Minimalist Aesthetic Maximum Charm

This week I want to introduce you to my friend Cher Guminey and her delightful home located in the suburbs outside of Cleveland which she shares with her husband Michael and son Cullen Michael.

Her aesthetic is vintage with a clean edge.

It all starts with Cher’s entry

I asked Cher where her love of vintage stems from.: “My parents loved flea markets, we would go every weekend. They really had such great style.
My biggest influence came from my Aunt Karen, she was an antiques dealer and had a store which was a big deal back in the early 80's. Her entire house was magnificent with a gallery wall in every room. She was actually published several times in magazines - back when you had to mail in your photographs - I would spend hours at her house mesmerized by every detail.”

Parlor

This is the first space you see upon entering Cher’s home. Her Parlor - which she admits is her favorite space in the home - it’s her space to sit, read and relax.

Living Room

Cher and her family have been in their current home 6 years. Over this time she has taken on many projects to turn what was contractor grade into a brilliantly personalized space full of character and beautiful materials.

Kitchen

“Oh boy I have been busy in this house everything was contractor grade except the floor on the main level. I’ll share what I’ve taken on each year.

• Year one: I tiled the master bath and added quartz countertop, we also added a bathroom with a shower in the basement. I also updated all the lighting in the house with custom fixtures.

• Year two: I tiled my son’s bathroom and added quartz countertop. I pulled out the dark granite countertops in my kitchen and put quartz countertops and a tile backsplash.

• Year three: I added marble to our fireplace hearth.

• Year four: I decided I hated the tone of my wooden kitchen cabinets so I painted them. I also added ship-lap to my living room wall and the back entry hall.

• Year five: I had the carpeting on the stairs, upstairs hall and master bedroom replaced with hardwood floors to match the downstairs. I also added picture molding trim to a wall in the master bedroom.

• Year six: We just had hardwood flooring laid in the remaining 3 bedrooms and picture molding trim added to wall in our downstairs hall.

Below are two of the three bedrooms Cher recently completed. She refinished the Jenny Lind bed frame - working on it for the better part of a week stripping it’s white paint. Many of the furnishings are Facebook Marketplace finds. Cher loves to source antique and vintages items for clients too! Both rooms are stunning!

“I grew up watching all of my aunts refinishing furniture to sell in the store so I came by it naturally.”

Even though Cher studied Visual Merchandising her love of home has been with her always. Cher recalled how her childhood bedroom was decked out with a canopy bed and a matching hutch it was all very shabby chic and of course she had rock posters. “I went to school for visual merchandising, my love of fashion and being around it out-weighed my love for interiors at the time. Although the two majors were close in regards to classes Art History, Textiles and Photography.”

Corner of her livingroom

Cher told me how satisfying it is to create just the right vignette. Cher really lets objects sing because you can truly appreciate them - her design sense is not about excess.

“I think a room should create a mood and a feeling when you walk into it.”

— Cher Guuminey

Custom Door Color

On the heels of completing the bedroom redesigns she just finished painting all the interior doors in the home. “I just painted all the doors in the house - I used Sherwin Williams and colored matched a shade from a friend. I couldn’t be happier with the result. Each thing I do brings another layer - another bit of me into the house.”

Cher’s home was featured on Apartment Therapy in March. “My feature in Apartment Therapy was surreal. I submitted photos 2 years earlier and was politely declined. I know it was my gallery walls that landed me the feature. Both these walls came at such a profound time in my life with the loss of not only my beloved Mother but, two Uncles and my Grandmother within such a short period of time.”

Parlor

Powder Room

Cher went into more detail: “My mother died suddenly on her birthday two years ago, and 48 hours later my uncle died. Six weeks later my other uncle died and then I lost my grandmother the following month. The grief of these four losses consumed me - so I set out to create a place I could go to heal.”

Master Bedroom

Cher added “It means so much to me to see my son Cullen’s appreciation for antiques and collectibles. It runs so deep on my moms side of the family and to see him enjoy it brings joy to my life. I have found some of my greatest treasures with him by my side.”

I asked about Goals for 2020. “I was planning on adding shiplap to the master bath but, that’s on hold until 2021. I will continue to work on things here and there… like the doors - smaller projects.”

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I feel blessed to have met Cher through Instagram and call her a true friend! Her home is a tribute to the history of her family and a love of treasure hunting. Go give her a follow and while your there - message her a birthday greeting. This Saturday the 27th is the Big Day!

