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or former Chicago residents Mary and Brian Gaede, a move to warmer weather in a state like California was always on the wish list. “We kind of hit the wall on the Chicago weather,” says Mary, a native of Ann Arbor, Michigan, and managing
director for a middle-market finance firm. “We wanted the LA weather, but we didn’t want the LA scene.” But there was one slight problem. They didn’t know where to begin searching. So Mary looked to the one person she knew who lived in the area for advice and insight: her cousin, Erin Hedrick, founder of Erin Hedrick Design. “We’d never even been to Manhattan Beach and ended up looking at houses here mainly because Erin lived in Manhattan Beach and recommended it as family-friendly,” recalls Mary. “Besides Erin and a couple friends of friends, we truly knew no one here when we moved.” Using Erin’s recommendation for a Realtor, they flew out from Chicago one weekend to begin the house hunt. Yet the Gaedes didn’t anticipate placing a bid on a house the first weekend they visited the area. “We saw this house the first day we came out to look and fell in love with it,” recounts Mary of the 3,750-square-foot, three-story, four-bedroom home with a wink to Cape Codstyle architecture. “We especially loved the light in the house and the open feel with all of the windows and high ceilings. While we never expected to do so (and are not usually impulsive people), we signed the papers to buy our house on that visit. It was a scary time, but there’s definitely no looking back. We’re so happy to be here.” Although the house was large enough for the couple and their growing family (they now have three children), it didn’t exactly fit their design aesthetic. “When we first moved in, the entire house was painted the same cream color so there was not much ‘personality’ to the rooms,” explains Mary. “We lived with it like that for a few years, and we did little things over time like changing out light fixtures.” When it came time to enlist help from an interior designer, Mary once again called upon Erin, who had previously worked in the film and as a pastry chef. “Their house was really the biggest project I had ever done, and it jumpstarted my career,” says Erin, who helped reconceive the fresh, coastal-inspired home gradually, room-by-room, with new paint, wallpaper, refinished floors, artwork, accessories and fabrics. Erin continues, “It was a dream, and I feel very lucky that I was given the opportunity and that they trusted me. We have 24 cousins on that side of the family, and our friendship has definitely grown.” In the light-filled living room, Erin used some of the
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