First Post

Here it is – today is my first blog post. designGumbo is my attempt to write and interact with the world that has fascinated me since I was just a little girl. My significant other would tell you, by his definition, I have no hobbies, but he is wrong - my hobby is decorating our home. It started innocently enough when I received my first Barbie Dream Home at age 6 or 7. While other little girls were pondering how to dress Barbie, I was trying to find the perfect bedspread for Barbie's master bedroom using my mother’s good washcloths. When I was old enough to choose the colors for my room, I began a love affair with color and painting walls. The walls of my childhood bedroom have been lavender, celadon green, chocolate brown and bright turquoise. My room had the distinction of the only room in our house that had never been painted white.

In my teens and early twenties, my interest in interior decorating was spurred on by the gorgeous interiors featured in shelter magazines. Like many, I clipped and saved pages of beautifully designed rooms, ideas and objects that would someday (I hoped) manifest themselves in my own home. As a renter, I tried out many looks and styles until 2006, when I bought my first home.

Your blogs have inspired, energized and helped me in renovating the handyman special we purchased. Each day I eagerly await your new posts. My hope for designGumbo is to have a richer conversation with you. I’m not a professional designer/decorator, or even writer, but I have almost four years of stories about renovating our home to share, along with some other flotsam and jetsam that seems relevant to decorating/shelter/living blogs. There is still so much work to be done on our house, which means I still need your help and advice. This blog is intended to show how much you have contributed and influenced my home. Ultimately,my home is my test lab, and I hope you’ll join me in my experiments.