There’s Something about Hairstylists…
There might be a trend afoot here. Last summer’s Design Star winner on HGTV, Kim Myles, was a hairstylist by trade before winning her own show on that network called “Myles of Style” and becoming a major design celebrity.
Meanwhile, hairstylist Heidi Johnston of Warrenton, VA, was posting images of her DIY decorating on HGTV’s “Rate My Space,” and becoming a minor celebrity under her screen name, hpj185.
Her spaces have received tens of thousands of visitors who have posted hundreds of gushing comments about her elegant style. So we decided to take a virtual visit to her Warrenton home and talk some shop.
So, what is it about hairstylists who have great decorating and design sense? “It’s all creative,” says Johnston, who has owned The Secret Garden salon in Warrenton for 21 years. “You’re really kinda working with fabrics either way, whether it’s hair or upholstery.”
Johnston and her fiancé moved into a new home last October, and like her previous home that had gotten rave reviews on Rate My Space, she decorated the new one within three months. Here’s how she did it:
The Kitchen
Johnston hated the dark cherry cabinets in the home’s kitchen, and set about immediately to change them. Refacing turned out to be almost as expensive as replacing the cabinets, so she turned to decorative painter Cindy Mueller, who painted and glazed them to give the space a French Country look. “That, to me, single-handedly transformed the house,” she says.
The Living Room:
Johnston got the frames for a pair of antique chairs from Mueller, who then painted them. Then Johnston splurged on Scalamandre fabric to upholster the chairs. “I just wanted them to be this perfect fabric,” she says. “This [blue] dictated the color scheme throughout my house.] If you look closely, there’s a hint of this shade of blue in every room, but it is so subtle that all a visitor notices is how cohesive it all looks. Her use of zebra print, furthermore, in an otherwise restrained room gives the space a delicious flourish.
Family Room:
Johnston almost didn’t buy the house because of this now-gorgeous room. To make it all work, she had built-in cabinets installed, which she painted and glazed herself to match the kitchen cabinets. Then, she purchased an extra-deep Manor Sofa from Z Gallerie, so she and her fiancé can lie side by side to watch television. She also had molding applied on the wall to frame the art. Her layering of drapery panels over fabric-backed woven shades gives the room added texture.
Dining Room:
Johnston loved the look of wallpaper she put up in the powder room of her previous home, so she went for it here in the dining room, with a Thibaut pattern that “looks real tea-stained or kind of warm and old,” she says. Then she hung a contemporary painting to juxtapose with the room’s antique look. The sea shells on the table and the plantation shutters add a crispness to the space as well.
Bedroom:
She carried the blue accents upstairs and into her bedroom. Those colors, along with more plantation shutters, lighten up the dark woods in the room to make a delightful retreat.
I’ve known Heide for 14 years and she has always had an incredible passion for design and it shows in every home that she has owned!!! I think Heide should have her own TV Show!!!!
Wow! ! wow! wow!!! all I have to say!!!!!
You rock, girl!!!! I’m so impressed!
Let’s all hope Heidi goes for it and starts her own design business – I think she would have a line out her door.
How cool is this! Your home is absolutely perfect and looks even better here than on RMS. Start the business….NOW! -marykay
Marykay – I used to be the editor at HGTV Ideas, which I see you posted the photo shoot of your own home on Rate My Space. Cool! Thanks for writing in.
I love the kitchen cabinet make-over! Great job on the decorating!
I love all these comments – if anyone knows any other local (DC) people on Rate My Space that we can put on our blog, let me know at jsergent@washingtonspaces.com.