Inside SNL Star Heidi Gardner’s Midcentury Home, a Disco Fantasy Come True
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For the past few years, after the last cue card of the Saturday Night Live season finale has been read, Heidi Gardner returns to her hometown of Kansas City to relish in the summer break with family and friends. Coaxed by the slower pace of the Midwest, the actor and comedian decided it was time to end her extended stays with friends and establish a permanent address of her own. A place that, unlike her compact New York City apartment, would encourage dinner parties, poolside shindigs, and, most importantly, game day get-togethers cheering on her beloved Kansas City Chiefs.
“It’s really grounded me to move slower and more intentionally. The summer feels like summer again,” says Gardner, who spent her early career in LA as a member of The Groundlings, the legendary sketch comedy theater and unofficial SNL incubator. The call from Lorne Michaels came in 2017, prompting her move to New York.
As she envisioned what this next chapter of Kansas City living would look like, memories of her youth stirred to the surface. She used to poke around in her mother’s closet and vanity as they spilled with scintillating dresses and costume jewelry and perused her father’s collections of matchbooks and records that had fueled many a memorable night—the relics of an era before her. “Having a glamorous and gregarious mom and a fashion-forward dad, their whole lives were their prime—but in the ’70s they were especially killing it,” she says.
Heidi Gardner’s Kansas City home pays homage to midcentury style with dash of disco to match the SNL star’s bright energy. Shop the look of her “sexy-chic time capsule” with this editor-approved curation.
Perhaps it’s hereditary. Now, those disco-era fantasies are all hers: “My dream was to make the house a sexy-chic time capsule,” says Gardner, whose vision became crystal clear as she entered a midcentury-modern home built by Don Drummond, an early advocate for bringing the design vernacular to Kansas City. With its vaulted ceilings, wood-paneled walls, and double-sided natural-stone fireplace, the home’s interior was reminiscent of the San Fernando Valley abode of salacious star-maker Jack Horner (played by Burt Reynolds) in Boogie Nights—Gardner’s all-time favorite flick.
To bring her plans to fruition, she assembled her own top-notch ensemble. Tara Davis, of Kansas City–based design-build firm Cicada Company, came on to peel back the layers left from piecemeal renovations and return it to a cohesive and architecturally purist version of itself. Brooklyn-based interior designer Madelynn Hudson was also brought on board to render a retro-glam feel within the modern structure. “This was our opportunity to bring it back to what its true, original glory was meant to be,” Davis says.
They stripped the home’s numerous wall treatments and flooring materials and clad the entire interior in custom-colored red oak wall paneling and a creamy white terrazzo floor, eliminating the stiff transitions between spaces. To better suit Gardner’s desire to entertain, Davis’s team opened up the kitchen and replaced the exterior back wall with floor-to-ceiling windows and doors, flooding the home with natural light and establishing multiple access points for effortless indoor-outdoor living.
Then came the character building. After eight years at SNL, “One thing I’ve learned from watching a set come together is the amount of layering that goes into making a space feel cozy,” says Gardner. In her ode to the ’70s, glass block walls, sumptuous marble slabs, and a shimmering mirror-tiled range hood play supporting roles—or, as Hudson puts it, are “pockets of funky personality added in.”
But no space seals her nostalgic reverie quite like the primary closet. Shaker cabinets inset with mauve pink grass cloth and outfitted with vintage brass swan pulls stand opposite a spacious marble vanity inspired by her mother’s. A bulb-lined mirror, fringed ottoman, and zebra rug add to the glamour. “I’ve found myself just throwing clothes on the floor because it almost looks more feminine—like a woman just ran in and kicked off her shoes,” Gardner says. “I love having this space to indulge a bit more.” Surely mother would approve.
1/14The Vidro Convex smoked round wall mirror from CB2 reads as an art installation at the end of the red oak-paneled entryway. The wool shag runner is from Quince.
2/14In “the hotel lobby moment,” as Gardner describes the sitting room, drinks are served from a custom tiled bar by local artist Emily Reinhardt and conversations spill under the vintage Milan Chain chrome pendant by Carlo Nason for Stilux, sourced from 1stDibs. “It gives you a little bit of an elevated experience,” Gardner adds.
3/14Gardner shares the home with her three cats, Tweaky, Cubby Bear (pictured in Gardner’s lap), and John Ross Jr. (pictured on the floor).
4/14Reflective chrome finishes, as with the contoured coffee table and CB2 floor lamp, punctuate the interior’s sexy-chic vibe. “At night, it really is like Studio 54 in here,” Gardner says. “I call the house a dream theater.”
5/14In the kitchen, Davis’s team knocked out a front wall, repositioned the appliances, and expanded outdoor sight lines for easier entertaining. In true ’70s fashion, blond caning panels the cabinetry while a richly veined Italian marble spills from behind shelving, down the backsplash, and over the counters with finesse. But nothing shines quite like the mirror-tiled range hood: “Throw a little light on it, and the whole home sparkles at night,” Davis says.
6/14“My dream was to make the house a sexy-chic time capsule, and I’m living my dream,” Gardner says. A Jacqueline Brown handblown glass vase from CB2 perches on the countertop nearby.
7/14“We knew that nailing the wall color would be essential to giving the house warmth,” says Hudson, who worked with Davis to develop a custom-blend finish for the red oak paneling that clads the whole home. Creamy ivory tones, echoed from the terrazzo flooring to the In Common With sconces to the vaulted ceiling, contribute as well.
8/14Collected keepsakes and pottery perch on glass wall shelves above a burl wood writer’s desk by Nicholas Obeid for CB2 and accompanying planar chair from Maiden Home.
9/14In the primary bedroom, a pair of linen-shaded sconces from Crate & Barrel flank the room’s pièce de résistance: the elongated Rove Concept bed recovered in Dedar’s lustrous Regimen stripe fabric. A matching bolster pillow layers atop an alpaca coverlet from Jenni Kayne.
10/14For a cozy seating area in the primary bedroom, Hudson reupholstered a vintage two-seater sofa from The Expert in a dusty rose hue of Schumacher’s Gainsborough Velvet. A rattan-wrapped floor lamp by Aerin for Visual Comfort and shapely side table by Carly Cushnie for Lulu and Georgia round out the nook.
11/14In the primary bathroom, Davis decided to float the mirror and vanity to avoid disrupting the patio view. Shaker panels with chunky wood pulls offset the sleek integrated pink marble basin. “It’s a modern structure, but then you have added layers that make it funky,” adds Davis.
12/14A curved wall enveloped in blush pink tile secludes the marble-clad soaking tub. Within the space, “I’ll put on Hawaiian music and have this transportive experience,” Gardner says.
13/14In the guest bedroom, a cream draped bedspread by Sarah Sherman Samuel for Lulu and Georgia sets an ethereal tone, backed by the bouclé-covered bed by Kravitz Design for CB2 and a vintage checked rug from Etsy.
14/14In the bathroom, a circle motif repeats across the custom perforated mirror, amber glass sconces by RBW, and a glass block wall that separates the room’s sink and wet zones. Brass fixtures and a misty blue quartzite vanity reiterate the retro tone.
