Mindful Moment - design KC

Fall 2021

Mindful Moment

August 24, 2021

J

ulie Heise had practiced anesthesiology for 27 years when she traded in her epidural and nerve block needles for acupuncture needles.

She used to come home to this lush backyard to decompress from stress-filled days at the hospital when she began to envision a different lifestyle for herself—one of a slower, more connected nature, creating health and wellness for clients rather than treating illness.

Her “office” is now a quiet home studio with a heated massage table, dimmed lights, and soothing sounds and scents that is more akin to a spa experience. And she uses her private outdoor space for a special practice called Shen Ki, a fusion of Chinese “heart” or “spirit” and Japanese “ki” or “life force,” with collaborators Christy Marsh, Adrienne Porter and Annie Epp.

Up to 12 guests can immerse themselves in this unique two-hour experience that incorporates yoga, acupuncture, crystals and Reiki with the intention of realigning the mind, body and spirit.

Using her home in this way wasn’t something Julie ever planned, but she’s fully enjoying the evolution.

“It all happened organically, and I love it,” Julie says. “I don’t feel like I’m working because it’s play time.”

Instagram: @shen_ki11
Website: evolvemedacupuncture.com

It all happened organically, and I love it,” Julie says. “I don’t feel like I’m working because it’s play time.

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1 Comment

Bev woodbury

September 9, 2021

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I am Julie’s Mother and am so blessed knowing she is so happy and enjoying her beautiful home and wonderful business!

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Keith Sauro

Publisher

What is your publishing background?

My father was in printing with GSA as I was growing up and I was able to spend time at his plant. I never met anyone that took so much pride in his job as my father. This was my first introduction to printing.

At the age of 24 I answered an employment ad for an account executive position with Relocating in Kansas City magazine. This company also published Kansas City Homes Gardens. I found that I loved working with small businesses and learning I had a good ear in listening for problems and helping to solve them. I then was asked to help the company expand. My wife and I moved to Las Vegas to launch relocating in Las Vegas magazine during the boom. My first Publisher role. I continued to sharpen my skillset and understanding for Publishing. In Las Vegas my son Evan was born and we wanted to find a way to get back to KC and I was approached by the Ashley group a division of Cahners Publishing, to launch The Kansas City Home Book, a hard cover annual luxury design book. After two years, and a very successful launch, I was asked to come back to KCH&G as Publisher. My life had now come full circle. These experiences and design products I managed and created help formulate what design KC is today.

What is your favorite issue?

Every issue is always exciting. When I pick up the first issue at the printer, it still feels like Christmas every time. However, for me our premier issue will always be my favorite. To take something from concept to actual inception is an amazing feeling, and it was always have a warm spot in my heart!

What is your home’s design style?

I am a minimalist…. I hate clutter (although you can’t tell that from my office always), I even have a hard time putting things on the walls… I like clean and simple, and lots of color.

Where and how do you like to spend time at home?

I absolutely love my primary bedroom, bath, and shower. Not that I spend all my time there, but every morning it makes me happy getting ready for the day.

If you could live anywhere, where and what would your dream home be?

Laguna Beach, CA right on the water. When I lived in Las Vegas we would drive the high dessert several times a year and enjoy Laguna

If you could make your current home better, what would you do?

Raise my basements ceiling so I could have a golf simulator.

What are your best memories of home when growing up?

I was born into an Italian family in Boston. I was raised in East Boston, and my memories of Sunday dinners with my whole family are some of the fondest memories of my life. As a result, I love to entrtain and cook. Growing up, we didn’t have much, but we didn’t do without. My parents were great providers.

Do you have a personal motto or life philosophy?

The World is very round. You get back what you put out. I live and die by that motto.

Jared Webb

Director of Sales and Digital Marketing

What is your publishing background?

From a fairly young age, around age 10 or 11, I had always wanted to work in publishing, especially in news publishing. I wanted to be a journalist but quickly discovered in college that my skill set was better suited for the marketing and advertising side. I started my publishing background with a community newspaper called the Northeast News, in Historic Northeast Kansas City, Mo., then moved up to The Kansas City Star for more than 18 years.

What is your favorite DKC issue?

