Pad Peek: Magdalena Luszcz’s Colorful Chicago Home

Today we’re so excited to share a look inside the magical Nomadic Bohemian home of  Magdalena Luszcz’s of Red Poppy Vintage.

Magdalena grew up in Nowa Huta – the easternmost district of Krakow, Poland. The neighborhood was built in the 50’s for steel mill workers and was full of tall cement flats that were carbon copies of each other – even the rationed clothing and home decor were predominantly dark and grey.

In a stark contrast to their grey on grey beginnings, her family started spending summer holidays exploring all over Europe and Turkey. Her parents would bring home carpets, textiles and other beautiful objects to decorate the family flat that otherwise would be drab. It was then that Magda fell in love with color and vowed to carry her parents vision and some day too have a colorful home.

Fast forward to today and this NoBo (nomadic bohemian!!) shares her patternfull “well-traveled bohemian” Humboldt Park home that she inhabits with her husband Adam and pup Kaya.

Magda and Adam’s home reflects her Cancer sentimentality and is filled with personal ephemera.

Among treasured favorites is a portrait of the happy couple painted and gifted by her sister Dominika after their Sian Ka’an Biosphere beach ceremony by a Mayan priest.

Having grown up with so much gray, and having lived in many apartments with little natural light, the first thing she asked Adam to do when they bought their Chicago home was to take down the wall between the kitchen and the sun room and let the light in!

Now, despite having a lovely formal dining room, they and their frequent guests gravitate to the well lit kitchen instead and hang out, cook, play music, have a good time.

These backsplash tiles are an obvious Jungalow favorite in this home. Find similar tile, here.

“When people enter my house I want them to feel happy. I think that bold bright color just makes people smile.”

Her bohemian mantra and aesthetic is to be “easy, natural, and without any boundaries” and it shows. Travel is her number one inspiration. She and Adam travel 2-3 months out of the year, collecting memories and gathering inspiration, clothing and textiles for her shop Red Poppy Vintage. She sees her shop as an extension to her home.  It gives you peek into how she sees the world, what she surrenders to and surrounds herself with.

She believes in spontaneity and letting life unfold organically and their trips are rarely planned – she and Adam may stay for weeks at a time in one location or move from one place to another on a whim. Those whims have taken them to India, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Nepal (to name a few) and to Guatemala where her clothing and accessories line is handmade by local artisans.

She has found that she is drawn to art and vintage clothing with (her spirit animal) tiger print  – which to her symbolizes primal instinct, unpredictability, and the ability to trust oneself. “I love spontaneity, I often do, THEN think, which sometimes is not the greatest idea as we all know, but I get this big rush and feel the most creative then. I think that no matter what happens it will be ok at the end.”

We love Magdalena’s nomadic bohemian style and hope to catch more glimpses of her future travels!
Follow Red Poppy Vintage on Instagram Here. Visit her shop Here.