After five years on the West Coast, Claire and her husband moved to Minneapolis in early 2024. We chatted with her about navigating the move to a new rental home and how she used Onton to reimagine her living space.

Introducing Claire Musech: Growth strategy expert and amateur designer

Claire is a vibrant young executive working for a leading content agency based in New York. Over the past decade, she’s traveled the U.S. — hailing from Minnesota, she began her career on the East Coast, moved to San Francisco five years ago, and recently relocated to her home state.

Her nomadic lifestyle has familiarized her with the task of interior design. No matter where she’s lived, Claire takes pride in creating homes that reflect her personal style. She can’t wait to flex her design muscles once again in her new Minnesota home.

Claire’s Nancy Meyer-inspired design aesthetic

Claire’s design philosophy dates back to the Nancy Meyer movies of the 1990s — a mix of the cozy comfort of cottagecore and the effortless elegance of Hamptons chic.

To find new pieces and decor that reflect this aesthetic, she frequents vintage stores. She also loves repurposing antique pieces that her parents haven’t used since downsizing their home. Mixing contemporary decor with meaningful family heirlooms creates the timeless, cozy atmosphere she’s going for.

Claire also prioritizes versatility when selecting new pieces and decor for her home. While she and her husband currently rent, they look forward to purchasing a home soon. However, without a specific property in mind, she wants to invest in pieces that can look good in any space.

To streamline her interior design journey, she uses Onton to reimagine her existing space and cultivate her dream home.

How Claire DIY’ed her interior design journey with Onton

As Claire continued to develop her interior design skills, she was ready for a new challenge. Following her most recent move, she decided to design her new home herself. She started with three goals:

1. Invest in high-quality, timeless, reusable pieces (for her future house!)

2. Repurpose extra furniture from her parents (to create a cozy space at a low cost)

3. Elevate awkward areas in her home (to make the most of her design space)

Here’s how Claire used Onton to make her design vision a reality.

Getting design inspiration

While Claire had a general grasp of her design aesthetic, she wanted concrete inspiration before making high-involvement purchases. She started pulling her vision together by uploading photos of her home to Onton Imagine.

Onton helped Claire visualize her rooms in different design styles and layouts. In one instance, she uploaded a photo of a living room wall that was particularly difficult to design. One of Onton’s generated images gave her the idea to place a hutch by the ‘awkward wall’ and hang a photo above it — two pieces she already had in storage. She loves that Onton unified her existing space and furniture in a seamless yet unexpected way.

Of the many tactics Claire used to redesign her home, she suggests using Onton Imagine to fully visualize your design space before clicking the buy button. After uploading a few photos of her home, Onton generated several photorealistic images of Claire’s design space to help her determine which pieces would accentuate it best. There was no cognitive jump required to apply the design inspiration to her rooms, and she could easily get ideas for laying out furniture or decorating her space.

Creating a mood board

AI-generated images tend to be staged and idealistic, but Claire wanted a space that felt more lived-in. To create her ideal home mood board, she used Onton Imagine to generate a variety of images. Then, she picked her favorite elements from each image and combined them to reflect her style.

Take a look at two of her generated images below. While she went with the hutch and painting from the first image, she replaced the corner stool with a plant from the second. Uploading photos of her own room made mixing and matching furniture and decor even easier.

Claire’s tip for making the best mood boards? Generate as many designs as possible so you can cement your style and get your creative juices flowing. To get you started, Onton offers 10 free images per week!

Alternatively, you can browse through the Onton Discover tab. Rather than creating spaces based on ideas you’ve already had, you can browse user-generated roomscapes to open up your mind to new possibilities.

Shopping for furniture

Once Claire determined her room's layout, design style, and which pieces she could repurpose, she only had to buy the remaining furniture.

To simplify her online shopping journey, Claire used Onton Search to discover new furniture and decor without wading through ads and sponsored content. After uploading an image of the furniture (or decor pieces) she liked, Onton provided an extensive list of options, ranging from high-end designer products to cost-efficient dupes. From there, she could easily choose pieces that suited her space, style, and price point.

Claire suggests cropping out specific decor elements from your mood board images and searching for them. This helps you organize your search process and find exact furniture pieces. If you’re trying to round off your space with finishing touches, that search can be an absolute lifesaver.

The results of Claire’s interior design journey with Onton

Not only did Onton help Claire inject her idealized design aesthetic into her new home, but it also helped her do it under budget. From visualizing her dream home with Onton Imagine to locating the timeless pieces that will accentuate it with Onton Search, Claire’s interior design journey has never been easier.

While tackling this “awkward wall” was only step one, Claire can’t wait to tackle the rest of her new home with Onton at her side.

How to simplify your interior design journey with Onton

Skip the endless shopping sprees and disconnected Pinterest Boards. Here’s how Onton’s AI-powered design tools can help you visualize your perfect space and find the right furniture and decor.

Onton Discover

Explore design spaces curated by the Onton community in Onton Discover and shortlist those that match your design aesthetics and style.

Onton Imagine

Use text prompts or upload an image of your space to Onton Imagine and visualize your room in over 40 design styles.

Onton Search

Just crop pictures of furniture or decor from your mood boards and upload them to Onton Search to source similar pieces.

Onton Concierge

Need personalized design advice? Onton Concierge can answer your questions and guide you to the right furniture or decor pieces via 1:1 chat consultations.

Sign up for Onton today and design your space with AI.