Decorating with Color

A furniture DIY maven turns her Texas home into a sunny, whimsical place to live by decorating with color.

Are you afraid of adding bold color into your home? Wendy Conklin isn’t, and she’s made it her business—quite literally—to show other people the ropes for decorating with color. “I’ve always been that way, wanting something unique,” she says. “I don’t want what everybody else has.” This passion has led her not only to decorate her home with fun patterns and bright colors, but to start her own business, Chair Whimsy, where she creates custom upholstered furniture and hosts online classes to teach others how to create their own upholstery as well.

colorful dishware serves as wall art as well as bright floral wallpaper on half wall

entryway with bright red door — Modern Victorian. Wendy’s home was built in 2003, but is in a historic Victorian neighborhood, so the builder designed the home with Victorian architecture to help it blend in. The covered porch and front door with side lights and clerestory window fit into the landscape.

Looks Old, Feels New

Wendy’s Texas home is the perfect blend of new and old. It was built in 2003, but with Victorian-style architecture. “We’re in a historic district,” she says. “All the homes in our neighborhood are old, so they wanted it to fit in. It has all these great old features, but I don’t have all the old-house problems. It’s the charm without the issues.” The home has proven to be the perfect base and Wendy hasn’t had to make many structural changes. “The kitchen and living room are very open, which is good for parties,” she says. “The dining room has a swinging door off the kitchen, so it has an easy flow.”

living room with bright pink rug and floral paintings — Purple & Blue. The living room is a combination of new and old, custom and thrifted. This includes the coffee table. “That’s a secondhand piece I got at a yard sale, it used to be brown,” Wendy says. “Someone suggested I paint it blue. I wasn’t sure about it, but I loved it.” The upholstered chairs are custom pieces by Wendy, of course. The Frida Kahlo portrait above the mantel is a piece by Wendy’s daughter.

Outdoor Additions

The one place Wendy and her husband, Blane, have added square footage is with several outbuildings, including a workshop for Wendy’s business and a greenhouse. The couple built the workshop in 2015 with what they thought was enough square footage for doing upholstery. But as Wendy’s business has grown, so has her need for workspace. “I had some people who build temporary structures come out and build it on tinder blocks,” she explains. “Then we doubled the space a couple of years later.” The workshop is now 320 square feet, which gives Wendy plenty of space to run her business.

floral upholstery on couch echoed in art portrait of woman with flowers in her hair

mantel with bright floral paintings and logs with eds painted in various colors

decorating with color includes bright patterns on staircase risers — Up the Stairs. Wendy isn’t afraid to add color and pattern to every space in her house—including the staircase risers. “I wanted to add pizzazz to my stairwell, but it would be hard to wallpaper the whole stairwell,” she said. “It was pre-pasted, so it only took me two and a half hours to do it. You just have to make sure you get a wallpaper you can turn in any direction.”

The greenhouse was another addition that Wendy had always wanted to do. Her neighbor was a handyman and built it for her by hand, incorporating old materials into the structure for added charm. “I’d ask him about all these customizations,” Wendy says. “We made it so the old windows could open and let in a cross breeze. He had a lot of fun doing it and it’s great for storing all my garden stuff.”

Whimsical Wendy

In all her spaces, Wendy’s aesthetic is a mix of bright colors, bold patterns and personalized art. “It’s whimsical, which involves color,” she says. “I push the boundaries of what most people would do. I’m always searching for a way to be different, do something that’s not going to fit the norm.” From decorating with color from the colorful wallpaper and bright paintings to the custom upholstered furniture, Wendy makes sure every room has focal points to draw your eye and make you smile. “My house is the palette for my system of playing,” Wendy says. “It’s the place where I reinvent my dreams.”

pink stripped dresser with pink and white polka dot dishes

abstract floral painting hangs above a two-toned pink striped dresser — Striped Whimsy. In the corner of the dining room is a dresser Wendy painted herself. “I got it on Craigslist a long time ago,” she says. “It was originally white. It keeps all my linens and placemats, and I decided to stripe it. I did it with painters’ tape and now it’s a personality piece.” Above the dresser is an abstract still-life painting by artist Carrie Schmitt.