Cher thanks so much for sharing yourself with my readers! Big Hugs and a very Happy Birthday!!! xoxoxo

Til next time my friends be well and continue to stay safe!

All Images Courtesy: Cher Guminey

Mother's Day My Journey

This year as we approach Mother’s Day I wanted to share a bit about my journey to Motherhood. I’ve never been shy about sharing that it took 7-1/2 years to welcome Liam - in this piece I’m just sharing some of the highlights.

A few years after we married we were trying to start a family and nothing was happening, so I visited my doctor and was given the name of two Infertility practices.

Not having an idea about either - we chose the practice at the Hospital. There were tests, shots, procedures and many visits some every other day some daily. After almost 2 years feeling frustrated I went back to my doctor and shared what was happening and this time my doctor said: “Oh you need to see my doctor! I worked with him during my residency and he helped me have my twins.” That day I walked to the end of the hall to what I hoped would be our new Infertility practice. The receptionist gave me all the necessary paperwork and set up an appointment. It was September 2008. The practice is RMA and the doctor we were to meet - Dr. Michael R. Drews FACOG.

I believe in seeing things in your minds eye - I saw myself with a baby - I never doubted I would be a Mother - I had the determination - I needed the right doctor to get me there.

I love this image of us. So relaxed at Chatham Bars Inn October 2008. WE have this framed in our bedroom.

Our first meeting with Dr. Drews has become the stuff of family lore… we shared our experience and after listening intently Dr. Drews responded “You want to get up at bat and hit that home run!” Steven and I looked at each other and started laughing and then the doctor apologized for the baseball analogy and we immediately put him at ease telling him that we were huge baseball fans and that he was definitely our doctor!

We started treatments in November 2008. Again there were every other day or daily visits for blood draws, many shots and procedures. We experienced a miscarriage in Spring 2009, this proved I could get pregnant and carry a baby! I choose to look at this event with thankfulness.

I can never thank Dr. Drews and the team at RMA enough for their unwavering support. When at times you can feel like one of the many - this was never the case at RMA. You are an individual and this is why their success rate is so high. I’ll never forget the delivery of additional medication on Christmas Eve 2009 during a snowstorm. I had my final IVF in October 2010. Liam arrived June 30th.

After going through images from that time… it came down to these. A few days before, the day after he was born - look at that perfect face and with both of my boys.

Liam and Fred

the Metropolitan Museum of Art June 2016

Disney World September 2018

My sweet boy… doing all the things he enjoys!

I realized when speaking with a dear friend this morning once this article went live - a mother of three who has traveled her own Infertility road - I needed to add a bit more of my story -

While I was going through this process I didn’t talk about it. I kept my head down and did what I needed to do. Up at 5am for years to get to the Drs. office by 7am to get blood drawn and then go to my office. There were a few who knew - of course - my Sister, my Niece, Steven’s Mom and Brother, a few girlfriends - but, they did not know the details and no one at my office knew anything - every appointment for a procedure was held early in the am or on a weekend. There were some friends who thought Liam was adopted because they hadn’t known I was expecting. I went through the pregnancy with tremendous trepidation - I had a horrible scare 7 weeks before Liam was born he was not moving around - after laying on my side and drinking orange juice - still nothing - in a controlled melt-down I called my doctor who sent me to the Hospital for a PET Scan - unfortunately, no one was able to accompany me… at first the technician could not locate a heartbeat - finally Liam started bouncing around. What a day!!!

Once Liam arrived I talked openly - to this day we know 10 families who have also been patients of Dr. Drews. In addition I gained a beloved lifelong friend there!

And as an aside to anyone going through this: I cut out all caffeine and after my final IVF I laid around all weekend on the couch - I think being still helped it work!

I would not have been successful without the love and support of my husband!

Til next time my friends be well and stay safe! xo

To speak privately email me:

Let's Meet Paola Roder

Hello friends this week I am beyond thrilled to share my incredible color loving friend Paola Roder with you. We met through Instagram. I was drawn to her exuberance of color and pattern.

