Welcome
Consult. Be Inspired. Design. Build. Enjoy.
Comprehensive Design & Build Services with experience you can trust
in the Driftless Region and select locations
Renovation, New Construction, Communities
Remodeling & Renovation
It makes sense to renovate your beloved home! It is the most sustainable, and provides having the most luxurious options for kitchens, baths, and entire homes in formerly clunky and tired spaces. This original 1930s home, had been renovated again in the 1980s, losing alot of its original appeal. This gracious downtown home got a new sense of serenity, better functionality, and casual sophistication.
(La Crosse, WI 2017)
Community Development
Clearwater Farm in Onalaska WI was notable in incorporating green space and trails, neighborhood standards including exterior aesthetics and landscaping, and transforming a typical development into a valued neighborhood. (2001-2005). Concurrently, the Clearwater Farm (a non-profit) was established as the heart of the valley, entertaining, educating, and sharing farm life with thousands ever since.
Since then, the vision of a better way was incorporated into other neighborhoods--including Savannah Village (2007-2011), Meier Farm (2005-2007), Gays Mills Disaster Recovery (2010-2013),
and now Wylausing Commons, currently under development through River to Valley Initiatives.
New Construction--Revise or Design your plans for longevity & appeal with Woodshire Studio
Consulting on the entire project means proportion, balance, detail, form, function, and the myriad of elements that come into balance in a project. All are guided, specified, and brought together to have your project be the best it can be--appealing, long lasting, results.
What clients are saying and what we do...
Vision Realized--Family Vacation Home
A serene family retreat--doing a fair amount of this type of escape these days--and sometimes the escape becomes the main home...
"With Julia's help, we built a spectacular vacation lodge for our large family. Julia was awesome and a huge value throughout the process. We have become friends with her. She always had cool, creative, practical suggestions and knew many regional sources for ideas. Julia never pressured us to commit to any idea she suggested and worked really well with our general contractor. She listened well to our ideas and tailored her suggestions to them. We were originally hesitant to hire a designer but cannot fathom how we could have accomplished such a spectacular project without her. We plan to utilize Julia's services ongoing, as we furnish out our new home. We're thrilled with the results and are happy to speak to any potential future clients of hers. "
--Greg & Beth W. 2019
Specialty Spaces--Home Theatre
This theatre was completed in 2008--and still is the perfect home entertainment for a large family.
An in-home theatre is a luxury that takes teamwork--space planning, electrical, acoustical demands, and the latest components to bring it all together. I work with the best in the industry to ensure a quality installation.
--Technical collaboration with Heath Bernardi, Audio/Visual
Specialty Elements--Custom Furnishings
This type of specialty element is more than just maximum fun space for all ages--it incorporates storage, lighting, and privacy.
To truly finish out a space, it sometimes takes designing custom elements to ensure optimal function. From Bunkhouse fittings to specialty cabinetry, original steel elements, custom window treatments, or rugs, gorgeous tile assemblies or every selection, it is all in a days work.
--Builder, Bad Axe Construction
Consulting: Space Planning, Details, Design
It is a common ask--help us incorporate our ideas, your experience and creativity, along with real world practical solutions for the project--ranging from who to work with us, to how to fit into our location, to the smallest and largest of details.
"We think that asking a house designer like Julia to help build a home is essential. We had an overall concept which she put on paper (or computer), but she developed a plan that became the crowning glory of our preliminary sketches. We wouldn't have known about or thought of the ideas she's brought to the table. Working with her makes us realize that building a house without a designer is as plain and unimaginative and directionless as stitching together a dress without a pattern.
She has fresh ideas, is patient with her clients, and has skills that most contractors don't have. We are grateful that she's working with us. And her cost is very reasonable."
--Anne H.
(New home architectural and interior design)"
Consulting: Kitchen, Custom Elements
"From your initial contact with Julia, you will find that she has a confident and extremely friendly and professional demeanor.
She will put you at ease with the many decisions that have to be made, with great communication, honesty and execution. Julia has tremendous experience with small, medium and large projects and with just sketches on a piece of paper, something practical, beautiful and spectacular will arise! Julia can take the lead on the many moving parts of a design plan and work seamlessly with multiple different contractors.
