Above: Tim Creagan at home, his stylist’s eye in evidence. Those throw pillows? Missoni towels, scored at a sale and stitched into pillow covers.
Q&A with the stylemaker, Tim Creagan
Best local shops for finding pieces with soul:
If I were starting from scratch, I’d go to MartinPatrick 3 or Danish Teak Classics for the “bones” and fill in from Honeyshine, Retro Wanderlust, Pharmacie, Foxglove, relatives’ attics, and estate sales around town.
Tips for creating your own stylish home:
Don’t spend your money on mass-produced art. Turn to your friends and family. We have art, quilts, wooden bowls, and pottery made by friends. Small doses of bright paint go a long way and can be changed easily enough. A room can be built around a favorite item found at a flea market.
A favorite night out in the Cities:
Since most days I’m at Hammer Made MSP by 5:30 a.m., my night out is a late afternoon bike ride with stops at The Tin Fish for dinner and Sebastian Joe’s for ice cream.
Tim Creagan may have inspired your style, and you might not even know it. A local fixture as a wardrobe and photo stylist—and now store manager of Hammer Made at MSP Airport and part owner of an Anytime Fitness—Creagan has long advised on the best looks and created them for publication, too.
You’d think all that shopping would lead to a more-is-more approach when it comes to Creagan’s home décor, but exactly the opposite is true in the Minneapolis condominium he shares with his husband, Fred Bertron, and their 15-year-old son, Thomas. “If it doesn’t have a story, it doesn’t make its way into my home,” he says.
Left: Treasured African sculptures front a henna-look design hand-painted by Danny Levar.
The home itself began with a total reboot. The sprawling urban nest overlooking the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden and downtown was once two separate two-bedroom units, which the couple gutted and completely rebuilt. As a result, the condo has clean lines and new finishes, but it doesn’t feel overly slick; it feels homey. Maybe that’s because a tour doesn’t consist of the usual cursory glance into each room; touring the Bertron/Creagan home is a much more intimate exercise. It’s visually and aurally leafing through the chapters of their lives.
Creagan’s modern-day curio cabinets are scrapbooking made 3D: One box holds pairs of Thomas’s baby shoes; another, three-dimensional artwork from Creagan’s quirky artist friend, Charlie Slynn. He’s also got a chunk of asphalt snagged from a tour of Pablo Escobar’s tarmac.
Right: A rotating cast of beloved objects collected on his travels is displayed on the coffee table
He layers in art with a stylist’s eye: a gigantic painting in the dining room (he rolled up some of the canvas so that it would fit the wall); an African ceremonial hat-turned-sculpture; and henna-inspired, hand-painted flowers on a kitchen wall. A mesmerizing triptych takes center stage in the living area—without overshadowing the artful composition of quilt and moccasins that rests below on a pew from a Hudson, Wisconsin, church. All create lovely vignettes that have meaning and history to the family.
The airy layout and balcony give his home an almost California, mid-century modern feel. “What appealed to me the most about living here is the connection to the energy of the city with a bit of nature mixed in,” he says. “Having the sculpture garden and Loring Park to look out on makes for the best of both worlds. It feels like having an awesome front yard that you never have to mow or rake leaves to maintain.” In a playful nod to his nonexistent yard work each spring, he zip-ties AstroTurf to the floor of his balcony. Call it pop art.
Left: A quilt by Nancy Gipple and a pair of 20th century Native American moccasins are displayed on a vintage church pew
By Katie Dohman
Photos by Wing Ta
