My earliest memory of decorating was when I was 12. My beloved grandma wanted to redo her bedroom. I begged her to let me help during summer break. She handed me $100.00 and said make it pretty and blue. I was so excited. I soon discovered $100.00 was not going to buy much. So with grandma's words pretty and blue in my head, I found the prettiest blue floral and stripe wallpaper I could find. Trying to stretch that $100.00 I only papered one wall and painted the rest a beautiful matching sky blue. Since it was the old paper that had to be pasted I was grateful to only do one wall! I then set out to paint all of her blonde furniture creamy white. Headboard, dresser, mirror, chest of drawers, drum table and 2 bedside tables. I painted for a week--in her garage--during the summer--hot summer, enough said. Onto the bedspread and curtains decision. I poured over the Sears, Montgomery Ward (remember them?) and Penney's catalogs. I finally settled on a sky blue and sheer eyelet ruffled set from Montgomery Ward. The week of waiting for it to be delivered was agony. I was so scared it wouldn't match. Next what to do with the floors? Grandma wanted carpet, she wanted to get out of bed and put her feet on carpet not that old hard wood. So with very little left of the $100.00, I went on a quest with grandma and mom for a piece of carpet. Luck was with us, we found a piece of blue carpet mom and I decided we could make fit. Yes we put the carpet down ourselves. Finally it was time to put it all together, my mom helped me arrange, hang, iron, and fluff until I was ready for the big reveal. Needless to say, the look on my grandma's face was worth all the sweat and work. It brings tears to my eyes even now. Grandma never changed her bedroom again, she kept it that way until the day she passed.
My next memory of decorating was the following year. For my 13th birthday I asked my mom if I could redo my bedroom. She said go for it. Now to put this in context as to why that was so amazing was because my parents had just built their dream house after having rented since they were married. So mom had all the new gold, avocado and brocade decor of the 70's. You can just imagine the look of horror on mom's face when I picked navajo orange for my wall color. Her carpet was avocado green. She said are you sure, I said yes, and she paid for it. What mom didn't know was while I had been looking for grandma's bedspread and curtains, I had come across a patchwork bedroom set I loved. It was done in all the colors of brown, beige, rust, orange and green. Even then I was drawn to earthy colors. I was just hoping it was going to match. I wanted to be too far into the project before I showed mom the set I was going to order so she wouldn't reject it. I worked on my room with the door shut, when the time came to put it all together I held my breath. I stood back and admired my work. It went together perfectly. The curtains where cream, brown and orange calico print ruffled tie-backs, so pretty against the orange walls. The bedspread was a patchwork with the curtains print of ruffles. The green in the patchwork matched the avocado carpet just fine. I yelled for mom to come look. She looked around silently for quite awhile. Finally she said, "I never thought orange and green could be brought together so beautifully."
The reason I have told these two stories is because my grandma and mom instilled in me the confidence that I was talented, creative and had the ability to decorate. This set me on my path to use my creative talents in different ways to earn a living.
My road to this point in my life has been winding, twisting and yes some backtracking. I have always had to have some creative outlet present though.
At 19 and newly married, my in-laws let me have a lot of creative input into their new nightclub business. We restored/remodeled an old speakeasy in a historic town.
Rick and I purchased and restored a 1877 Italianate home on the historic register, which we sold to investors to be used as a bed and breakfast.
I had a business, K's Design and Decor. I remodeled, restored, designed and decorated for over ten years. All the while also working full time in my husband's computer business.
Rick was offered a job in Nashville he couldn't resist and we sold the computer business, closed my business and moved to Tennessee.
At 38, with a little time on my hands, I had our beautiful daughter Taryn Rose. For five years all my creative energy went towards her and our home.
With Taryn in school it was time to start earning some income from my creativity again. I started part-time visual merchandising for some department stores, M***'s, S***s, and M********d M*******y.
I opened a new business, The Collected Nest, with a booth in Illinois. My mom managed it and I supplied it. Rick and I love to go to auctions, estate sales, yard sales and restore furniture together. Since we were starting to get quite an excess (by this I mean the garage and two storage sheds were full) this was the next logically step.
Now I am at a crossroads in my life. My mother passed after a lengthy illness in November (2011). Along with her passing came a lot of soul searching. I quit all my merchandising jobs in January(2012). I am not able to keep up the booth in Illinois to my standards, so I am now trying to decide which creative direction to take.
This blog is my first step down this new path.
My next memory of decorating was the following year. For my 13th birthday I asked my mom if I could redo my bedroom. She said go for it. Now to put this in context as to why that was so amazing was because my parents had just built their dream house after having rented since they were married. So mom had all the new gold, avocado and brocade decor of the 70's. You can just imagine the look of horror on mom's face when I picked navajo orange for my wall color. Her carpet was avocado green. She said are you sure, I said yes, and she paid for it. What mom didn't know was while I had been looking for grandma's bedspread and curtains, I had come across a patchwork bedroom set I loved. It was done in all the colors of brown, beige, rust, orange and green. Even then I was drawn to earthy colors. I was just hoping it was going to match. I wanted to be too far into the project before I showed mom the set I was going to order so she wouldn't reject it. I worked on my room with the door shut, when the time came to put it all together I held my breath. I stood back and admired my work. It went together perfectly. The curtains where cream, brown and orange calico print ruffled tie-backs, so pretty against the orange walls. The bedspread was a patchwork with the curtains print of ruffles. The green in the patchwork matched the avocado carpet just fine. I yelled for mom to come look. She looked around silently for quite awhile. Finally she said, "I never thought orange and green could be brought together so beautifully."
The reason I have told these two stories is because my grandma and mom instilled in me the confidence that I was talented, creative and had the ability to decorate. This set me on my path to use my creative talents in different ways to earn a living.
My road to this point in my life has been winding, twisting and yes some backtracking. I have always had to have some creative outlet present though.
At 19 and newly married, my in-laws let me have a lot of creative input into their new nightclub business. We restored/remodeled an old speakeasy in a historic town.
Rick and I purchased and restored a 1877 Italianate home on the historic register, which we sold to investors to be used as a bed and breakfast.
I had a business, K's Design and Decor. I remodeled, restored, designed and decorated for over ten years. All the while also working full time in my husband's computer business.
Rick was offered a job in Nashville he couldn't resist and we sold the computer business, closed my business and moved to Tennessee.
At 38, with a little time on my hands, I had our beautiful daughter Taryn Rose. For five years all my creative energy went towards her and our home.
With Taryn in school it was time to start earning some income from my creativity again. I started part-time visual merchandising for some department stores, M***'s, S***s, and M********d M*******y.
I opened a new business, The Collected Nest, with a booth in Illinois. My mom managed it and I supplied it. Rick and I love to go to auctions, estate sales, yard sales and restore furniture together. Since we were starting to get quite an excess (by this I mean the garage and two storage sheds were full) this was the next logically step.
Now I am at a crossroads in my life. My mother passed after a lengthy illness in November (2011). Along with her passing came a lot of soul searching. I quit all my merchandising jobs in January(2012). I am not able to keep up the booth in Illinois to my standards, so I am now trying to decide which creative direction to take.
This blog is my first step down this new path.
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