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My niece, Chrystal and her new husband Dave bought their first home in Charlotte, NC. After having decorated her apartment and then her condo, I got THE call. “Can you do the new house? The condo sold with all the furniture and we need to start from scratch.” I was excited for her and proud that she trusted me to decorate her new home.

Now keep in mind that my niece is a left-brain thinker (she teaches calculus and geometry) and selecting furniture, fabrics, and paint colors is painful for her, as this requires using right-brain cells. Her new husband is a CPA so they both need balance and symmetry in the design to stay in their comfort zone. Here was the challenge. While Chrystal is full of energy and has an outgoing, bubbly personality, Dave is quieter and more reserved. She wanted a home that reflected a happy, young couple with lots of bright colors and he wanted something a little more serious.

We also needed to furnish the family room, dining room, study, kitchen, master bedroom and guest room for under $25,000.

We chose a color palette of bright red, green, mustard and black. In the family room, Chrystal desperately wanted a red sofa. Once we found the "perfect" red fabric I accented that with a brightly striped chair in mustard, red and green and added a black leather ottoman/cocktail table for Dave. The entertainment center (not shown in the picture) is a black distressed finish as is the end table. The chic floral drapery fabric pulled all of the colors together against a black background and made the whole room work. The kitchen opens directly into the family room and I did not want to overpower the windows with more fabric, so for a little visual surprise we had chili peppers painted above the windows to give the illusion of a “window dressing”. A round table and black chairs were chosen to bring the colors of the family room into this space. By the way, we painted the walls white.

The study is on the front of the house and directly across from the dining room. Since the walls in the family room were white, we went bold here with a deep mustard color. The dark espresso wood of the computer cabinetry adds balance to this rich color and we accented with greens and a touch of red. A chocolate brown leather recliner sits in the reading corner for Dave. He loves this room.

The dining room is elegant, youthful and positively georgous. The rich green walls are the backdrop for the Broyhill scalloped dining table, accented with fresh white linens, calylillies and brushed stainless picture frames . An intimate retreat that sets the stage for elegant entertaining.

The result: We compromised between Chrystal and Dave’s decorating styles by bringing in a balance of color and furniture. The bright colors that Chrystal loves actually work well with the dark woods that appeal to Dave. The clean lines of some of the furniture meet the more traditional lines of others. This was a harmonious merging of two distinct personalities.

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