Let’s meet her: My name is Paola Roder, I’m a Graphic Designer. I live with my husband Jeffrey and our two Goldendoodles: Kali (the Indian Goddess of Creation and Destruction) and Lakshmi (the Indian Goddess of Wellness and Beauty) in our 1970’s home in Johns Creek in a subdivision called Rivermont, in Atlanta Georgia. We are childless by choice

I grow up in Cali, Colombia. Cali is the third largest city in Colombia with three million people population. My father Gustavo was a Bank Manager and my Mom Margarita was a Stay at Home Mom. I have 2 older sisters, Claudia is married with two sons and Monica my middle sister is deaf, it resulted from a childhood sickness, I’m the youngest. I went to a Catholic school my whole life from Kindergarten to High School. I’m not religious but, I consider myself spiritual, something like my religion is LOVE and KINDNESS!

After High School I came to United States to Minnesota as a Exchange Student to a little town of only 300 people and that’s where I learned English. I lived there for a year with the Woullet Family and I had my first Prom as well. Years later I came back to the country as an Au Pair and lived with The Manchester Family in Freehold, NJ for a year. To this day I am still in contact with both families.

I always ask everyone if they created spaces in their youth. Paola shared: I did not, my mother was very particular about her home and decor, more traditional. I did not have much say on the decor. I was allowed only to hang posters - that was about it. Not until later on in life did my mom finally allow me to do so. I remember having a bright aqua accent wall, black and white patterned curtains and wood shelving and a lot of Movie posters, my favorites of all time and a couple Pop Art Posters as well.

Paola how did you get interested in Graphic Design? I always loved drawing and painting as a child. My influence from childhood comes from all the extra curriculum activities I was in at school more so than from home although, both families my Mom and my Dad’s have artistic veins in them. I have a lot of cousins who are Graphic designers, Painters, Writers and Poets. My Grandfather was a poet and my mom is a Portrait painter herself!

Then around 7th or 8th grade I knew exactly I wanted to be doing - something related to Art. In High School I was always the poster girl, you know the one drawing and making every poster used for advertising some kind of activity at school. While looking for a school I came across the Art School - The Arts Conservatory Antonio Maria Valencia, Bellas Artes in Cali Colombia - I loved the Graphic Design curriculum and just applied for it and I got in. I was an A+ student. I had a Grade scholarship for 3 semesters in a row. I graduated as a Graphic Designer.

This matchbook collection is inherited from Jeff’s Grandmother

Paola please tell us your color philosophy: I have always love color, especially bright colors. Gosh my philosophy, I can say for sure that my starting point is Primary Colors. Based on those I look for different hues out of these ones to use them throughout the house and to use them in different design and pieces. To tone down the ones I use I add any fun black and white pattern, whatever the pattern might be. Also I love encouraging people to think more outside the box and to not be afraid of color and pattern, to have fun while designing! The most important thing in design is to stand out from the crowd, to have that personal signature in your style, you want people to be able to recognize your design without even reading your name, you want the design to speak for itself.

Paola and Jeff’s colorful home

I know you recently became an American Citizen please share with my readers your journey and how you settled in Georgia: I had been to the United States before - so I was open to it. I met my husband almost 9 years ago - I was single and happy in Colombia but, I started thinking I would love to have a companion. We met through Match.com he’s American originally from Detroit. We skyped for 3 months before Jeffrey came to Colombia for a visit. Then I came to the States exactly 8 years ago following my other half, my best friend, my lover, my partner to Pennsylvania. We have been married for almost the same time. I became a citizen in February, after being a resident for almost 7 years, I guess I could have done it 3 years ago but before coming to Georgia last year I was busy building my own business back in Pennsylvania (I used to have a Dog sitting/walking business). Now I have dual citizen ship: I’m a Colombian and I’m American. To get your citizenship you have to study a 100 question booklet about civics and history. The day of the interview they ask you about 10 questions and out of those 10 you need to answer 6 of them correctly, I answered them all correct. They also test your writing and reading skills as well. We moved to Georgia because of my husbands job. We were 30 minutes away from Philadelphia and here we are about 30 minutes from Atlanta. The greatest difference here is it is definitely more woodsy, we are more surrounded by nature. Jeffrey and I spend time with the dogs out for hikes in the woods. I am not a fan of cold weather so I am happy to move to a climate that makes it easy to get outdoors a lot. The people here in Georgia are so friendly.

“I have always loved color, especially bright colors.”

