by Autumn Barnett

Created on: October 27, 2008   Last Updated: October 28, 2008

Every living space has ambience, created by choices in materials, color, decor, and the skill with which these are utilized in overall design. An immediate reflection of personality is especially apparent when we enter a room that has an effect on our emotions and energy. We know instantly if a home's inhabitants have shaped their living space consciously, if it is a work in process or stasis, if there are disparate personalities vying for attention. While our living space is first and foremost arranged for our own comfort, it is also a medium of self-expression. As "artists-in-residence" we have a nearly infinite number of elements to choose from in creating living spaces that tell the stories of our lives and loved ones. Personal choice reigns, for better or worse.

In our own home, one can see the contrast between my husband's and my own tolerance for clutter. Our shared living spaces experience fluctuations in "stuff", but his study is consistently wild in the amount and placement of furniture, dcor, reading material, tools, shoes, etc. Mine is spare and organized. It's not surprising we approach work tasks, parenting, and even our hobbies in the same way we decorate our rooms. It is through the necessary compromises in the living room and kitchen that a lot of marital tension peaks and is then resolved. You could say that our local remodeling supply store has become a kind of counselor's office for us.

We're both serious and persistent in our efforts though. A lot of progress has been made in the past year and a half that we've owned our home. In the first six weeks, the third floor attic morphed into a bedroom for our two daughters. Everything was arranged with female teenage tempers in mind brushed nickel hardware and cooling blue on the walls, beds on opposite sides of the room with a plush throw rug to mark the boundary, and separate spaces for storage and display. There's yet to be an incident (real or perceived) of violation of personal space. I'm convinced those blue walls calm the savage beasts more than the thumping boom box.

In that same six weeks we transformed the small crumbling bathroom (it practically gutted itself) into a cozy, sexy, morning meet-up venue. We have no choice but to rub elbows while we brush our teeth. Our one splurge for the bathroom was the oversized shower with double heads. It's hard to stay mad when you're standing naked in front of one another. More marriage counseling money saved! The bathroom walls are where we've placed

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