So the question of the day is what exactly makes a house a home? What are the elements that push a space from ordinary to a nice place to call home and what is required to lay the foundation for achieving great results? Although its human nature to focus on paint colors first, this approach can lead to frustrations down the road. A more practical approach would be to select the colors of what I’d like to refer to as investment design elements which are typically items that are more costly and hard to change such as carpets, sofas, and window treatments. It’s much easier to match fabrics and carpets to paint colors as opposed to searching for fabrics for draperies and sofas that match a particular paint color.

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As a self professed homebody it should have been clear to me what my dream job and purpose in life was. Long before HGTV and its wide array of home improvement programs, This Old House was my favorite program on PBS. So settling into an urban community of older homes built in the 1940’s, such as Four Corners, was a no-brainer and one of the best decisions that I ever made. More than 15 years later I still appreciate the quaintness of the mix of Cape Cods, Tudors, Colonials and Bungalows and the beauty of the surrounding gardens.  Living in an older home doesn’t necessarily mean forgoing modern conveniences, as many of the community’s homes have been updated or have the potential for transformation through design creativity.

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