Inside ‘SNL’ Star Heidi Gardner’s Midcentury Kansas City Home

Hi, AD.

I'm Heidi Gardner, and welcome to Kansas City.

Please come in.

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Most important to me when people enter

is for them to see my favorite photograph in the world.

This was my dad in 1980

at the Embassy Suites Hotel on New Year's Eve,

and I knew that it was like what I wanted

to set the tone with.

And this was a Kansas City favorite restaurant of mine,

the Peppercorn Duck Club,

which was the nicest restaurant in Kansas City,

and we really had no business going to,

but my mom would kind of sneak us in.

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This house is both a Kansas City labor of love

and a New York labor of love,

which is kind of like me,

my two favorite places in the world.

For the design build of the house,

I worked with Cicada,

which is a Kansas City firm.

And then for the interior design,

I worked with Madelynn Hudson Interiors,

who are in New York.

It was really important to me to keep the vibes

that I originally saw when I walked in this house.

With the wood walls and the stone,

I was like I'm in the Boogie Nights house.

The previous owners, Dawn and John,

are artists, philanthropists,

just like overall bon vivants,

like good livers of life,

and I wanted to keep that in the house,

even with all the renovations I ended up doing.

I got really lucky,

and one thing that Dawn and John did leave

with the house was the custom lion door knocker.

I love that it's just a big handle

to get into my house with.

So I think this room is a perfect encapsulation

of like a curated seventies moment.

Like, Madelynn honing me in.

Like, she gave me the chrome coffee tables,

which gives me that little bit of disco,

but I also have these elevated Italian sconces.

This caterpillar couch number

is like the perfect kind of girl, cozy, curl up on.

I'm not gonna put my shoes on the couch

'cause it is too nice.

This is my record-playing cabinet.

So I've got a record player in here,

and one thing that's super special to me

is about 10 years ago on my birthday,

my dad gave me the first 20 records he'd ever owned,

and I kind of didn't believe him.

I was like How would you know that?

But it's true.

On the back of each of these, he has it numbered.

So this is like the third album he ever bought.

This is a Jimmy Buffett one,

which I was never a Parrot Head,

but he's actually pretty good,

and this was his first album ever,

Be Bop Deluxe,

which I adore, and it's pretty cool.

Most of my albums are just my Dad's.

I think he has over 10,000,

of which he's told me I can have,

but that would require another one of these.

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This little moment here is the sitting area, lounge.

It's like my interpretation of my own little bar or club.

It's right by the fireplace.

It's one of the original things that we kept with the home,

which is so cool,

'cause you can see through to the living room.

Oh my gosh, and these are, I probably shouldn't say this,

but the best cat furniture.

I mean, they're vintage chairs, but they just love it.

So I grew up in Kansas City.

I love it here. It's green.

I'm just looking at nature all the time.

And what was really cool about Cicada

was when they got in here, this right here was a wall,

and they were like No, we gotta open it up.

Like, you need access, indoor/outdoor seamlessly.

I can go from the dining room to my bedroom

to the pool to this room,

and that's been one of the best parts about living here.

So I was one of those people over the pandemic

that learned a new skill,

and my new skill was cocktails.

So it only made sense that in my house, I got a new bar.

There's an amazing artist here, Emily Reinhardt,

who has a business called The Object Enthusiast,

and she handcrafted every single one of these tiles.

I mean, you think it's just a tile,

and then it's totally functional, it's a knob,

and it feels really cool

to have just a completely custom piece in my house.

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The kitchen before was very 70s

in a way that a lot of people did not like.

But luckily, I had the amazing team at Cicada.

Tara and Kyle tell me that like we get that you love it,

but we do think it should be redone,

and we promise you that we will keep the same vibes

that you like,

which were these like warm colors, these woods.

They opened up this whole wall,

so that I could see into my sitting area and my dining room.

They made a huge window over here by the sink.

It was their idea to do this beautiful Italian marble,

and it's just seamless.

Like, it's the countertops,

and then they were like Do you want a marble sink?,

and yeah, I do.

It just like goes through here,

and then you like continue marble, marble, marble,

and then you just like dip down

and dive into more marble.

And since I love the seventies,

it was also their idea

to make this amazing disco hood for me,

which in the daytime is totally beautiful.

But at night, it really is like Studio 54 in here.

Sometimes I call the house a dream theater

'cause I think it is a dream,

but I'm like, yeah, I didn't expect to just like disco

with my friends in my kitchen.

Really cool. I can't believe I have a kitchen like this.

Oh, look, John Ross has joined us.

I remember as this was being built,

I was like, okay, but where are like the appliances?

I didn't even know it was possible,

but Cicada just provided it for me.

It was like...

This is a fridge.

My fridge is hidden, and so is my freezer.

So that's been a really neat element.

Also, just cool design moment,

a hidden HVAC.

I have like two of my favorite pictures of my mom.

One when she was a little girl doing ballet,

and one in high school where she's a cheerleader,

and I think it's really funny

'cause my mom was this like self-proclaimed I don't cook,

and now I've got her in my kitchen.

So you do cook, Mom.

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This is my beautiful powder room.

And again, the designers really challenged me

with this one because it was a totally different layout.

Everything bathroom-wise was happening on this wall,

and that's all my imagination could conjure.

But Cicada was like let's split it up.