She has no problem with challenging contractors to “think outside of the box” with her novel design ideas. We had a few pictures of things we liked, but really had no idea how to transition an empty structure into a rustic, but modern cabin filled with color, texture and filled with the things we loved.
Julia has a broad scope of talent and creativity from logical functionality to phenomenal design concepts, while also incorporating unique or unusual requests - like adding a real tree to our great room!
Julia delivered a cabin that matched what we had envisioned in our heads but could not accomplish, while being respectful of our budget.
We highly recommend you contact Julia on your nextproject - you will not be disappointed!!
Andy and Chris Konopacki Driftless Cabin--(2020)
New Home Architectural Design & Detail
LAKEHOUSE: Lots of challenges on this--ranging from the site soils, to the timing of working through COVID, to doing something not commonly done in the area--and still fitting in.
Innovative construction to maximize views, space, and value. New home construction--design to finish--is an option too. The Lakehouse project included teardown and reuse of materials by Amish, new construction on a difficult site with high water table, engineered steel beams to provide sound structural to accommodate wide spans, and a delicate balance in low key design to fit within the neighborhood.
High levels of energy efficiency and low-cost operations, with an eye towards modern. Completed safely during the pandemic, with a large array of talent involved, this home is a jewel on a relaxing lake frontage.
Show Home Winner
"Julia is a very talented designer that listens to her customers and helps move them toward decisions quickly, something that seems to be getting more difficult every year. The end result is always exceptional and most importantly the customers are pleased with the results. She has a great eye for proportions and colors and has the ability to find solutions for a difficult problems."
Mark Etrheim, Mastercraft Homes
(New home construction & Consulting:
Savannah Village, Meier Farms, Spec and Custom Homes throughout La Crosse area, and Office & Commercial spaces in Onalaska, Sparta,: Dozel, Mathews Archery, Headquarters, Clent Conference, Engineering & Testing )
Above Right: Photo La Crosse Builder Parade of Homes Winner 2007, Empire Builders.
Project Management & Remodel
"The day after our youngest child left for college, we began a long overdue kitchen remodeling project, and changed our first floor to an updated facelift it so badly needed! The entire process, from original design to finished project, was handled by Julia .
She is a professional to work with. Her personal attention to our project took the pressure off us and made it fun to collaborate with her. We got together to discuss ideas, and soon she knew exactly the look we were after.
Our project included tearing out walls, windows, ceilings, replacing hardwood floors, cabinets, appliances, and state of the art LED lighting with push button scene controllers. All was accomplished in a reasonable timeframe, with Julia overseeing each step along the way. The custom ceiling, designed by Julia, brought it all together and was the crowing touch. Our friends say it is the most beautiful kitchen and gathering space they've ever seen, and we love it!"
I love collaborating with her, bringing my own ideas into reality, with an eye for design, art and space that is exceptional.
She is my "go to "gal with all my projects.
--Kim, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, Onalaska & Cable WI
About Julia Henley
About Julia Henley
Julia has over 25 years' experience as a designer, community developer, planning professional, and project manager in housing, commercial, hospitality, assisted living, neighborhood development, and business start-ups, for both public and private projects.
DESIGN SCOPE
Her extensive work in designing, specifying, and detailing all facets of the built structure within its framework--including interiors. exteriors, landscape, space planning and form, custom mill work and cabinetry for kitchens, baths, and specialty spaces such as at home entertainment spaces and outdoor terraces and pergolas contribute to a sense of place and enjoyment. Working with talented pros, artists, craftsmen, trades, and technical specialists, she guides clients and coordinates results in the plan itself--revising spaces, shaping goals and vision, assisting clients with budgeting and detailing all aspects of an environment to maximize goals.
NEIGHBORHOOD COORDINATION
Shaping neighborhoods, enhancing communities, and developing comprehensive projects --classic in a historical or modern sense, connecting the site to the built environment with sustainability and longevity as a consistent theme of her work.
As a consultant to business owners, architects, homeowners, builders, contractors, and developers, as well as a project manager and contractor herself, Julia enjoys working with a team to achieve set goals and strives to help make every project not just beautiful, but also sustainable, functional, and timelessly classic --for all of her clients.
