It’s an innovative approach to a common dilemma. For what country decorator worth her salt hasn’t experienced a change in taste through the years, starting out with primitive furnishings, then gravitating to the Americana look, only to be seduced by Grandma’s embroidered linens to country-Victorian or Shabby Chic style? |
 BEFORE DINING ROOM: A darker,
heavier, more primitive country palette was the order of the day when Karla Nathan’s home was featured in Country Almanac back in 2000.
AFTER DINING ROOM: The very same 12x14-foot room feels so much lighter and bigger thanks to brighter and lighter furnishings. Karla left the table’s original finish but painted and distressed two different sets of chairs she found
at garage sales and covered their seats in old curtain material. “There are so many trees around our house and there’s not a lot of sunlight,” says Karla, “so the lighter furnishings really help.” |
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“When my home was featured in Country Almanac in 2000, I liked a more primitive look,” Karla recalls. (Note the darker woods, grapevine nature accents and patchwork quilts in the Before pictures.) “Then my sons grew up and moved out and I no longer had to worry about teenage boys all over the house. I have a tiny, little place, only about 1,800 square feet. Just painting my dark dining room chairs white, for example, made the house feel so much bigger and led to the Shabby Chic look I so love.”
The living room that formerly housed a denim sofa now features a comfy couch and chair slipcovered in new lighter fabrics that only look vintage. “Slipcovers are great,” says Karla. “My mother made them from some wonderful fabric we found at a Jo-Ann Fabric store. We have dogs; now their muddy paw prints get tossed in the washing machine instead of having to clean a complete sofa.” Another of Karla’s signature touches is the faux finish on the living room walls. Instead of repainting the entire room, Karla finds it easier and much more interesting to freshen the look by adding a new layer to the faux design each year. “There
are probably seven layers of paint,” she says.
Karla’s favorite project of late is the garden shed on her farm property. Whitewashed and light and airy, the renovated, L-shape, 40x20-foot structure features three separate rooms just waiting to be filled to the rafters with Karla’s unique cottage creations, each one more imaginative than the last.
While good buys are getting harder to snare, Karla maintains that is definitely not the case in Kansas. On a good Saturday, she will fill her van several times with fabulous yard sale bargains...objects that in an artist’s hands will become real gems...objects that will stay but a short while in Karla’s hands and home, then be passed on for someone else to love. “Like most people, I’m constantly finding things I like better,” Karla explains. “This way, I’m never bored.” |
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