Shayla Owodunni‘s Tropical Minnesota Oasis
Photographs by Shayla Owodunni. This is an updated version of an article written by Jeanine Hays and Bryan Mason in 2021.
When people ask Shayla Owodunni why she loves plants so much her answer always starts at home: she grew up around them. However, the Minnesota native admits that they weren’t hers ,they were her mom’s - and back then she didn’t get it either. But seeking familial comfort, Shayla brought a few plants into her Seattle apartment and, from there it was the start of something big. Now back home in Minnesota, the accountant-turned-business-consultant and chief creative behind The Plant Penthouse has turned her loft-style condo into her own verdant oasis.
When she first found her loft it was already move-in ready. “The previous owners cared for it very well,” she explains. “Thankfully, there was no structural work to do, so I focused on cosmetic work, including removing gray carpet tiles, installing shelving and changing the paint colors.” The consultant even credits the previous owners for kickstarting her hometown plant collection. “When they moved they left a fiddle-leaf fig, which I’ve named ‘Felipe’,” she recalls.
It’s safe to say that a home with more than 80 plants in it is looking to make a statement. For Shayla that narrative begins in the living room. “The living room design serves to center the overall style of my loft,” she begins. “It can be seen from the moment you open the door, so I wanted this quadrant of my space to reflect an amuse-bouche of my personal inspiration.” That inspiration includes her travels in Southeast Asia as well as pieces sourced closer to home like her orange armchair, hanging basket chair and canary-yellow sofa. A treasured find, she’ll only say she loves the sofa “because of the tears it took to get it.”
Plants are a major element in Shayla’s approach to design and to life. But with more than 80 of them in the house, it can be hard to keep track, even for her. That’s why her favorites are all named. “I love my fiddle-leaf fig, ‘Felipe’, the Monstera deliciosa, ‘Wylda' and my bird of paradise, ‘Biggie-Smalls’,” she lists.
With fewer plants in the dining area, Shayla designed the space to be far more conceptual, especially in its use of color. “Living in a loft, the dining room extends to the living room which extends right back into the kitchen,” she reveals. “I wanted the design to feel opulent yet lived-in through the incorporation of jewel-toned velvets, faux fur, and elements of bronze, gold and silver, balanced by natural materials like rattan and cane.”
Shayla’s love of nature is a constant theme that runs throughout her home, connecting the design from room to room. Though it often takes the form of plants, in the dining room other natural materials are brought into play. The rattan placemats and chairs are a wonderful complement to the large, dark wooden table. Her colorful florals also help tie together a palette that she weaves between the dining room and the spaces to which it connects. “It needed to be a consistent loop,” she explains.
Creating a personal feeling to her home was at the top of Shayla’s list when she started designing her loft. Its main areas are the ones where she feels she really got what she wanted. “I love the way these spaces came together,” Shayla notes about her living and dining areas. “This is the space that took the most time and energy to get just right. It has elements that make me smile each time I walk by and the colors embody just how I want to feel at home – energized, joyful and completely at peace.”
Sitting opposite the dining area and providing a slight divide between it and the kitchen is the bar that presented a crucial design challenge for Shayla. As it wasn’t completely separated from the living and dining rooms she needed to make it feel like a part of the fun she was having in those spaces. The jewel-toned seats and metallic frames of her bar stools connect the bar to the color palette of the dining room while whimsical touches like the animal prints and colorful glassware give it just the right feel of tropically-inspired fun.
However, the bar wasn’t the only space that needed livening up. The kitchen itself was functional, essentially a black-and-white space. Instead of painting the walls, Shayla added shelving that would give her opportunities to add or remove color as she wished. “Through open kitchen shelving to display some of my most colorful kitchen accessories I was able to give the kitchen the look I wanted and keep it in line with the other rooms,” she explains.
Sitting above the rest of her home, Shayla’s loft bedroom is designed to be her escape, something she reflected in the colors she chose for the space. “The design for my bedroom was about a signature focal point of color,” she says. “My home is a dance of color so I wanted the bedroom to be a more relaxed area. I opted for neutral, oatmeal-toned bedding and softer pinks in my rug options for a layered, monochromatic feel that still felt true to my personality.”
“What I love most about my home is that I can see myself each time I walk in,” Shayla reflects. “I always say when you can see yourself in your space it becomes a happy place—and I feel that is something I have accomplished in my home. I am extremely appreciative of each item and experience I've been blessed with.”
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