’t live where we grew up, so it’s been a treat to be able to share so many memories and stories with you guys having worked alongside many of your brothers.”

Similarly, Uncle Danny shared some exciting memories of designing furniture in Asia in less than 48 hours and then finding a way to include a nightstand as his carry-on for the flight home (imagine trying to store that in an overhead bin!), but overall his fondest memories of being in the industry include the friends and family he is able to connect with regularly. When asked what he loves most about the industry and his careers, he said, “furniture is one of the few things that makes someone’s life better.” I happen to agree.

Caption: Here is the Berardi family portrait at the Morehead Inn during Aidan’s and my wedding day.

A wonderful bonus: the latest turn in the industry, which encourages the incorporation of more traditional furniture, quality fixtures, and unique textiles, feels like a warm hug.  I am honored and humbled to continue the legacy my family has started, and I’m delighted that the traditional furnishings I have remembered fondly and am inspired by often are once again en vogue.

Caption: The plaid camelback sofa many have taken a good nap on - including myself, my sister, my Uncle Paul and his dog Sam featured here.

We still have the camelback sofa today and I dream of reupholstering it or just going with the Ralph Lauren plaid vibe and embracing it.

When I think about the memories I have of falling asleep on the plaid camelback sofa while looking through family photo albums in front of the Christmas tree, pulling out board games from the giant Jasper Cabinet armoire in our living room, and crawling into my grandmother’s oversized bed for snuggles and bedtime stories, I remember how important it is to create a home and honor my family’s legacy. It’s a privilege for clients to welcome me into creating the settings for their own family memories that transcend generations.

Chimney Knoll Post 1: House Search & House Plans

Thanks for reading the first edition of my blog, and welcome! My name is Laura Michelle Berardi McConnell, and I have started this blog, Inside the Design Studio, and Laura Michelle Designs as I embark on renovating and expanding a charming cottage in Charlotte’s Plaza Midwood neighborhood. Our cottage has been affectionately branded (i.e. nicknamed) by my husband, Aidan, as Chimney Knoll. I plan to use this platform to document my journey within this public diary of sorts, and I hope it helps someone considering a project like this one in the future! Or maybe you’re just curious about what happens when you knock down several load bearing walls and renovate a 1940s cottage without having to go through the stress yourself? Either way, I hope you’ll follow along!

Caption: Isn’t she cute? This is our little cottage, Chimney Knoll, who is about to undergo a bit of a facelift.

My family moved to North Carolina back in the ‘90s for the home textile and furniture industries, and we’ve been having family reunions based on the timing of the High Point Furniture Market ever since. After graduating from the University of South Carolina and a brief stint in Washington, D.C., my husband and I boomeranged back to our hometown of Charlotte by way of UNC’s Kenan Flagler Business School.

I should have known I would be the future owner of a historic house. After all, I found a hidden gem of an apartment in college that was pre-war with solid mahogany doors and all, and then after graduating I moved into a D.C. row home across a beautiful park in Capitol Hill that no one could see why I would move there.  It had been previously inhabited by guys who worked on the Hill for over a decade and involved many cleaning fees and junk removal in addition to needing occasional mouse traps and moth traps. But I saw the potential in the rooftop deck, which overlooked the park and had sunset views of the Capitol if you leaned far enough in a certain direction.  Ironically enough, I remember my parents being unimpressed with this nearly 200-year-old row home and telling me, “At least you don’t own it. This is a great lesson in the challenges of future home ownership of older properties.”  Well, sorry mom and dad…old habits die hard and here we are with an 80-year-old craftsman Aidan and I are renovating as newlyweds.   

Caption: My row home I rented many years ago in D.C.

My husband and I permanently relocated back to Charlotte after getting married in June 2024 - just in time to face one of the most expensive and crazy real estate markets in Charlotte’s history! Somehow this led us to believe we could just buy this small cottage and put a little bit of work into it and have a beautiful place to live – how *hard* could it be? (Apparently, it is very hard…and here we are with this labor of love of renovating this house nearly nine months after closing.)

Caption: Our wedding day at the Morehead Inn - it was a very Charlotte wedding, even complete with a Duke Energy emergency! We lost power for 14 hours due to a tree falling in Dilworth - what’s the saying about rain and other unfortunate events on your wedding day? Good luck coming our way?

When we closed on this house, at first there was a feeling of victory in beating eight total offers. Then cue the panic! There is one tiny bathroom that is all cracked and pink (the not cute, Pepto-Bismol pink – why couldn’t I have a retro bath like those depicted below?) in addition to a kitchen that is currently smaller than the front porch – not ideal for someone who considers cooking and eating to be not only a main hobby but also a sport.  The only way out was through, and here we are continuing to renovate. It’s a labor of love, but I also feel a tremendous sense of responsibility to maintain the charm while also giving us some more elbow room. Challenges breed innovation, and that is what we are aiming to do with this renovation.

Now, we have broken ground on this project, and framing is almost complete! I’m prepared to blog along the way to show you the good, bad, and ugly of adding 800 square feet to make this small cottage have an extra bedroom, bathroom, laundry room, and chef’s kitchen.

Our wish list was, err, quite long for the size of the house and suffered from “while we’re at it” syndrome (“while we’re at it” syndrome is defined as adding onto the scope of the project a bit at a time).  We wanted to take the mini kitchen and create one large eat-in kitchen with an island and maximize on wall space for plenty of storage.  We also wanted a coat closet, master bath with room for a freestanding tub and oversized shower, space for an office, a walk-in master closet, moving the laundry to the main level, and an outdoor space (just a few minor tweaks…). For the next phase of the project a few years into the future, we plan to tackle the garage and convert it into an accessory dwelling unit (ADU).

Renovation Lesson #1: To quote designer Erin Gates, take your budget and your timeline and double it – now you’re ready to renovate!

To our architect’s credit, he did find a way to get all the items in our wish list in a 1,500 square foot plan!  See below for the 2 bedroom, 2 bath plan.  

Caption: This is the 2 bedroom, 2 bath plan Aidan and I had thought we were going to move forward with but ultimately nixed.

At first, this wish list had us converting the middle bedroom into a small laundry, small walk-in closet, medium sized bathroom, and then building back just the kitchen extension and master suite. When the structural engineering came back, we learned another lesson for renovations.

Renovation Lesson #2: Only medium to large additions make the juice worth the squeeze, as one of the biggest expenses is busting through exterior walls.

To where we are today… we are keeping the front of the house as-is and adding additional “wish list” square footage in a new kitchen, new master bath, new master closet, new master bedroom, a patio, and a new laundry room. What once felt like a small renovation has morphed into what might as well be considered a total flip, and I am ready for the challenge.  

Above is a comparison of the two designs, the 2 bed 2 bath versus 3 bed 2 bath plan.

Caption: Our final floor plan converting the house to a 3 bedroom, 2 bath. Did you see how we’re using the farmhouse sink from the original home in the laundry room? I love that feature!

I’ll be sharing my mood boards, inspiration pics, images of the construction site, and tips for making fixture selections in the coming weeks and months. I hope you’ll continue to tune in when I post every Monday and see our progress. My wish is that it inspires you to make something in your home more beautiful, functional, or uniquely you!

Here’s to preserving historic integrity with modern ingenuity!

Cheers,

Laura