dining room with colorful wallpaper and gallery wall with painting and trail of colorful dishes — Plates and More Plates. In the dining room, Wendy added a wallpaper wainscoting, a unique twist on the more typical wall-paneling wainscoting with wallpaper above. Instead, Wendy left the upper wall blank so she could add more decoration through a plate gallery. “I have too many dishes; I can’t resist them,” she says. “Every time I see cute dishes, I must have them. I don’t have any more room for them, so I put them on the wall.” Wendy designed her plate wall around a vintage painting she found at an antiques shop. “I switched the portrait [to the middle] and designed the plate wall around it,” she says.

Upcycled Finds

One of the themes throughout Wendy’s home are pieces she’s found and upcycled. These include many of her upholstered furniture pieces, some lighting, painted furniture and even art and frames. “I’m constantly changing my chairs to be something different,” she says.

butterfly wallpaper and playful art — Hallway Butterflies. In the upstairs hallway, Wendy chose a bold butterfly wallpaper with a bright pink side table and custom upholstered chair. Wendy decided not to upholster the huge stairwell, but the upstairs hallway was more attainable.

That makes it fun; it’s like playing for me. I just have to fit in the time for it.” Wendy also installs her own wallpaper, a recurring element she likes to use. It works with the architecture too—with high ceilings, bright wallpaper doesn’t make the spaces feel cramped. “The ceilings are 10 feet on the main level and 9 feet on the second floor,” she says. “That makes it feel even bigger than it is.”

dining room with navy blue accent wall and fuschia chandelier — Black & White. When Wendy and Blane bought the house, the kitchen was already painted black. Wendy decided to leave it that way. “What I love about it is that I can layer any color with it,” she says. “I was really glad [the previous owners] went with a black kitchen.” The bright-purple chandelier is a relatively new piece Wendy installed to replace an older chandelier that used to hang here.

dining room with navy blue and pink theme — custom kitchen. In the kitchen eating nook, Wendy has several custom-upholstered pieces. That settee was my very first big piece to reupholster,” she says. “I found it for $100 on Craigslist and it took me four months. I had so much fun.” There was originally gold leaf on the frame, which Wendy stripped down and intended to repaint. But when she went to make sure the piece fit into the kitchen nook, she liked it so much with the raw wood that she left it that way.

Between running her business and decorating her home, Wendy has a full plate. But she’s able to take the time to make her home a place that reflects her style and feeds into her business goals. “It’s a good place to take pretty pictures,” she says with a smile.

turquoise archway and red and white outdoor dining cushions and parasol

decorating with color includes flowers and greenhouse

Chandelier Whimsy. The home’s back porch has a covered area where Wendy set up a spot to relax. The chandelier is a fun focal point that Wendy painted herself. “I found it on Facebook Marketplace, back when we first moved into the house,” she says. “It used to be in the kitchen until last year, and then I decided to move it. I painted it to match the rug and make it whimsical and fun and unexpected. Most people would have a fan out there.”

Wendy in her greenhouse where she operates her decorating business — Covered Porch. On the covered front porch is a seating area to which Wendy added a colorful rug and thrifted coffee table. “This kind of front porch calls for rocking chairs,” she says. “I put a little coffee table out there I had gotten for $10 at a garage sale. I didn’t even have to repaint it.” She also added hanging ferns from the covered area. “That’s classic for porches,” she says.

bathroom with hot pink chandelier, powder blue clawfoot tub and floral wallpaper — Boy Girl. In the primary bathroom, Wendy decided to mix and match her husband’s favorite color with her style. “We needed to get new flooring and new shower tiles, so I went with a white marble look for the floor, but the shower has blue tiles,” she says. “My curtains in there are pale pink, so there was pink and blue, and the wallpaper married the pink and blue together. My husband likes that blue shade, so I painted the tub too. I try to be nice to him when I can.”

