Anyone who knows us knows that we love our hot tub. At any given moment of the day, if we aren't working, we are probably in the steamy waters of our "cement pond."

Last night was no different.

The stars were twinkling and we had just come off of a week surrounding the full-blue-eclipse moon that had everyone taking to the night skies with their cameras. It was a perfect evening.

If we are home alone (little ones, close your ears), we are usually...gasp...naked in the hot tub! 

I mean, let's be honest, a hot tub in the winter is great until you have to get out with a dripping, cold bathing suit to get back inside. And, after all, we are not only adults, but we have a privacy fence, and other than the neighbors to the west who have an upstairs window facing our backyard, and the neighbors to the east who have a 3-story slide that over-looks into our yard, we are completely safe. (Because I'm on an outdated computer typing this blog, you will have to use your imagination and enter a "thinking emoji" here.)

Benny and I tease that we solve all the world's problems when we are soaking under the stars. No t.v., no phones, no distractions. We can easily find ourselves being inspired.

Last night was no exception.

While Benny sat in the bubbling waters outside, the sun was still in the west sky, but was slowly making its way to the other side of the earth.

I prefer not to be an exhibitionist, so I was cooking dinner, waiting for the stars to appear, signalling it was safe to join him.

Little did I know he was being inspired while I cooked. The following is a transcript of a video that happened just shortly after I stepped down in the water.

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Well let's be unconventional for a second. 

Here I am sitting naked in a hot tub, (Paula chuckles and annoyingly coughs due to a recent respiratory bug)  talking about your home and decorating.

WOW! That's pretty unconventional, isn't it? 

Actually I just ate a portobella mushroom and a little smash drink that my wife made. So, a little more unconventional going on in the hot tub.

Well, anyway....decorating.

I just want to encourage you guys to live YOUR dream and live YOUR life, and let it be YOU, not somebody else.

My gosh, too many people follow trends ad nauseum. I'm not against trends, but I'm against them when they don't represent you as a person. So, I just want to encourage you to allow your home to be your own private sanctuary. Be bold about it. Enjoy your home, and don't be apologetic about it.

Allow your friends and family to come over, invite them to come over, encourage them to come over. And let them feel the essence of who you are by the way your home feels.

I know sometimes we need help...and that's what I'm here for. I'm here to help you achieve your goals regarding your home, but I'm not here to make your home look like me.

So give me a call, let me help you achieve some things that you are desiring in your home that you don't know how to pull off yourself.  Let's do this thing together. And let your home speak of who you are. Others will come in and love it, and appreciate it, and be just enveloped in it. You are going to find it as your wonderful haven, your wonderful place of rest and peace if you allow it to speak of who you are, using things you love, colors you love,. It might not even be something on trend, but if we do it right, it will be beautiful, and it will be you.  

Go have a beautiful life!
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What looks like a pile of random twigs, tulips, and glitter hearts begins to take shape as he carefully bends and shapes each stem.

He gently layers the different components of his creation until what was an ordinary flat base transforms into a fluid representation, in this case, of love.

He shares with me how this particular wreath, because it is a Valentine one, is going to have some flowing parts. He explains that the wind will catch the dangling hearts and the sun will reflect in the glittering picks in the same way that pure love does to our hearts.

"Love is fluid," he grins, "it moves, and breaths, contracts and expands."

It is as if he is hearing what the energy from this particular piece is exhaling into the room.









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written by Paula 1-13-2017

Getting a call after business hours that says a heavy mirror just fell in a client's home, was not on my radar for Friday evening.

Benny and I had spent two days painting and sprucing up a dining room for two very special clients and we were pooped. The shoes were off, the stretchy pants were on and the "over-the-shoulder-boulder-holder" was tossed in the corner of my closet. I mean, I can only speak for myself--I don't know what Benny did with his (wink wink). 

For those two days, we had meticulously dotted every "i" and crossed every "t" in this home. From polishing her crystal and glass heirloom items before they were placed back in her china hutch, to squaring up the rug under her special formal dining table, we had covered all the bases for their newly uplifted dining space.

We re-hung their personal mirror back on the screws that had been nestled in their holes for many years, and, as mirrors are known to do, the light reflected in the space warmly, bringing about a sense of openness and reflection upon the newly updated space.  The mirror was heavy, and it took Benny and I both to get it properly in place, and we all breathed a sigh of relief once she was resting over the buffet as she should.

We took great care in being extra gentle and cautious with their items, and we were so appreciative of their trusting us with their re-decorating needs.

The owners stood back and tried to take it all in. The room was truly transformed! Though we had only brought in a few new items, Benny had put their special belongings back in new places, grouping them in fresh ways, bringing a sense of balance to the space, and the room took on a whole new feeling.

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We began to discuss with the client about how this mirror is just like life. There are times when our anchor is ripped out of the wall unexpectedly. 

We get laid off of work. Rip!
We receive a negative report at the doctor's office. Rip!
A spouse leaves us for someone younger. Rip!
A child makes poor or destructive choices. Rip!
We get rear-ended while out running errands. Rip!
We have a miscarriage of a much wanted and already loved baby. Rip!
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We are blessed to call these long-standing clients friends. Our lives are enriched because we know them. And we are thankful to be anchors in their lives as they are in ours.


I have included a before and after of the mirror wall in their dining room. What a difference a little paint and fluffing can make!