As I was walking my house the other night I was reflecting on the story my home tells.  Is your home just a place to lay your head at night or is it a place that nurtures and inspires you?  A place of joy and comfort?   Whenever I was starting the preparation for an imaginary space be it a Symphony Showhouse, Street of Dreams, or just a gallery room inside our local Ethan Allen Store I would always make up a story.  Who lives here?  

I still do this even with myself, and of course I do this with my clients, asking them The Who, What, Where and When to find out what their story is.

I had a new client the other day say to me “Why are you asking me this?”.  Actually she just hired me for a paint consultation so therefor I don’t think she felt that paint was personal.  But to me, paint IS personal and just as important as the furnishings and the finishing touches.  

This client has moved into a new life style with a situation where they have yours and mine, furnishings.  She doesn’t want to take things too quickly in learning this new relationship so all the mismatched furniture and accessories stay for now.  

The house was your typical builder, built in the late 80’s early 90’s and in NE that means everywhere you look it is golden oak.  The challenge I learned was how to minimize the look of the oak without putting a brush to it.  Uggg!  My client dislikes the kitchen, not because of the function, but because of all the oak.  She would love to gut this kitchen but at the moment that isn’t her decision to make.  While trying to make a place for herself she is respectful of previous choices.  She thought we were going to pick out white paint and call it a day.  What happened?  We went on a journey!  

I showed her by going with the colors of off white that she had previously selected she was actually going to accentuate the oak, creating high contrast and therefor stopping your eye at every juncture.  The solution, a darker shade of grey that will unify all the different elements of the kitchen. She was surprised and a bit scared, but I assured her that the kitchen has minimal wall space with lots of cabinets, the paint would bring all those mismatched elements together.  Then with the family room painted in a lighter shade on our same paint strip the two rooms would flow together beautifully and a lot of the random furnishings will blend away until a time when they can develop their taste together.  I bought them time.

In the primary bedroom I walked into a king size bed with a pickled headboard a lovely 1880’s chest in very nice condition with a bit of marquetry, 2 lime green wicker chairs, a raw wood washstand, and a 1960‘s off white bamboo desk.  Two avocado green metal old Pottery Barn nesting tables and a small different bamboo desk chair in black and the only pieces that were in the right location was the bed and desk.  She had the chest angled into, too small of a corner and the raw wood stand angled into too big a corner.  

What she did have were 2 very colorful prints that totally looked like her that were very fun but of course you couldn’t see them because they were both on the walls where you come into the room.  The room was totally out of balance and all the color was on one wall.  I looked at her and said let’s start shoving some furniture.  Shocked but up for it, the antique chest got moved to the left of the bed making for a lovely presentation as you enter the room, and the raw wood stand was placed on the other side.  The desk got shoved down a bit so it wasn’t crowding the French door entrance into the room.  The two lime green chairs are now flanking the desk which she uses as an office, and those metal nesting tables are residing in the window with the smaller bamboo chair.

I then asked her what is your common denominator in this room?  She didn’t know, although the room was now balanced and looked so much better she still has some work to do. We took down one of the colorful prints and placed it to the left of the window.  This brought some color to the other side of the room.  Back to common denominator, I looked at her and said it was black.  I got a puzzled look because at face value there was no black in the room.  But, there was black in the colorful art.  I asked her to imagine the bed and desk in black and the wicker and bamboo chairs in a nice shade of off white.  She is totally up for the challenge of painting these pieces herself and I can’t wait to see how they turn out.  So we selected a not quite black, black.  She said what color is that and I said exactly!  That’s the great thing about this color in the room.  It’s black, but is it!

Now we’re getting somewhere!  We selected a lovely shade of grey paint for the walls and the bedding is already lovely and neutral so it will stay.  As I was walking out the bedroom door I said, “You know what you need? You need hot pink velveteen Euro’s behind all that neutral bedding.”  Oh, but she just hired me for a paint consultation!  Paint is personal!  And I have given her a lot to think about.  Hopefully to dream of, and when the time is right with any luck she will call me again to finish up what we started.

I think this is a great exercise for any one who wants to be sheltered by their home whether it is a studio apartment or a mansion.  What story does your home say about you?

Sometime I’ll tell you the story that my home says about me.  Besides the lover of old and grubby!

Oh and I can’t wait to share Antiquing in Fremont.  Next time.

Thanks for stopping 

Shelley