bedroom with green wallpaper and bedframe with pink accents — Blue & Green. Wendy transformed her daughter’s old bedroom into a guestroom with blue and green accents. The bedframe is a piece she found on Facebook Marketplace, then painted to match the wallpaper and rug.

multi-colored shower curtain and blue walls in bathroom — Blue Fridas. The downstairs bathroom features white accents, a multi-colored shower curtain and another Frida Kahlo portrait. “When I first needed things for my walls, I didn’t have a lot of money for fine art,” Wendy says. “My daughter started painting Fridas for me. I love the color, and I love strong women. I have two daughters, so we’re dominating this house. My poor husband,” she laughs.

bedroom with white and blue floral valances, white and pink bedding and tropical themed pink chairs with colorful upholstery — Primary Bedroom. In the primary bedroom, Wendy started the design with the blue-and-white window coverings. “Those are automated shades,” she says. “I didn’t want to raise and lower them every day. It’s the best money I’ve ever spent.” The bedframe is one Wendy has had for a long time, which she repainted to match the bedroom colors. The chairs are from Facebook Marketplace, which Wendy reupholstered and repainted.

writing desk/vanity in guest bedroom with red framed mirror and green furniture — Writing Desk. In the corner of the guest room is a charming vanity area Wendy created. “A neighbor had left that [desk] on the street for the trash,” she says. “I picked it up, painted it, gave it some new knobs.” She also stripped the top but decided to leave it with its original wood color.

floral bedding and red lobster wallpaper — Lobster Guest Room. This guest room used to be Wendy’s daughter’s room before she moved out. “She still stays here when she comes to visit,” she says. Wendy chose a red-and-pink lobster wallpaper, paired with Annie Selke bedding and a bedframe she found on Facebook Marketplace. The red nightstand is also from Facebook Marketplace. “I painted it and embellished the flowers on the end, to make it unique and different,” Wendy says.

bathroom with floral wallpaper and pink beadboard — Bathroom Blend. In the guest bathroom, Wendy chose the pattern for the wallpaper and shower curtain to match the bedding in the bedroom. “I love that print so much,” she says. “I painted the wainscoting pink, because why not do that instead of white?” Wendy says she’s not always sure an idea will work well, even once she starts. “I’m always hoping it works out,” she says.

Guesthouse Greetings. The greenhouse was a Covid project. “I’d always wanted a greenhouse, and I talked to my neighbor into helping me build it, he’s a handyman,” Wendy says. “Then Covid hit, but it was outside, so he just kept working.” The space is very custom, incorporating features such as old doors and windows.

colorful fabrics in Wendy's collection for decorating with color — Fabric Frenzy. Wendy is constantly buying fabric for her upholstery projects and uses several methods to store and organize it. “I use a lot of filing cabinets,” she says. “I put other bolts of fabric in large trashcans.” This Mexican bookcase is another area where she keeps fabrics. “A friend from across the street gave me that,” she says. “She wanted to get rid of it.”

Painted Pots. Inside the greenhouse, Wendy keeps her gardening gear and hanging plants that need shade. Though the fun pots look handpainted, she actually bought them at her local Texas market, H-E-B.

Chair Whimsy Workshop. The workshop for Chair Whimsy grew in two different phases. Wendy and Blane had the first half built in 2015 and doubled the square footage a few years later. On the inside of the doors, Wendy added scraps of wallpaper from another project. “The doors were just so drab, so I put it on there,” she says.

To see more of Wendy’s home or to learn more about decorating with color via her classes or her book, visit chairwhimsy.com and @chairwhimsy on Instagram.

If you loved Wendy’s way of decorating with color, don’t miss her decorated camper in Colorful Camper Couture. You may also like A Colorful and Quirky 1930 Tudor Home. To follow along with more colorful decorating and cottage inspiration, find us on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest!