Meet Our Team.

For Timothy, there is no greater reward than visiting homeowners 2, 5, or 10 years after their remodel is complete and seeing that the home still looks and functions great. He loves stories about how an addition or new kitchen has enhanced the family’s life in daily experience and special events. Creating these one-of-a-kind, personalized remodeling solutions for peoples’ homes is why he started Bluestem and what fuels his passion.

In over 25 years of remodeling projects, Timothy has done every step himself. This deep, direct experience gives him great insight, which — along with creativity, allows him to solve almost any type of remodeling challenge. Expanding on his formal education in the Arts, he is always developing his knowledge with additional certifications and professional training.

Maintaining a strong team that shares his values and passion is one of Timothy’s primary focuses for bringing fantastic remodeling experiences to homeowners. Our clients say they benefit from his careful listening, and trust they, and their homes, are both getting the care they deserve.

For Mark, great design is about creating a home that feels cohesive, intentional, and fully resolved. He has been designing homes since he was 10 years old, and that early instinct continues to shape how he approaches each project — considering the whole, not just the parts, and ensuring every element contributes to a unified result.

With formal training in landscape architecture, Mark brings a broad, site-aware perspective to residential design. He understands how a home sits within its surroundings and how interior and exterior spaces can work together to create a more complete living experience. Coming from a family of craftspeople, he also brings a deep respect for materials, detail, and the process of building. His professional background in theater design and production adds another layer to his work — strengthening his sense of composition, sequencing, and how people move through and experience space over time.

At the beginning of Bluestem, Mark was as the company’s sole designer, helping to establish the design standards and perspective that continue to guide the work today. Clients benefit from his ability to balance big-picture thinking with careful attention to detail, resulting in spaces that feel thoughtful, connected, and enduring.

You’ll always get a smile and an exuberant greeting when Cody comes to your house. His technical proficiencies began with a background in theatrical and AV arts. Helping coordinate and running the AV for big events at the Mall of America is one of his favorite memories. Now, he is our guy who can “fix almost everything” and joyfully keeps the shop tidy and organized.
 

Tora has been making things in Photoshop for as long as he can remember. He started playing around with design at six years old and was creating ads by the time he was eleven. What began as a childhood hobby became something more serious when Ukrainian designer Alina Zabarina invited him to help develop the tourism branding for the city of Ostroh. Since then, Tora has worked in marketing, branding, design, and communications. He believes good business can make a real difference in people’s lives and prefers to work with organizations that are trying to leave their communities better than they found them.

After moving to Canada, Tora had the chance to work with the Rainbow Refugee Association of Nova Scotia, helping support newcomers as they settled into a new country. That experience meant a lot to him. When he learned about Bluestem Remodeling, he saw many of the same values: caring about people, strengthening communities, and improving everyday life through thoughtful work.

Outside of work, he enjoys hiking and is unusually serious about coffee, often importing beans he prefers himself. He misses his family and his two giant Newfoundlands back home, but he is grateful to have found a place where building a life feels possible.

Celeste loves working in the remodeling industry because she’s motivated to help others. She wants to make each and every client’s experience with Bluestem Remodeling a rewarding journey, and the end result to be everything they had in mind.

When customers meet Celeste, she immediately puts them at ease. Her positive attitude is infectious, and her strong background in customer service makes client communication effortless and productive.

Celeste enjoys managing the diverse needs of our clients, and understands how important it is to answer every customer question promptly and accurately. Her motto: “Treat people exactly how I would like to be treated!”

Emma Fritz is an award-winning interior designer known for creating refined, highly personalized residential interiors. With a background designing luxury hotels and resorts across the United States and Central America, she brings a hospitality-informed approach to the home—pairing elevated design with personalized functionality. She has a deep understanding of how spaces are truly lived in.

Emma’s work reflects a sophisticated and flexible design sensibility, meticulous attention to detail and a strong foundation in both construction and space planning. Emma is highly skilled at guiding complex projects from concept through completion, collaborating closely with clients and building professionals to solve design challenges and bring personalized visions to life.

Now focused exclusively on residential projects, she creates homes that feel both beautiful and deeply personal—spaces that balance high design with warmth, livability, and a strong sense of home. She is passionate about creating space that homeowners will love, support their lives and feel like home.

Jen is a self proclaimed Home Renovation Enthusiast! She loves all things design: building, woodworking, painting, sewing, organizing, & graphic design. What she enjoys most about remodeling is finding creative solutions to problems, and being part of a collaborative team of designers & builders. She’s passionate about reimagining spaces to create final products that are both beautiful & functional. Jen has a strong desire to help others, and finds it fulfilling to help homeowners create better spaces in their homes.

