By Christina Wallace, Metro Boston Senior Reporter | October 17, 2005
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For author Mimi Doe, whose books focus on the importance of maintaining a soulful family and stress-free life, creating a home that reflected those values was essential.
Recently, the acclaimed scribe realized her four-bedroom Concord home needed to undergo a transition in order to align with the changes in her life.
Her two daughters were going off to college, and the empty nest needed to be a space to support her relationship with her husband and feed her soul as an author.
Doe's ideas to change her home came easily, but she struggled to put her thoughts into action.
As a result, she enlisted the expertise of Carlisle interior designer Sharyl Stropkay to help her transform her outdated kitchen and family room.
"With the kids moving out, my husband and I needed a place to relax," said Doe, whose books have been featured on Oprah, CBS and the Hallmark Channel. "Sheryl had thoughts about how to transform the ideas I write about into my home."
Stropkay promised that hiring a designer didn't mean parting with her entire wallet.
She infused Target with Simon Pierce and Pottery Barn with family antiques.
"If you mix really nice things with things that are creatively done it doesn't end up looking cheap," said Stropkay, whose business - Lifestyle Interiors & Organization - opened last year.
The duo began their project in the kitchen, and decided to maintain the white cabinets but install black granite countertops and carry the black and white theme throughout the airy space. They placed a bench underneath the large picture window so Doe could relax and write by the sun, and opened up the wall between the family room and eating area in the kitchen to create a better flow. Stropkay chose a cream colored paint for the walls to warm up the white cabinets and carried the same paint into the cozy family room.
She topped off the kitchen by hanging a distressed sign above the sink that reads "Simplify."
"The sink is my altar. Where I can pause and be in the moment," Doe said.
When choosing the décor in the family room, Doe told Stropkay she wanted to feel like she was lounging in Nantucket.
Stropkay decided on white slipcovers on the coach and over-stuffed chair. She covered another chair in blue and white stripes and carried that fabric onto pillows placed on the other furniture.
"This is a quieter, serene place for me to talk with my husband at the end of the day," said Doe.
Stropkay dusted off some of Doe's family heirloom blue and white china and displayed the pieces above the fireplace and in the bookshelves. She hung linen drapes on the French doors out to the porch allowing the bright daytime sun to filter into the small room.
Once a room that was dark and unlived in, the family room has now been transformed into the most frequented space in the house, said Doe.
The pair is currently planning their next project - the dining room and living room.
"When there's order in my home there's order in my soul," Doe said.
Christina Wallace
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