Snowy Day and My 15 Minutes

The world outside lies peaceful and quite beautiful with its pristine blanket of white. I love snow days-its kind of like God is giving us permission to take life just a little slower. I do pray His protection for those of you that had to make their way out into the cold and ice. I wanted to take a minute to post about something that happened here back in December. Around the 22nd I was contacted by one of our local newspaper reporters for an interview opportunity. I was THRILLED. I have never been featured in any type of publication, so you can imagine how giddy I was over the whole thing. The reporter was a joy to talk with and his article was a nice commentary on myself, as well as my business. I am posting it below:


Reprinted with permission from the Charleston Newspapers Metro Kanawha West.

Cozy Home Designs Brings Individuality to Decorating

By Ben Calwell
bcalwell@cnpapers.com
304-348-5188

December 27, 2008

It takes a cozy homeowner to know what it takes to turn plain rooms into warm, family-friendly spaces.

Interior Designer Charlotte Spears lives in a cozy, well-appointed home that exudes warmth and comfort. It’s not surprising then that Spears calls her interior design business Cozy Home Designs.

Working out of her Dunbar home, Spears offers a range of interior design services, including color consultations and expertise on fabrics, window treatments, paint, building materials, furniture and furniture arrangement and getting order and organization in the home or office.

Spears, a Nitro native, earned a bachelor’s degree in interior design from the University of Charleston in 2004, and in 2006, she began Cozy Home Designs.

Color and decorating have fascinated Spears since childhood.

“From the time I was a little kid, I’ve loved to decorate and make little flower arrangements and play with colors,” Spears said.

Spears said her mother always claimed that she could distinguish the difference between the colors red-orange and orange-red at 18 months of age.

Her mother “would lay the crayons out in a rainbow and have me go over them. That was our little game,” she said.

Spears chooses to work from home to be closer to her family, but she also allows time to go out and visit clients’ homes and workplaces.

Many clients call upon Spears to help them choose colors. With an overwhelming amount of choices when it comes to color, it helps to have a “third eye” help in the decision making process, she said.

“They’ll have an idea of something, but they can’t quite get the look defined in the way they want to, so I do a lot of color consultations and consult with them about window treatments and design those out.”

Often, clients have a room or rooms that frustrate them when it comes to furniture arrangement.

“Sometimes, folks will have beautiful things, but they just don’t have them arranged as advantageously as they need to be. So I’ll go in and help them rearrange what they already have,” Spears said.

In some situations, it helps if areas of rooms are divided into different “grouping areas for different functions in one room.”

Spears also offers shopping services for clients doing home makeovers.

“I’m very attuned to who has what in the valley, so I can help them pull a look together.”
The first step in getting a Cozy Home Designs consultation is an interview with the homeowners to find out their needs.

Spears takes measurements of the spaces and then goes back to her home office, makes sketches, “pulls fabric” and searches locally for furniture and accessories online to begin the design process.

The process ensures “that I have a clear understanding of what the room looks like and what the needs are and how things need to be arranged so that they are the most beneficial for that family.”

At the next visit to a client’s home, she brings her sketches and fabrics that show her vision of the project. Many times, Spears will provide her clients a direction to go in and help them connect to the resources they need.

Spears said a well decorated home is a well-organized one. She can help clients re-establish order in their homes.

As a teenager, Spears color-coded her clothes closet.

“My mother wouldn’t even hang my clothes up, because she was afraid she would put something in the wrong color order,” she said with a laugh.

Spears said a decorating trend for younger clients these days is the contemporary look — “clean lines and less clutter.”

For older clients, the Kanawha Valley is “still the traditional haven” in home decorating.
Some go “for the cottage look — they like the old retro theme by pulling older things in” to the design.

Country decor, especially the primitive look, also remains popular, she said.
As an interior designer, Spears said color fascinates her the most.
“It’s the colors. Anything to do with helping someone define their colors and make their house more cozy.”

Spears said the word “cozy” sums up her design philosophy.

“A home should be that cozy gathering place where your family feels drawn to.”
For more information about Cozy Home Designs, call 766-7183, or send e-mail tomailto:tocharlottespears5@aol.com


WOW, a BIG thank you to Ben Calwell and the Charleston Newspapers. You all are the BEST!

Hope that you are staying warm and cozy. Until next time I am sending warm hugs to all of my "bloggin' buddies",
Charlotte