From a rundown auto shop to an urban oasis

Luck and her own artistic eye helped this artist create something beautiful out of a wreck.

LUCK follows Kelly Walker.

When she hitchhiked into Baltimore, Maryland, as a teenager, the North Carolina native was addicted to drugs and alcohol and living out of a backpack. But she found recovery services that saved her life.

Then she stumbled into an apprenticeship that led her to start her own decorative painting and faux finishing company, Art Star Custom Paintworks, in 2002. Today her work can be seen in such places as the Sagamore Pendry hotel, Cinghiale restaurant and the new Hotel Revival.

Perhaps it is unsurprising that she lucked into her home and studio in the Baltimore suburb of Mount Vernon, too.

“Luck has played a huge part in my life,” says Walker, 42. “I’m still so blown away by my life and how this all happened.”

An avid cyclist, Walker was out for a ride when she bumped into a friend who set it all in motion. At the time Walker was living in another area, but her basement studio there was too small for her large-scale works. The friend told her of a former auto garage that had already been semi-converted into a home.

“As soon as I walked in, I knew this was the place,” says Walker. “It had everything I needed – showroom space, storage space, production space and parking, because we drive my trailer and two cars right into the building.”

In 2013, she bought the property

Walker pictured on the spiral staircase to her rooftop deck. The artist is the owner of Baltimore Artstar custom painting so, naturally, the walls of the old auto shop she converted into her home are vibrant with colour rendered with interesting techniques. — Photos: TNS

Know what to splurge on, Walker advises. She used standard wall tile but installed it in a herringbone pattern for a luxe look.

Mid-century modern furniture and art pepper the colourful space in Walker’s industrial-themed home.