Over the past eight years, Better Homes & Gardens senior home editor Lauren Bengtson has turned up the 1970s style in her family’s south-side home. “I’ve always loved the ’70s, especially the color palette and general energy,” she said. “So I wanted to create a space that felt familiar and warm, inviting and slightly nostalgic.” To do that, she built the fireplace and shelving herself, before adding a thoughtful mix of new and vintage touches, including a sofa from Room & Board, a pair of chairs from Mad Modern in Cedar Rapids and a black chaise lounge she scored for $45 on Facebook Marketplace.
Writer: Michael Morain
Photographer: Adam Albright
Stylists: Lauren Bengtson and Jessica Thomas
Some things aren’t built to last.
As a senior home editor for Better Homes & Gardens, Lauren Bengtson has spiffed up all kinds of rooms with a vintage lamp, some new curtains, a vase of flowers placed just so. Then the photographer swoops in — click, click, click — before the team often tears it all down. It’s “so fun but heartbreaking,” she said.
So in her own home on the south side, she designs things to last a little longer — at least until she gets a new DIY idea. The charming 1954 house she and her husband bought in 2018 has become something of a laboratory to experiment with furniture, wallpaper, lighting and fresh coats of paint. She half-joked that whenever her husband goes out of town, a room will be different when he returns.
She is guided by her own sense of taste and the vision for her new side venture, Edith Page Interiors. She co-founded it with her friend and former BHG boss Jessica Thomas, an expert stylist. The business name comes from “edit” — a nod to their shared history in the magazine business — plus “H” for Bengtson’s maiden name, Hedrick, in honor of her mother who died of cancer in late 2024. Their company is about turning a page toward something new.
It’s also about filling a gap in the local market. Des Moines has “so many talented designers,” Bengtson said. “But we kept hearing from our friends in the industry who had to turn down the smaller jobs. … A lot of homeowners don’t want a major construction project or renovation, they don’t need any walls moved or opened up. They just want to make what they already have a little more beautiful.”
Edith Page Interiors specializes in the finishing touches, many of which have been tested in a house that, ironically, is never finished. Bengtson’s ever-evolving home was featured in BHG in 1974 and again in 2022. The first story’s headline still applies: “Small home improvement projects make a big difference.”
A shade of Benjamin Moore paint called “Baked Terra Cotta” gives the bar space a muted sense of glamour. The bar itself was custom-built for another house in town; when the local vintage shop Funky Finds posted a note online — “free curbside pick-up” — Bengtson coaxed her brother-in-law to fetch it.
Margot strikes a dignified pose in a dining room that mixes organic forms within a neutral palette. A George Nelson saucer lamp from Design Within Reach floats above a Saarinen-inspired tulip table and Marcel Breuer chairs that Bengtson found “for a steal” on Facebook. “They were in absolutely horrific shape when I got them,” she said. “So I scrubbed them with hot water and tin foil, a trick for reviving chrome, and made new seats covered in a durable, stain-hiding speckled bouclé.”
Natural light spills into the kitchen where Bengtson painted the formerly brown cupboards an earthy green Sherwin Williams calls “Dried Thyme,” a modern take on ’70s avocado. Open shelving and playful artwork complement the white tiles and a white quartz counter to make the space feel stylish but not sterile. On the opposite wall hangs an old yellow telephone that is technically out of order but still works to contact Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and “anyone who needs a call when we’re not being a good listener,” Bengtson said, using the parental “we.”
The ’70s style is on full display in the bedroom, where grasscloth wallpaper and muted earth-toned furnishings promote quiet relaxation. Bengtson built a headboard, covered it with a patterned Schumacher fabric that reminds her of midcentury “breeze blocks” in Palm Springs and finished the edges with blue piping. She bought a formerly pink nightstand at a Better Homes & Gardens prop sale and repainted it green. The color theme continues into the bathroom, where a green door complements blue walls with a subtle matte finish.
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