Homebodies

Michelle norris and forrest aguar share a colourful condo with their dog, taco, in atlanta, georgia.

What do you do for a crust? We are ad photographers and own a company together called Tropico Photo (@tropicophoto on Instagram).

Describe the house you live in. Our home is a modern onebedroom condo with high ceilings and concrete floors. The building was constructed about 12 years ago and has four floors – we’ve been here for almost two years now. Our unit itself is really open and full of light. We’ve got lots of plants scattered around and hanging from the ceiling, plus unique knick-knacks from our travels and little pops of art in every corner. We like the idea of each piece in the house being elevated beyond its normal use.

What have you done to the place since you moved in? When we first arrived the place was totally white, so we painted almost every room. We tiled the backsplash in the kitchen, switched out the mirror in the bathroom and added shelves to the closet that go all the way to the ceiling, since it’s our only storage space. We also did a tonne of decorating. We’re hoping to change out the light fixtures next!

Did you start out with grand decorating ideas, or has the look of the place just evolved? This is our first time owning a property, so we were really excited to go big with the decorating and make it our own. I had a lot of Pinterest boards with inspiration, but ultimately we took the images from the listing and made Photoshop mock-ups of where colour blocks would go. Colour is sort of the base of all our decorating ideas, and from there we just fit pieces within the colour story. We got most of the work done within a couple of months of moving in, but it’s always evolving. We just changed out some of our artwork and are always keeping an eye out for special pieces.

How do people react to your home when they walk through the door? They are always so surprised and delighted. I think if you know us you can tell our style is pretty bold, but I feel like it’s rare to see that reflected so strongly in a living space.

How would you describe your decorating style? Colourful and eccentric. We try to keep away from clutter while still filling the condo with exciting items to enjoy. We love colour, but left a lot of white spaces for a modern feeling. We’re still invested in it being a very functional space, as well as being warm and inviting. Lots of cushy furniture and little areas to relax throughout. It’s nice to have an artistic flair while also making each room an oasis to enjoy at different points of the day.

Do you ever get overwhelmed by the brightness? Never! It’s so nice being in a space that feels optimistic. The white areas also leave breathing room between all the colours. Our personal taste is to be surrounded by and bathed in colour in general, so it’s hard to imagine being overwhelmed by vivid hues.

Tell us about that amazing coffee table! One of our best friends’ father made it! It’s one of a kind. He was working on really wild furniture in the ’80s and we were so excited to get one of his designs. He refinished it for us and now it’s hands down one of our favourite pieces in the house.