Beauty Was Always Whispering

Interior decorating is my passion. You could say it saved my life.

There are people who have great athletic talent. Some can sing or dance or do all three. That is not me.

I love beauty.

I didn’t understand what a love for beauty meant when I was growing up. I only knew how I felt when I saw something beautiful.

Growing up, beauty was considered a luxury. And luxuries were deemed frivolous at my mother’s house.

Life was practical, or at least that was her position. She did have a good point; you must be practical to survive. But Mom took it to the next level.

Interior design was not a part of my college curriculum.

My mother held a master’s degree in chemistry and later added a teaching certificate to her list of accomplishments. So, when I went to college, I was in the sciences.

It was a travesty for all concerned-my parents, the school and me.

Fortunately, it sorted itself out, and by the end of my sophomore year, I settled into English as a major and Political Science as a minor.

I looked at my friends majoring in design and merchandising and thought, what a wonderful career that would be.

Walking into a beautiful high-end department store is heaven. The lights, the displays and the energy of something new-talk about a shot of adrenaline.

Beauty has always whispered to me. I wish I had listened to her sooner.

Years later, when my life began to come apart, that whisper began to shout.

The details are not necessary. Aside from heavy-duty prayer and lots of therapy, beauty restored my soul.

Beauty was real. She was nourishing.

When my world felt insane, beauty gave me sanity. It made sense.

After being married twelve years, having two children and moving four times, our family of four settled down. The children were in school, and so it was time for me to go to work.

I had been a bank teller for two years before the children were born-not exactly a strong resume.

I took the social services test. I did well enough to get a job, but I didn’t want that job. I was offered a job selling radio ads. Didn’t want that one either.

I thought, let me see if I can sell clothes at a swanky boutique. That way, I reasoned, I could have good-looking, expensive clothes at a discount and make a little money.

Well, I didn’t get that job, but a few days later I got a call. It was from Nancy Flournoy. She worked at an “antique shop” and at the swanky boutique. She asked if I would like to come and work at That Added Touch.

I wasn’t sure what it was. I had seen it, so I said yes, I probably would.

Nancy said, come by tomorrow around 11. Sally Wilder, the owner, will need to talk with you.

I was there at 11. Sally was either on her way in or out; I can’t remember which. I do know I stood in the doorway, she looked at me and said, “Yes.”

Now I had a job.

Sally and her partner, Jan Burracker, had started TAT, as it was known. Jan had beautiful taste and money; Sally had a superpower talent. Anything Sally touched seemed to look better.

How did she do that?

The two of them would go to England and France a couple of times a year and shop for anything antique. Opening the containers was like Christmas morning on steroids. We created displays, advertised and voila!

Sales.

Now, if you know antiques, you know they have to be “placed” in your house.

Now we are decorating.

My job was to keep the shop while Sally and Nancy took beautiful things to customers’ houses. A customer would look at a chest and say, “I love it, but I don’t think it will fit in my house.” Sally would ask when they would be home, and off they went to install the chest.

One thing led to another.

Can you do my bookcases?

Can you make this room look better?

The answer was always yes, especially if you had the money. These things were not cheap.

To supplement the antiques, there were trips to Atlanta. Under Sally’s direction, objets d’art were converted into breathtaking lamps; prints and art were framed to perfection. There were fabrics, trims and fringes. The possibilities were endless. Pillows were made from beautiful Aubusson tapestries, and it went on and on.

I was drafted for special projects, or at least the smaller ones. Sally, for all of her talent and fun-and she was fun-was a bit of a snob. She loved rolling with the big bucks, but don’t we all.

Eventually, I began to develop my own customer base.

Heaven!

I went to the tech school to learn drafting and blueprints.

While I was falling deeply in love with the beautiful objects I worked with every day and the energy of Atlanta, home life was becoming more and more difficult.

The dreams and visions I had growing up of having a wonderful life were disintegrating a little more every day.