The adjective that best describes the first impression of the Dave and Kim Trent home — inside and out — is vibrant. The lush landscaping, use of color, meaningful collections and eclectic style reflect the owners’ love of life and creativity.

Large windows allow natural light to flood most of the two-and-a-half story, 4,200-square-foot Russell Stutes-built home. Shaded,

south-facing windows offer a sweeping view of the 15th hole of the Lake Charles Country Club Golf Course.

Canadian-born, Kim Trent majored in chemical engineering at her father’s urging, but she is an artist at heart.

“When I got into photography after finishing my degree, I told my dad at least I was using my chemical background,” she said, chuckling.

It’s possible that she gets her gusto for life from her father. Now a retired engineer, he has completed the Iditarod five times and four of those were after the age of 60.

Trent is a photographer, painter, potter and past owner and operator of an herb farm. She also helps homeowners achieve the joy of living in an environment truly reflective of who they are.

She does it mainly by listening.

“I spend a lot of time with my clients,” she said, “asking questions and discovering who they are,” she said. “People become really creative when you give them the time and the freedom.”

Amazing homes don’t happen overnight, according to Trent who has been collecting since she was 23. But a home can be a sort of biography. The Trent home tells the story of family, travels and even provides memories of other places that Dave and Kim Trent have lived.

She keeps an inordinate amount of visual material on file to help clients make choices. Trent believes the most satisfying designs reflect not just who someone is in the moment, but where have been and where they want to be.

Color satisfies her visual hunger.

She has blended paints ad created special textured wall effects to achieve one-of-a-kind looks. The finish in her master bedroom took six weeks to complete. Local craftsman Michael Gott did much of the work.

Her style is eclectic and she admits, a little eccentric. She is generally in the throes of at least one home improvement project at all times and never proclaims her own home “finished.”

The plum raisin paint blend used on key walls in the living area is the perfect backdrop for expressive framed artwork featuring bright contrasting colors: Theo Tobias lithographs, Alexandra Nechita prints, Salvador Dali prints and one of Trent’s paintings.

Like other elements throughout the house, the art wasn’t chosen because of the color alone. Trent knows and appreciates the backstory.

She said Israeli-born Tobias and his family lived hidden and confined for two years when Germans occupied Paris. Many of his paintings feature the teapot, which is representative of domesticity. He leaves a message buried and painted over in each of his works that can only be discovered if the painting is destroyed.

Paintings in the home also show Trent’s appreciation of humor and cultural kitsch.

“If you go to many yard sales or flea markets then you’ve probably seen these paintings that represent the work of an aunt or other relative who took up painting late in life,” Trent said. You see them and you just know they represent someone’s early attempts at painting.”

Trent devoted an entire wall in the upstairs sleeping loft to such paintings.

One bathroom in the home is reminiscent of a mini European art gallery. When Trent’s daughter took an art course that included a tour of Italy’s art museums, she collected postcards for her mother. Trent used ornate, ready-made, standard-sized frames with generous mats to display the postcards against the rich toile wallpaper.

Collections are varied. Textures and metals are mixed. Placed at the entrance are slightly tarnished musical instruments in a basket sitting atop a wood trencher. A crystal collection glistens next to an armchair. Seashells share space with silver. McCoy pottery lines the top of the dining room china cabinet, occupies space in the family room and McCoy cookie jars line a doorway.

“McCoy was fun to collect and affordable until Martha Stewart put it on the cover of one of her magazines,” she laments.

Of all the collections that call for visitors to the Trent house to pause and look closer, the large cage of finches and doves may be one of the most engaging. The cooing of the Diamondback doves is the perfect background music for the beautiful setting. In the cage, a zebra finch calmly rests atop her nest of small eggs. One of the owl finches looks tired and standoffish. Trent said he’s one of the oldest in the crowd. The young Cordon Bleus and Yellow Zingers are livelier in color and movement.

For the interview, the Trents quarantined their three dogs and two cats.

It is a house full of life.

“The thing that makes this house feel like a home is all the love and laughter I feel when I look around…remembering the why, how and when certain things became part of our family history,” Trent said. “Even though some of the people aren’t here, there’s a crazy energy floating in the air. I like to think it’s because of every soul that’s ever laughed, cried, worked, rested, loved and been entertained in this place I call home.”

Lush landscaping and large potted plants are the prelude to the vibrant interior of the Trent home