Susan Yeley Homes

Susan Yeley Homes Residential Design Firm in Indiana, serving Bloomington, Indianapolis, and beyond. Life is too short not to love your home. ❤️ 🏠
www.susanyeleyhomes.com

Specializing in residential remodels, Susan will help you articulate your personal style and experiences in space, color, light, furniture, textiles, accessories and art. Comfortable working from studs and stone to art and accessories, she'll make sure your home reflects you, whether the budget calls for thrift store hunting or high end custom design.

People often have strong objections to rugs. Here’s what we hear: It will get so dirty! Why cover up the beautiful wood ...
09/04/2026

People often have strong objections to rugs. Here’s what we hear: It will get so dirty! Why cover up the beautiful wood floor we just laid?! It shows too much dirt. It hides too much dirt. The dog is old and her bladder isn’t what it once was. The children and husband prefer plush wall-to-wall carpet.

People. The Big Lebowski said it perfectly: the rug really ties the room together. Never have I met a room that wasn’t improved by a rug. I hear you about dogs and children, and there are low-end, indoor-outdoor, washable rugs for those messy creatures if you must. But to be honest, I have dogs and children and a dad (whom I love and isn’t on social media to read this, though my mom might tell him) who never removes his shoes in my house, and I HAVE WOOL RUGS. Wool repels dirt. Knotted construction is tough (and can also be plush so your people can roll around on it to their hearts’ content). Castles had knotted wool rugs over their stone floors. They can handle your traffic. Invest in a rug and it’s more than a twofer, it’s a six- or eightfer: you get warmth, sound absorption, coziness, color, pattern, space definition, and an heirloom to pass on. It ties a room together!



📸: Sarah Shields

indianadesign

People often have strong objections to rugs. Here's what we hear: It will get so dirty! Why cover up the beautiful wood ...
09/04/2026

People often have strong objections to rugs. Here's what we hear: It will get so dirty! Why cover up the beautiful wood floor we just laid?! It shows too much dirt. It hides too much dirt. The dog is old and her bladder isn't what it once was. The children and husband prefer plush wall-to-wall carpet.

People. The Big Lebowski said it perfectly: the rug really ties the room together. Never have I met a room that wasn't improved by a rug. I hear you about dogs and children, and there are low-end, indoor-outdoor, washable rugs for those messy creatures if you must. But to be honest, I have dogs and children and a dad (whom I love and isn't on social media to read this, though my mom might tell him) who never removes his shoes in my house, and I HAVE WOOL RUGS. Wool repels dirt. Knotted construction is tough (and can also be plush so your people can roll around on it to their hearts' content). Castles had knotted wool rugs over their stone floors. They can handle your traffic. Invest in a rug and it's more than a twofer, it's a six- or eightfer: you get warmth, sound absorption, coziness, color, pattern, space definition, and an heirloom to pass on. It ties a room together!



📸:

09/02/2026

Design Vocabulary Alert: Haussmanian Architecture. Close your eyes and picture Parisian residential architecture, inside and out. What you see in your mind’s eye is thanks to Baron Georges-Eugène Haussman, who wasn’t an architect but was Prefect of the Seine Department under Napolean III in the mid-1800s. Look him up to learn more about his impact on modern-day Paris. For our purposes, Haussman’s standards included wrought iron balconies, dormer windows and mansard roofs outside, and herringbone or chevron floors, elaborate moldings, built-ins, terra-cotta tile, and marble fireplaces inside. Which brings us to our current project and the palette we’re sharing today! We call it , as our client was raised in this Carmel home, and now returns to it with his own young family, including his wife whose aesthetic is SO FUN, y’all - complex color and pattern, layered textures and antiques alongside the best of modern furniture design. We’re leaning into the traditional shell but filling it with our favorite “le mix” of modern and not-so-modern; hence, the Haussmanian inspo. This palette? It’s for phase 1: l’etage des enfants. That’s right: the children’s floor. Pincez-nous, s’il vous plaît.



Oh hey, it is National Dog Day! A holiday we can definitely get behind. I always tell students interested in design that...
08/26/2026

Oh hey, it is National Dog Day! A holiday we can definitely get behind. I always tell students interested in design that if you go residential, you sign up to be tackled by dogs, rubbed up by cats, questioned by children, and right in the middle of marriage dynamics. If you are faking love for your clients’ families, it shows, not just to them, but in the design. Here’s a test: if you secretly love driving middle school carpool, or your tape measure doubles as a cat toy, you might thrive in residential design. At SYH, we design for dogs — and children, and husbands, and pet iguanas and great grandmas and silly uncles — because they are all family (obviously), and family makes a home. Here‘s to our staff pooches and mascots and the many, many bestest doggies we’ve had the privilege of working with.



