Crystal Lumber
Wisconsin/Upper Michigan Chapter

Asked to name her favorite project, Justyna Skolasinski, AKBD, doesn’t need to look very far. It’s the showroom of Crystal Lumber Showroom and Design Studio, based in Crystal Falls on Michigan’s rural Upper Peninsula, where she works as a Sales/Associate Designer. Tasked with its complete redesign, she took a space she describes as “very closed off” and opened it up, installing all new displays featuring an abundance of styles that artfully showcase what customers can pair together. “It is my most memorable because I get to enjoy it every day,” Justyna says. “It makes my job even more efficient, and our customers get to see first-hand what I can do.”

 Justyna joined Crystal Lumber three years ago without any formal interior design or construction experience — she previously worked as a real estate agent and saw countless opportunities for new homeowners to update and improve their spaces — and she’s proud to have studied and achieved AKBD certification in 2020. She says she loves the functionality of kitchens and bathrooms and how they are used in so many different ways. “It could be a kitchen that has eight purposes other than just cooking,” she says. “I find it very rewarding to go through with people and truly make their spaces function perfectly for their needs.”

“It could be a kitchen that has eight other purposes other than just cooking. I find it very rewarding to go through with people and truly make their spaces function perfectly for their needs.”

The urge to renovate started early for Justyna, who as a child, would rearrange her room at least four times a week and save up money to paint the walls a new color — bright blue, purple, orange or pink — whenever she had the chance. “I would also beg my three siblings to let me clean, reorganize and rearrange their bedrooms,” she recalls. “If my parents ever went out of town, they would come home to find the whole house moved around and reorganized — and spotless!” 

These days, Justyna admits having a soft spot for “modern flared French country style” and a passion for bringing the open feel of nature into any indoor space by removing walls and adding windows. She also knows how to juggle work and family life as she and her high-school-sweetheart-turned-husband, Jake, raise their two kids, nine-year-old Jaxon and five-year-old Jae-Lynn, alongside family pets Ryder, an Australian Shepard pup, and Roxy, a cat. To decompress, Justyna enjoys spending time outdoors with her family, riding dirt bikes, camping or hunting for deer. And when they vacation — family trips to Anna Maria Island in Florida and adults-only getaways to Playa del Carmen in Mexico — they love to “really unwind” by enjoying “the warm weather and the relaxation that comes with the sun and the ocean.”