EXPERIENCED
Excelling at strategic planning, creative project visioning, communications and public relations, Julia has often provided leadership for the implementation of complex and ground breaking development projects, including Centering Onalaska--helping develop a framework as a volunteer for long term development in the historic downtown revitalization effort (1999-2001), founded Clearwater Farm Foundation, a non-profit active farm in the City of Onalaska (1999), which resulted in ancillary development and educational opportunities as well as expanding access to trails and bluffs for the community. Savannah Village, the first Energy Star@ Neighborhood in Wisconsin was developed in 2007 featuring 32 homes in a site condo setting. Julia set standards in operations and design for the neighborhood, allowing a variety of talented builders to participate and a new type of neighborhood was born for the area.
She has established herself in Neighborhood Coordination by influencing and directing the built environment in over 5 neighborhoods in Onalaska and La Crosse, WI (2000-2009), consulting as neighborhood coordinator to improve the aesthetics and landscape of over 300 units built by various builders and designers. She has served as Gays Mills Recovery & Development Director (2009-2013) for the relocation and disaster recovery of the massively flooded community and leveraged $3.5M in state and federal recovery funds to develop businesses within the recovery community which provided needed services and doubled the tax base and investment in
the community.
In addition to private clients, she currently develops new and blighted property within the region with partners through the non-profit RIver to Valley Initiatives. She serves on the RVI board working to develop housing and neighborhoods that revitalize communities from start to finish within Southwest Wisconsin. See www.Rivertovalley.com
ATTENTION TO SUSTAINABILITY
With her commitment to the ongoing promotion and economic development with the region, she launched "Driftless Notes", originally in print format (2013), and then a subscribed online news aggregation.
In 2014, as part of the leadership of Sustainable Driftless, Inc, a non-profit committed to the branding and understanding of the Driftless Region, she edits the Sustainable Driftless Magazine, an online publication with a mission of educational outreach to lead to sustainable development and economic growth. In 2019, "Decoding the Driftless" was released, highlighting the spectacular environment of the Driftless Region. The documentary film, produced by the organization's Tim Jacobson & Geroge Howe, has since received numerous awards throughout the nation and overseas.
A career long commitment to sustainable solutions means working to achieve a balance between economic growth, historic respect, and environmental protection and development, resulting in "win-win" results in projects for communities, partners, and team members.
Julia is a conceptual architectural, interior, and community designer and project manager. She is also an invited speaker on disaster recovery, writer for Driftless Area Magazine & Sustainable Driftless Magazine, as well as former blogger on design for Kitchen Solvers, a nationwide cabinetry franchise.
Honors
Plenary Speaker; Alaska Emergency Management & Recovery Conference; Anchorage, AK. April 2014. Considerations of Disaster Recovery: Gays Mills, WI
Nominee, Governor’s Tourism Awards: Rising Star, 2013
Published, Driftless Notes magazine; 2014
Presenter & Panelist, 2011 Mid-American Economic Development & Site Selector Forum, Dec 6, 2011, Chicago. “Disaster Recovery—How Communities Economically Recover from Natural Disasters”.
Presenter & Panelist, 2012 American Society of Flood Plain Managers, San Antonio, TX, May 23, 2012. “Implementing the National Disaster Recovery Framework in an Increasingly Stormy World.”
D.B. Reinhardt ETHICS IN LEADERSHIP at Viterbo University, “Day to Day Ethics Radio Series: A Neighborhood Acts”, (July 15-18, 2006)
Natural Home Magazine, Earth Mover Award, July/August 2004
Onalaska Women of Achievement, 2000
University Of Wisconsin History
Project, The Driftless Watershed Series: 2012—Recording History Guest intervie
Where will you work?
Depending on the project and the schedule, I generally work in Southwest Wisconsin, from La Cresent, Onalaska, and La Crosse , to Tomah, Hillsboro, Black Earth, or even Cable WI. Projects can be more rural or in the city, on the riverfront or lakefront, with a few
ranches and hideaways in between.
Contact Julia
Email me directly at