Packaging Paola Designed

Please tell me about your time working as a Graphic Designer: I worked at an Advertising Agency for 14 years as a Graphic Designer. One of the most fun things that I did was designing lollipop and candy packaging for kids. Here are two samples of my work. Other duties were Logo design, banners, flyers and all sorts of corporate campaigns for big companies such as: Johnson and Johnson, Reckkit Benckiser, Chiclet Adams, Fleischmann, Aldor and many others. Early in my career I had the honor to work as the personal assistant to the renowned Fashion Designer Nancy Gonzalez who is a High Couture Hand Bag Designer

I know first hand how you actively cultivate a culture of friendship on Instagram - Paola can you share your thoughts about the platform: I do! Thanks for asking Meryl. I have discovered through the year I’ve been on IG that people want to be seen and you and I know that you can get lost in the virtual world, especially in the Decor or Interiors one. So this year I started my year with a purpose, I wanted to expand the network of friendship, love and sharing to the entire world. I also felt last year that just sharing the same picture over and over just wasn’t making the cut, so I came up with the idea of having themes for each day of the week to make it more dynamic and also to give others the opportunity to share with me and for me to share and celebrate them as well.

Monday: #fundaymondayflatlay I created this Flatlay with Joanne @happeyside , an Irish account I became close friends with - so this day is dedicated to Flatlays and we have different themes for each month, so it gives people another creative outlet to explore.

Tuesdays: #happypettuesday I created this with another two Dog Moms Rachel @eclectic.habitation and Amy @mypdxhome - this day is dedicated to celebrating our pets in our decor! 

Wednesday: we have with Eve @decordeconstruction and Patti @pattipeetzinteriors a page @colorlovedecor and a hashtag #colorlovedecor where we celebrate Art and Decor and invite people to share those with us and on Wednesday’s we featured different accounts there.

Thursday: Usually this day I chose a random theme and look for accounts that suit that and share them in my feed as a swipe (so 9 other accounts get shared)

Friday: I team up with a the fabulous British interior stylist Gemma @thatssogemma to have a day dedicated to any kind of DIY, our hashtag is #diymyfriday

I’m part of the crew of @eclectically_made #eclecticallymade where people can share their eclectic homes and decor. Each one of us - @melmitchia , @theinterioreditor , @designsbykarina , @chiclecticblog , @vdiep and myself @paola_roder -has a designated day to share accounts on a daily basis on the page. We have Weekly winners that ultimately compete to be the Monthly winner. The Monthly winner gets a house tour from the talented blogger Maria @theinterioreditor and a portrait by the amazing artist Karina @designsbykarina

And last but not least I created a Monthly Photo Challenge with three other accounts - its where we have daily prompts that people can play and have the opportunity to get featured daily over on our page @mymonthincolour #mymonthincolour and be the winner at the end of the month and get featured across our 4 accounts : @thatssogemma , @rowans_rainbow , @thethriftyhippie and myself @paola_roder

Paola what an incredible approach to IG! Yay!

Even though I myself am a vegan I make all the dogs food - because Doodles have sensitive stomachs

Please share with my readers what publications you’ve been in: I have been lucky to be published in different sites so far.

• A house tour @apartmenttherapy: This Atlanta Home Is Big, Bold, Bright, and Filled with Art and Color.

• A house tour twice: @theinterioreditor: The Creative, Bold and Colorful home of Paola Roder. & How to Use Paint Creatively in Your Home.

• A house tour in the local newspaper AJC The Atlanta Journal Constitution: Mid-Century Modern Home Filled with Pop Art Style.

• The Pink Room was published in HGTV Magazine March 2020.

• Our home will be published in an Argentinian Magazine: Para Ti Deco

March 2020 issue of HGTV

Paola I know your homes design has brought a lot of interest - how would someone contact you about hiring you for Home Design services: I started last year on IG sharing my home and designs and using my home as a canvas and my IG as a Journal to document the evolution of my home and design. So if you love color and want interior design that is out of the box - creative with a unique and different feel people can find me on IG @paolaroderdesigns and message me or e-mail me: paolarodermejia@gmail.com - or if you have graphic design work or any questions I am happy to speak with you.

Please share your plans for the rest of 2020: Gosh we are living such strange times so I’m just living one day at the time at the moment, enjoying every second of it and keep shining and sharing beautiful squares for people to be inspired!

Til next time - please go check out Paola’s amazing and inspiring IG feeds:

@paolaroderdesigns , @colorlovedecor , @eclectically_made , @mymonthincolour

Please be safe everyone.

xo

Images: Paola Roder