📸:

08/18/2026

NGL, college kids living in luxury is a little cringey for our grounded midwestern design team; but also, any humans living in gross conditions is a shame, and there are a lot of gross rentals in our town. We aren’t typically hired to fix up rentals—we’re in the business of forever homes, and the work we do is personal and thoughtful and respectful of but not ultimately about the bottom line. So this project was a bit of an anomaly for us - a gross rental owned by forever-home clients of ours, who just wanted us to make it a clean and functional place for students to live. “Rah Rah IU,” they declared the theme - and Rah Rah Rental was born. We gutted both bathrooms and the kitchen (adding better lighting than anyone at SYH remembers having in our early apartments), painted all the walls — including the happiest red trim, and furnished the common areas with low-budget, resilient and modular pieces that were, for the most part, antique! Because we say if your budget is tight, repurpose and reuse thoughtfully, rather than pushing the easy big-box button and buying furniture that will end up in a landfill in no time flat. I think my own college kids might be a bit jealous of this super fun little house south of campus. I know my former apartment-renting self is.

Happy move-in week, everyone! We’re so happy to have you back!

(evenifitistemporary)



📸: Sarah Shields

My kids used to like to ask me what my favorite color is. Isn't it so cool that for children everywhere, Favorite color ...
08/14/2026

My kids used to like to ask me what my favorite color is. Isn't it so cool that for children everywhere, Favorite color = Identity. Whether you like blue or red or green or yellow means something, and finding a kindred spirit? Powerful.

I do my best as a mother, but this one was hard. Give me the fushias and chartreuses and aubergines and midnight blues and marigolds - and yes, I'll also take a side of blacks and whites and grays and beiges (but not ALL beige and gray please, that is just sad). So I'd answer, "Yes!" Which was the most annoying thing I could possibly have said.

At the risk of annoying everyone, I do say YES, to all the colors. Forget the trends, and next time you are reconsidering a space, ask your inner child, "What's your favorite color?" It's ok if the answer today is not the same as tomorrow. They're both right.



📸:

We suppose people managed before mudrooms were a thing but we honestly don't know how. Happy back to school, everyone! M...
08/11/2026

We suppose people managed before mudrooms were a thing but we honestly don't know how. Happy back to school, everyone! May all the things in your home have a place, and may your people put them there.



📸:

On the whole, we (ok, I, Sus) heartily endorse growing older. I remember as a teenager, I was overwhelmed and a little j...
08/07/2026

On the whole, we (ok, I, Sus) heartily endorse growing older. I remember as a teenager, I was overwhelmed and a little jealous of how much my dad knew about all the things that grew on our property -- cultivating, propagating, harvesting, preserving, cooking. Turns out, at nearly-50, I've learned some things too, some with effort but many just with time.

Today, we're sharing this tip from our now-thick book of decorating knowledge: Do the hard [unexpected, tricky, boundary-pushing] thing. Most of us spend a lot of time in our homes, and a lot of that time in our kitchens. Renovations involve not just a financial investment but an investment of heart and time. We say make it worth your while by leaning into cabinetry details that make your kitchen unlike the many, many, many pretty kitchens you find on Pinterest. Pick a great color you love and use it unabashedly. Texturize something that's usually flat with tambour (or rattan or metal or leather or almost anything else!). Take an extra minute to find pulls and k***s that will make you smile every time you touch them.

Your maxims for the day: There are many right answers. (There are more wrong answers.) Safe isn't wrong. (It's just kind of a shame.) Feel free to use these for decorating, or as life metaphors.

📸: (2) (4 & 6)

Today's post is brought to you by the letter A, for Art! As more and more of our clients lean on us to augment existing ...
08/04/2026

Today's post is brought to you by the letter A, for Art! As more and more of our clients lean on us to augment existing or curate new collections, we have been thinking about this point of clarity: art is so much more than 2D rectangles on walls! Y'all, your furniture should be comfortable and well-crafted and respectful of both our ancestors and our grandchildren ... and also, guess what, it should function as ART. If we're interested in comparing apples to oranges (which we are usually not, but here goes), honestly: furniture wins over paintings - you touch it! You use it! It's the full package.

One more thing while we're here expanding minds: you know what else is art? Your fixtures. You need them to hang your towel on, or to see what you're chopping. But they can (ahem, should) do more! If you believe in the power of art, you should also believe in the power of fixtures. They are electrified and plumbed sculptures, and as such they should bring you joy (and they deserve thoughtfulness and, yes, investment).

I think we can agree: real art by real people earning real money for creating, is always better than mass-produced, AI-generated, at worst stolen knock-offs. As such, take note: buy furniture and fixtures that are real, too, from sources that pay creators, and shop for pieces that are as thoughtfully designed as they are functional. Home hits different with a red Womb Chair, a restored Brasilia highboy, or a genuine ph5 pendant. Quality over quantity.

📷:

07/29/2026

When you work for and with friends, it’s just so darn happy.

This porch has been a long time coming. Adjacent patio and hot tub are almost done now, too, and then all that’s left are the tv (too late to stream the World Cup, but there will be other games!), some twinkle lights, and friends!




🔨 Stumpner's Building Services

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1620 S Pickwick Place
Bloomington, IN
47401

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+18123317959

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