Too much of anything is too much 

One of my most recent clients, Cheryl Gore, has been settled in her sprawling South Shreveport Home since the late 1970s.

Admittedly, it had not been touched or rearranged since Bill Clinton was in office and it was time for a little revamping.

I have been friends with her daughters since college and apparently they have been pushing her to call me for a little help.

With the recent loss of her husband last year, Gore was starting a brand new chapter in her life and it was time to freshen things up to make some long overdue updates.

I arrived to find a perfectly nice home filled with antiques, beautiful accessories and wall to wall family photos. This is not uncommon and there is absolutely nothing wrong with any of it, except – there was way too much. Too much of anything is too much.

Too many antiques, photos or accessories needs to be edited or mixed with differing styles to showcase each piece.

Example: A room with nothing but antiques is fine, but, nothing breaks the eye. A guest can scan the whole room and see mostly darker woods and nothing truly stands out.

Inject a modern rug, lamp, pillows and art into the mix, and the eye has to break to take in the new materials, textures and colors.

Blending this old and new together is called transitional, new traditional or eclectic. This mix, is a playful balance based primarily on color or like materials, such as metals, as unifying elements. It can be intimidating to most but, to me it comes seemingly natural.

Gore was open these ideas and gave free reign to rearrange/edit/add what I felt was needed to update each room.

What I thought would be a one to two-room gig quickly turned into a full house makeover including, foyer, living room, den, dining room, kitchen/breakfast area, master  bedroom and two guest bedrooms. It was great.

Every time I finished a room, she would ask me to move on to another. It was exciting for me to introduce these more modern pieces and watch how she reacted to them.

“I can’t believe how great that looks together!”, “I would have never chosen something like that, but, I love it!” were some of her comments.

Using mostly what she already had and introducing some new modern elements, this beautiful home has been lightened up and brought completely up to date and Gore could not be happier.

“It’s like living in a new house,” Gore said. And with that said, I feel like I did my job.