New Meaning to Holiday Decorating

<![CDATA[November 4, 2015

Chris and Alissa: the daring duo with great taste

My fearless client:

At this time of year, it isn’t unusual for people to talk with me about decorating for a specific holiday. It is a little unusual for someone to tell me they want their entire house to be designed around a specific holiday. Even more different when that holiday is Dia de los Muertos. (That’s Day of the Dead for you non-Spanish speakers.)

That’s exactly what my friend Alissa Silkwood asked me to help her do. She’s a landscape designer who is fearless with color in her home and in her fashion, so she is drawn to this holiday for visual reasons. Currently, her living room ceiling is a dark brown and her walls are a light emerald green with pops of coral, pink, and peacock in her accessories. I told you she was FEARLESS. It’s beautiful, and she has done a wonderful job of pulling it all together, but she is ready for something new.

The Self-Discovery:

It all started when we were discussing colors for her kitchen as she is preparing to gut it and start over. She was continually attracted to high contrast kitchens we saw on Houzz.com. As we discussed her love of color and doing black and white with a punch of one of her signature colors, she realized that she was drawn to this scheme the same as she’s drawn to her costumes for Dia de los Muertos. “That’s it! I want my whole house done like a giant sophisticated Day of the Dead costume!”

I don’t know what I love more about my job, the beautiful spaces I help my clients create or the self-discovery I get to watch as they take the time to think about why they are drawn to specific colors, shapes, textures…beauty.

So, now we’re discovering what sophisticated Day of the Dead will look like in a home.

Have you ever considered using a particular holiday to design a room around? Maybe it was a piece of art, a vacation or a movie? Please share because I’d love to hear about it and you might just inspire someone else.

I’ll keep you posted on what “Sophisticated Day of the Dead” looks like in a home so check back.

Gracias!