The Best Beads for Modern Minimalist Design, According to an Interior Designer

Drywall is everywhere in a home, but beyond applying paint and wallpaper onto it, drywall isn’t always thought of as a major opportunity for interior design. As a result, an interior designer is usually only brought in after the drywall’s already been finished — to help pick colors, furniture and décor for the walls, but not necessarily the design of the walls themselves. For interior designer Lisa Janvrin, however, that changed when she decided to tackle her own project, giving her creative control from the ground up.

Janvrin and her company, Janvrin & Co., are based in Omaha, Neb., and are known for their modern aesthetic, stark whites and playfully bright accents. Janvrin spent many years bouncing around various design industries, from film sets to photo shoots, before officially landing in interior design in 2014. (“I really loved that process of selecting everything and having something that actually would stay around,” she told us. “It wasn't just torn down a day later.”) Having started out in the business by designing her son’s nursery, she soon made her name on creating incredible kids’ rooms for others. Then, in more recent years, she’s expanded to designing living rooms, bathrooms and bedrooms as well, primarily through e-design.

When Janvrin started exploring the world of sleek, modern drywall trim for her own home’s addition, her journey ended up with her discovering Trim-Tex. We were able to work with her to select the vinyl drywall beads that would bring her design vision to life. Once the project was completed, we spoke to Janvrin to find out why she chose the drywall accessories she did, and how her experience was using them. Read on to learn her story!

Trim-Tex: So this is your house? And it’s a renovation?

Lisa Janvrin: Yes. We've been in this house for 15 years. I've been dreaming about it for a really long time. When we bought the house, I could see it had good bones. It's very simple. It's a raised ranch, which just means you enter the ground level and there's stairs that go up to the most level up here is the bedrooms and living space. It was a living area downstairs. We started to lay out an addition because we needed more space, more bedrooms for kids and family to come visit because no one really lives here except for us. The addition was 1,000 square feet of new space that we built, we pushed, dug back, dug out, and then built up on top of that.

Yes, I noticed that. It seems like you do have a preferred style, which is very modern. How does Trim-Tex fit into that style?

Yes, I do like a cleaner, modern, contemporary look, for me, it's personal. I think everyone's different, and some people work really well in clutter, they say. They say that. I don't know if it's really true. [chuckles] I do not. My office was always white, painted white, and that was the first white space, and it was still too much clutter and too much stuff, but I needed that clean sort of canvas to think and to have my mind rest, my eyes rest, and be able to focus on whatever I was doing.

So, Trim-Tex, when I was envisioning the house being very clean, light, minimal, and getting rid of a lot of stuff, I think I remember standing — I had this main hallway that has various doors. I would just stand there, and I see all this trim and all this stuff right in my eyes — it was too much. I was just, like, how do I get rid of that extra bulk and clean things up and just make it look a little bit bigger and cleaner? Then we'd have another hallway going the other way with lots of doors, and I didn't want to have all that extra detail. That's how I started to think about trimless. I didn't know that existed, for sure, but I've seen it in a lot of photographs. I saw it in high-end design magazines and these really great spaces. I just didn't know if it was something I could do or if it was super unique and only high-end builders could do it. That's how I found Trim-Tex.

You worked with Architectural Z Shadow Bead yourself on your stairs. Did that change your perspective at all on: is this doable, is this difficult, or is it easy?

Because my drywallers didn't have experience with your product yet, they had never used the Z Shadow Bead before, it was a learning process for all of us. We watched all the videos, which is great. They learned how the Trim-Tex is supposed to work, and we figured out which way it goes. I worked with them side-by-side doing it. I really saw how it was meant to be installed, and it wasn't complicated. It was just, I think, having the right tools.

I was here a lot because it's my home and I live here, so I was constantly at the house, like every day, all the time, and keeping a very close eye on things, which I highly recommend to any homeowner. I could see the first few doors they did with the Z Shadow, there may be get a tiny little — they didn't butt it right up against the jamb. There may have been a tiny little black line gap, right? While I think you probably could fill with caulk if you really need to, I didn't want to have that much of a step and I wanted them to do it correctly the first time. I'd say, "Hey, can you redo that one?" I showed them why and they understood what they're looking for. I think that was just key to the first few doors is to make sure they understood really what it's supposed to look like and how it was supposed to work.

After that, it was pretty easy. I think the — I don't want to say easy because nothing's easy, but once they got going and they understood what was needed, like the whole spacing of the jamb, between the jamb and the drywall, and how they had to cut that out and how much to cut out — that was the concern, obviously, to make things straight so things looked really good afterwards and didn't look funky.

Yes, by a few doors, they had it down. Then for the stairs, yes, we had no problem doing it [ourselves]. We literally had to wait till the stairs were done. Everything was installed and even we waited until they were a stain was put on, the clear stain coating was put on. We waited till it was completely done because then you had to go back in perfect, right where the stair was. You couldn't do it before the stair treads were in.

It is very intricate, but the question that always comes up is: is it worth it? Can you tell me if it's worth it?

It's totally worth it. I look down the hallway, it's just the walls; I just see walls, and I see my beautiful hardware. I have some beautiful hardware from this company that I also partnered with, and it's terrazzo, it's gorgeous. It makes that the jewel: that’s the thing you see, and you see the little shadow, which is awesome — and that's it. So, yes, totally worth it.

Obviously, you were going for a very modern style and look, and usually, that's associated with sharp corners, sharp lines, and things like that. You went for a little bit of a softer look. Why did you choose to use a Small Bullnose Corner Bead rather than bullnose or just standard corner bead? It's a bold move. How did that fit into your overall design vision?

I wanted lots of clean lines, but it didn't need to be super severe, always everything really sharp. I have a kitchen that’s very severe in color because it's all white, but all the edges have the same round, very subtle curved edge. It just softens it a little bit. The [3/16" Small] Bullnose is the same thing. It just gives a slight organic vibe and it's just soft.

People aren't going to realize it, right? People aren't going to come to my house and notice that. It just softens everything. It feels a little bit slightly different for sure. People wouldn't recognize that, but it's just one of those details that you feel it overall.

Can you explain some of your other Trim-Tex choices?

The Fast Cap was great. I had a few passageways in the hallway, and like a couple openings, whether I have like a — my pantry has a pocket door, and then our primary walk-in closet opening. We did a couple ourselves, actually. My husband did a couple, and it was like, "Boom, boom, boom." You're done, just a couple of staples and some glue, you have a beautiful finish, very level surface, and without having to worry about any of the drywall or perfecting that area. That was really great.

Then the other, the window, I think the Super Seal [Tear Away L Bead]; it gave a nice, finished look without having to go back in and have someone caulk, and maybe [result in] more mess and more time. It was done with the drywall, and that was the first time for them using it. I know they would use it again. We had the wrapped windows. With the wrapped windows, you see every little — anything else that's on there, you're going to see it. Not have to caulk or anything, finishing and sanding, was really nice. It looks good.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

The Best Beads for Modern Minimalist Design, According to an Interior Designer

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