Photography by Chelsie Lopez
Lidia Valdivia always had a mind for entrepreneurship but didn’t discover her latent love for construction and interior design until she moved to Minnesota.
Valdivia grew up in Nicaragua, surrounded by warm weather and vibrant color. As a young adult, a trip to Minnesota to visit her brother set her on an unexpected journey to where she is today: a rising star in Twin Cities interior design and home remodeling as owner and director of Moonstone Design + Build.
The first job Valdivia landed locally was refinishing hardwood floors, then cleaning siding. Soon, she started her own sub-contracting business and began studies for an Associate of Arts at Saint Paul College, and fell in love with interior work, leading her to founding Moonstone.
Some of her first clients for remodeling projects shared her love of color, which set a precedent for her signature aesthetic. “I had a project called Spun Sugar, featuring pink cabinets, walnut, and a green backsplash,” she says, of the kitchen, bathroom, and fireplace remodel in a 1949 home, “and that came to be a project that a lot of people look back to, even now.” This winter, Valdivia completed a remodel of her own home, bringing not just her taste, but what she has learned over the years, into each room. Here, she shares more about her personal project, her design approach, and details she loves in homes right now.
Midwest Design: You recently renovated your own home. What was your inspiration for that project?
I grew up in Nicaragua. So, a big thing for me being far away from home was creating a refuge that that felt more like my childhood home. So, for example, we did terracotta floors all across the living room, dining room, and kitchen—thinking of Nicaragua, I wanted something that felt very earthy and brought the exterior in. We also added skylights and kept it really subtle with the walls. They are very textured, but my fiancé paints, so we wanted to have something that would let the art be the color, and that could be changed all the time.
Midwest Design: Where do you find inspiration for other home projects?
I love traveling. I traveled a lot after high school. I spent almost six months in Egypt volunteering, and then I did a European backpacking trip by myself. I’ve been to a lot of Central and South American countries. I’ve been exposed to a lot of cultures and different ways that people use spaces and that’s where a lot of my inspiration comes from.
Midwest Design: Any color combinations or interior design details you are loving right now?
Bringing true artisans into projects from around the country, and world, to create things that are handmade. Structural furniture and mixing that with vintage items … having everything feel like it was not just purchased at one store, you know? Spaces that feel personal and collected rather than everything matching. As for color combinations, red and burgundies right now are hitting really hard, and I am here for it. I love it.
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