It’s always the next issue coming up! As a team, we are always trying to push the envelope and improve. The features continue to get better and better! However, if I had to choose one that has already been published, it would be Summer 2022. I love the cover and the trend-setting articles!

What is your home’s design style?

A mess—ha, just kidding…kind of. It is a mix of a farmhouse and a lodge. The focal point is the living room fireplace that extends up in a vaulted ceiling. My wife handles the interior of the home; the exterior is where I rock—literally, I love landscape rocks. The front exterior has a Cape Cod-style landscape—think Table Rock Lake/Ozark mountains campfire feel. My jam is outdoors!

Where and how do you like to spend time at home?

In front of the fireplace or in the backyard around the fire pit near our water fountain. I love water, earth and fire.

If you could live anywhere, where and what would your dream home be?

A 1.5- story timber home in the woods near a lake—Lake Tahoe, perhaps?

If you could make your current home better, what would you do?

Add an addition to expand our dining room for hosting dinner parties. And a bigger walk-in closet for my wife.

What are your best memories of home when growing up?

I grew up in the best home and best floor plan ever, in my ever-so-humble opinion. It was a 1.5-story home with a finished basement in DeSoto, Kansas! It had a wraparound porch, an attic fan, and killer entertainment in the basement for 1990s standards! It was great.

Do you have a personal motto or life philosophy?

Motto: Do your best at whatever you do, don’t sweat the small things, and all things are small things. Life philosophy: The Lord God is sovereign and in control—let go, surrender your life to Him and allow Him to work in your life.

Andrea Darr

Editor-in-chief

What is your publishing background?

I have always loved reading books and magazines—I got my first subscription to Architectural Digest at age 17—and knew as a kid that I wanted to be in publishing. I earned a degree in Magazine Journalism from the University of Kansas in 2001. Shortly after graduating, I got my first job at Kansas City Homes & Gardens, and stayed for a decade, only leaving the position of Editor-in-Chief once my first daughter was born. I worked as a freelance writer for other local publications for the next decade while raising my girls and running a successful Airbnb on my property in KCK. When Publisher Keith Sauro called me in 2021 to launch DesignKC, I was ready for a new challenge and excited to use full creative license to create a publication—a full brand—that best represents KC from my experienced perspective.

What is your favorite DKC issue?

I think of all of them as my babies and can’t choose one over the other! Whatever the next one is always excites me the most.

Which of our features have resonated most with you?

Everything in these pages resonates with me on some level! No matter the topic or design style, I most appreciate stories where homeowners are true to themselves and create just-right homes that express their personalities and make for a beautiful and functional life.

What is your home’s design style?

I live in a 1922 bungalow and also own a twin 1933 bungalow next door that we rent out as an Airbnb on 18 acres near The Legends. Both houses have similarities in floor plan, but mine is more modern and cluttered with family life; our inn has mid-century modern influences and feels more like a retreat, as we designed it exclusively for guests.

Where and how do you like to spend time at home?

I am a homebody who loves to putter around the house in my slippers. We often leave the doors wide open and transition between indoors and outdoors often and easily during good weather. I love to lounge in the hammock on the back deck with a book and a glass of wine, watching the sunset from our clear view of the horizon line and sometimes getting out our hefty telescope to ponder the moon and stars.

Are there any home goods you can’t live without?

A hand vac for the debris that blows in from said doors being open all the time and the shed fur from our four cats.

If you could live anywhere, where and what would your dream home be?

As a lifelong Kansan, it’s hard to imagine living anywhere else. I love to travel and I love the easy access to anywhere that living in the middle provides. I am definitely happy at the bay of a beach or cozied up among the pines in the mountains, and I feel a strong pull toward the Southwest. No matter where I live, I don’t need a large house, just a functional one, somewhat minimal, with only the things and people I love most in it.

If you could make your current home better, what would you do?

Add a primary suite and give my girls each their own bedroom and bathroom—it’s getting tight in here!

What are your best memories of home when growing up?

My parents made a hobby of moving or building houses every few years, so I grew up with constant change—always picking new floor plans and tile, visiting job sites and refreshing my own room. It was fun to always have a project! And that experience was where my love for home design blossomed and embedded itself into my soul to this day.