Growing up in 100+ year old homes, Jen appreciated the beauty and challenges of architecture at a young age. She was an avid fort builder and artist, and by age 10, knew very well how to reset blown electrical fuses. As a teen, she regularly rearranged her room and took advantage of every drafting, woodworking and art class she could. She went on to earn a BS in Architecture from Ohio State University.

Today, Jen helps homeowners create spaces that are both beautiful and life-changing. Homeowners adore her attention to detail, strategic design solutions, creative space suggestions and design guidance. She is an active school PTO member, helping her community any way she can. She values community, and encourages her kids to always be kind and inclusive. 

Areej is an interior designer with a bachelor’s degree in interior design and furniture, and experience working with furniture design, materials, and high-end clients, including members of a royal family in Saudi Arabia. Originally from Egypt and raised in Saudi Arabia, she has worked in both countries on commercial and residential projects from concept through completion, including dental offices, beauty salons, coffee shops, and primarily residential spaces. Influenced by a family of architects, she has been interested in design since childhood.

She enjoys reimagining spaces to improve functionality, through problem-solving, thoughtful layouts, and budget-conscious solutions, such as fitting challenging elements into small areas. Working with homeowners allows her to explore and create diverse styles, giving her the feeling of living in many different homes while helping clients envision and realize their spaces. She is passionate about envisioning detailed designs early on, down to elements like mirrors and wallpaper, to present a complete, immersive vision and “live” in the space as she designs it.

>Areej brings a fresh design perspective from another part of the world, offering alternative ways of thinking about design. Clients enjoy working with her because she is fun, kind and collaborative, and generates out-of-the-box ideas. Outside of work, she enjoys listening to instrumental music, dancing, warm weather, good food, hosting, and spending time with her daughter. She is grateful to be part of a supportive team that she feels is uniquely collaborative and caring.

Shira has many years of experience working in both marketing and sales with varied companies throughout the Twin Cities, predominately in theater, attractions and entertainment. She’s an active part of the local theater community, though these days — most of her onstage time in her backyard, or miscellaneous public places, singing and dancing with her 6-year-old daughter and doing duets to songs from Gabby’s Dollhouse, K-Pop Demon Hunters, and other movie musicals.

One thing Shira loves about remodeling and the design-build process is seeing projects go from dreams and ideas to fantastic new spaces, through art, craft, creativity and innovation. She loves the collaboration and teamwork that’s involved in the process, and seeing frustrating home spaces transform into wonderful new ones that homeowners love and adore and make their lives better.

Having undergone home remodeling projects herself, she is very familiar with the process as a homeowner, and is passionate about doing her part to help others have a positive experience with it. She loves walking into homes after a remodel is complete and admiring the transformations in homeowners’ lives and homes, and oohing and ahhing at the new spaces and their amazing new function.

Jason started out in the building industry as a child, helping at his dad’s cabinetry shop. Realizing he had a passion for the craft, he went on to earn a degree in carpentry, later ending up in the remodeling industry. He worked a variety of positions in the field to learn as much as he could and continue to hone his craft. 

One thing Jason loves about home remodeling is how every project is different, and every project comes with a new and different set of challenges. He thrives on having the opportunity to find the best solutions for each home and project. Jason takes pride in working with homeowners on their remodeling journeys, and being able to to guide them through the process. He enjoys talking to and getting to know clients, and being able to answer questions as they arise. Jason takes great care in everything he does, and homeowners love his calming presence, cheerful attitude and dedication to great craftsmanship.

In his free time, Jason enjoys playing volleyball, hunting with his dogs, fishing and hiking. If Jason could be any appliance, it would be a refrigerator. Why? “It contains food”. What’s his favorite thing about home remodeling? “Watching homeowners’ excitement as they progress through their projects, and then sharing in their joy when the project is complete.”

George fell in love with drawing in the 9th grade, and has continued with that passion ever since. Now, he uses his impeccable and detailed drawing skills to help homeowners get new spaces in their homes that they can love and will bring them joy. His formal education was at St. Cloud vo-tech, but he has continued his pursuit of learning independently, always striving to learn more and improve his skills and knowledge.

When not assisting homeowners in the remodeling process, George loves to sit back and enjoy life with his family, and spend as much time outside on their patio as he can. His joyful sense of humor and delightful presence is always appreciated by both homeowners and the Bluestem team, and his detailed drawings, strong work ethic and passion for excellence makes him an invaluable asset to our team.

– Elegance Custom Cabinetry  |  @elegance_custom_cabinetry

– NRH Plumbing  |  @nrhplumbing

– Northern Home Seal  |  @northernhomeseal

– Perfection Heating & Air Conditioning      

– Impact Electric

“Bluestem partners with high quality trades-people so the workmanship was very good.” Deb, Maple Grove