A touch of the Caribbean
Published 6:10 pm Monday, November 6, 2017
The blue and white kitchen tile backsplash was installed over the existing backsplash, an option that helped save money.
After being responsible for sprucing up, painting and decorating five houses in six years, a young Lake Charles professional decided to hire a local interior designer for house number six.
This three-bedroom, two-bath, 2,100-square-foot-house would be home for the husband and wife and “children,” the four-legged Crazy Carmen and the threelegged shelter rescue, Dingo.
“The client told me she wanted classy modern, but said she wasn’t quite sure how to pull it off,” said the local designer.
The homeowner is obsessed with the beach theme. Every year the couple takes a beach/snorkeling vacation, and they bring back a shell or other memento. Shells from the Bahamas, Granada and Jamaica are on display. One figurine is a beautifully carved piece of driftwood. A small wood-carved pig is a reminder of the couple’s Bahama “swim with the pigs.”
Yes, you can book a day trip to swim with pigs in the Bahamas. No one knows how the pigs got there. They are not native to the area. It is thought that they were left by sailors or swam to the island after a shipwreck.
The mixture of French chairs and contemporary furnishings, along with the touch of whimsy provided by the chandelier helps balance this space in a way that appeals to this young couple. Their directive was to create a soothing interior that would remind them of their wedding in the Caribbean. The aqua and blue colors used are reminiscent of those clear water beaches.
The colors blue and white figure prominently in the finished space. He does not “dig” the white. She — an anesthesiologist who never tires of the clean, fresh look of white at home and in the operating room — loves it.>
The homeowner is obsessed with the beach theme. Every year the couple takes a beach/snorkeling vacation, and they bring back a shell or other memento.
The springboard piece was a bold fabric chosen for the living room chair. From that point, everything just fell into place, according to the homeowner.
Since she had never hired an interior designer, she didn’t know quite what to expect. Her biggest “aha” moment? How easy it was to work with a designer whose priority was to create a space that completely reflected the taste and personality of the owners.
“This is the second coffee table,” the homeowner said. “I didn’t know how an interior designer would react if I was totally honest and said I didn’t like something. It was no big deal.”
Visualizing a finished, genuinely authentic space that is not “matchy-matchy” takes a special knack. Not everyone has it. When furnishings, fabrics, paint color and décor are selected one-by-one with the help of an interior designer, it may not seem to add up – until the final reveal.
This bold print is the cornerstone of the living room design.
After living in different houses while they finished up education and advanced careers, this couple is home, and this is how they choose to describe home: “It’s the place you want to be.”