Let's give you

and your guests a whole vanity area over here.

And then this, as they call it, is your wet zone.

And then this is your beauty moment

where you have the nice skylight.

This bathroom also gives you the Boogie Nights feeling.

This custom mirror, the amber, vanity lights.

One of my other favorite elements in this house

is this glass block mid-century wall,

making the house like a sexy chic time capsule,

which is my dream,

and I am living in my dream.

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So welcome to my girl dream suite,

or as Madelynn would say, my sexy boudoir.

She gave me this like sexy chic bed.

I didn't even know you could get

a bed upholstered like this.

Feels transportive.

It feels like I'm in the best version

of the coolest, sexiest hotel.

One of my favorite rituals in here,

which was really unexpected to me,

is just that these are my lights, and I get to do this.

It's just really sweet,

and it's actually a really nice way to end the day.

I love this little moment here too.

This couch moment.

It's vintage.

They had it reupholstered in a perfect pink,

and it's another thing

that I've seen something like this in a movie before.

Like, you can have a bed and a couch in the same room,

and you can like be drinking coffee, looking outside.

This photograph right here is sourced

from one of my favorite vintage stores in Kansas City,

Urban Mining.

I don't know her, but I do think she adds

to this whole like paint me like one

of your French girls moment.

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One cool thing about having a big, indulgent closet

is that you get to indulge every part of you,

and I get to have this whole row of all my Chiefs

and Kansas City Royals,

this custom jacket that my friend made

for the Super Bowl last year.

I mean, yeah, it's a whole lot of Chiefs stuff,

but I love you too, Royals.

I have this great vintage perfume sign

from Glenwood Antiques,

and that was a super special find.

It lights up.

This was my dad's robe,

and he gave it to me right when I bought this house

because he was like this is the vibes of your house.

This is the life that you should be living.

And I kind of say to guests, Bring a robe.

Like, we're all chilling out in the pool in silks,

things that look like this.

This is, I want everybody slinky and sexy,

and feeling themselves.

This coat was really special to me.

I actually got to go to the Olympics in Paris this summer

with my good friend, Ego, that I work with,

and she rocked this jacket,

and I don't even rock it.

I just hang it.

So thank you, Ego.

So basically this whole closet,

this moment was to honor my mom, Erny,

who I think just had the most fun closet ever

when I was growing up.

Her and her friends, instead of doing Tupperware parties,

they would do lingerie parties.

So in her closet,

which was 1/2 the size of this

or 1/4 of the size,

it would be all her

and her friends trying on nighties and negligees,

and little slippers like that,

and just having the best time in the world.

So I want my friends' kids to be able to come here,

play in the vanity like I did when I was a little girl,

try everything on,

like everything's easy access,

and I'm just living my best life in this closet.

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We're in the primary bathroom,

and I've got this beautiful pink marble in here,

a floating vanity mirror,

and also this isn't just a mirror this way.

Outside, you can check yourself out out there too.

Okay, so once you come around here

to this really cool shower moment,

then you have this beautiful bathtub,

and I remember early on,

like, one of my friends talking

to me about, like, well,

do you really want a sliding glass door

from the outside into your bedroom

where like your guests could go into your bathroom?

And I was yeah, if I have a shower

and a bathtub like this,

I want my guests to enjoy it too.

Like, do whatever you want in here.

It's cool.

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This room has had a lot of different names.

It went from an office to a media room

to now what I like to call it a snug,

'cause I do feel like this room is totally transportive

from the rest of the house.

One room where we just got to get real flamboyant

and fun with it.

But that came with a cost.

This is Gucci wallpaper, and it's not reasonably priced,

but I'm really happy with the splurge.

I also splurged and put a cat tree in here.

It's kind of got like Dr. Seuss vibes,

which I think works with the wallpaper.

I come in here.

Watch some television.

It's the only room right now with television.

I think it's very funny to tailgate

and watch a Chiefs game in this space.

There's also the glass doors on this side and this side.

So you can be inside, outside,

you can be barbecuing,

there can be a smoker,

we can be tailgating.

So even though this room

is official Chiefs tailgate party room,

it also has its little office moment where I do writing,

and I got to put some of my keepsakes

on the shelf.

This panther was given to me by my dad,

and then this vintage sketch that he had.

He's just one of those people that just has cool stuff.

And then I have this wonderful photograph of my Bampo.

I call my grandpa my Bampo.

He's no longer with us,

but you know, just rock of the family,

and also, like, who looks like that?

I feel like the only other guy that like looked that steely

and cool was Elvis.

I feel like I have an Elvis for a grandpa.

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This space is definitely the biggest reminder to me

that I am away from New York, and away from work,

and truly getting to relax.

Like, jumping in the water every day is so healing.

I completely took it for granted when I was a little kid.

Totally redid the pool.

It's got a really cool custom tile job

around the ledge.

Also, I have this amazing boulder fire pit,

which feels just like Midwestern and cozy.

This whole outdoor scape is another Boogie Nights homage.

I love that you can just like have your cocktail

and travel from the indoors

and the outdoors in your suit, in your robe.

Feel free.

Like I said, I want people just feeling themselves.

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Thank you, AD, for coming by.

You're welcome to come back to Kansas City anytime you want

and stay with me and John Ross.

I have to feed him. Bye.

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