One of my favorite styles in home decor is the warm, classic, comfortably elegant Southern Living style. It encompasses lots of florals, patterns and wonderful color combinations.

Here's a beautiful room that I created recently for a client who loves this style and wanted to incorporate it into her formal living room. Enjoy the journey here as we show the process of how a room changes and evolves into new life!

First, let me explain how I decorate a room. In my work as an Intuitive Interior Decorator, I first psychically scan the room to feel the energy in it. Everything and everyone holds energy, especially houses, where we spend so much of our time and I can feel the energy in each room. As I view a room, the house speaks to me, telling me its story through the energy that is being held in the room.  The house also shows me how it would like to look and feel.

As an Intuitive, I can see and feel the aura of the home and the energy that is gathered there. The energy is created...

Chinoiserie is capturing attention again even though it's been around since the mid 17th century.  You may not recognize its name but you've seen it in stores and homes and instantly know what I'm talking about when you see a picture like the one above.

The design is a European interpretation intended to capture the harmony of Asian style depicting nature and people enjoying music, art, architecture and beautiful garden scenery.

Chinoiserie like all styles have their heyday and then decline but when they are a true classic, they return again and again.  Chinoiserie was very popular in the 18th century, with Thomas Chippendale drawing attention to it by decorating his cabinets and furniture with the design.

It rose to popularity again in the 1920s and here we are a hundred years later and it's on the rise yet again.  

In many homes throughout the ages, there's always been a piece or two of chinoiserie pottery or some form of it in elegant classic homes and there...

Welcome to Ask Kala! In this column  –  Kala invites you to email your probing metaphysical, magical,.. spiritual, and supernatural questions.

Today's question is:

"Hello Kala, I have been on a journey of studying all about the mystery and mystical universe we are part of. However, I have reached a point where something in me has shutdown completely not sure why. My gifts and abilities seem to have disappeared. I will like to hear your suggestions. Thank you", JZ

Hi JZ,

Great question and this happens to all of us in one form or another. It's a type of burnout. Sometimes it happens in relationships, or in our careers or at times, in our spiritual connection and journey.

It's a sign that we have not been practicing self care and that we have disconnected from listening to our higher self and that...

As an Intuitive Interior Decorator, I talk about trends for interior decor, current ones and future trends too! It's fun and exciting to talk about new color palettes and decor that will change the energy of your home.

But... it's also important to talk about grounding, the stabilizing energy that creates the foundation of the home. In our homes, some things should be built to last, to keep consistency in the home and make it functional. These things should be designed to work hard, handle a lot of pressure and be functional. If we can create this in the home, we are off to a great start and if we can build it where it is not just functional, but also aesthetically pleasing, then we've hit a home run!

The two rooms that need to stand up well to heavy usage are bathrooms and the kitchen.  The two room that show their age the quickest are, you guessed it, the bathroom and the kitchen!

Want to guess the age of a home? Check out the tile choice in the bathroom, is it pink or what...

Fresh off of showing my fireplace decorated for Winter, it's time to bring in some color!

There's nothing like color to brighten up your thoughts and emotions during the Winter months, so if you're wondering what you can do to lift your energy at this time, it's easy! Start by bringing in some fun colors to your room!

One of my favorite yearly celebrations is coming up! It's Mardi Gras. The Colors of Mardi Gras are Purple, Green and Gold. Purple represents justice, green is faith and gold represents power.

Beads in these colors are thrown to the crowds as the floats pass by in the parades. It is said that if you catch the beads, the color represents the type of good luck you will receive this year. Remember it's bad juju to steal beads from someone else who caught them, that's only going to reverse that fortune and bring the bad upon you, such as loss of power, faith or justice for you.

I've added some of these colors to my fireplace here with the addition of my carnival mask along...

My Winter look on the fireplace...

• The stark Manzanita branch is bare but painted gold with the reminder that the light always returns.
  
  
• Hints of Neoclassic design and ancient wisdom hold court with the Greek goddess bust.
  
  
• The Scottish Law books in the middle are over 100 years old, a reminder of justice and balance.
  
  
• Black and white checks in the vase represent the duality in this world, masculine, feminine, light and dark, yin and yang, cold and hot, positive and negative. What path do you follow?
  
  
• And of course, the gorgeous peacock feathers are lush and green in their beauty symbolizing awakening.

Winter is the time where we go within and rest, restoring our energy so that we can bloom in Spring.

I could go on describing the spiritual meaning and purpose of every item placed here on the mantel, as it is carefully cultivated and selected to create and amplify this energy in my home with the intent to support, uplift and inspire.

Is your home in tune with the seasons and...

Here we are on the eve of an entire New DECADE.

It's exciting on a "global consciousness" level.

First, let me explain how energy works within and around us…

In a nutshell, what we think, we create. We are co-creators with the Universe.

Your thoughts gather in the energy field around your physical body known as the aura. 

The more you focus on a specific thought, the larger it grows in size and strength in the mental field of the aura bubble around you.

If you combine that mental thought with the emotional energy field in the aura surrounding your physical body, the thought then accelerates and magnifies even greater.

Each person does this on some level every day. If you wake up every morning and have the same thought, it soon becomes part of your belief system and eventually it becomes part of your reality. This is why so many coaches, therapists, thought leaders and inspirational speakers spend so much time explaining what negative self-talk can do to you and...

It's fun to watch my clients newly decorated homes continue to redefine themselves throughout the seasons of the year.  As I work with each client to "redesign their homes and their lives from the inside out", transformations occur both within the home and the client themselves.

In a project I did earlier this year, we transformed my clients dining room into a space that reflects her love of wine and the Tuscany region.  The beautiful blue and gold tones anchor this space and are reflected boldly in the gorgeous rug from Grandin Road.

The new Hooker Furniture Archivist round table and chairs invite all who enter a place of welcome and honor at the table and the canvas artwork depicting Lake Como announces the mood and intent of the room. Lemons placed on the table runner and and an olive tree set in a deep blue planter complete the mood of this space.

I'm delighted to share some holiday decor photos of this room, with one of my client's adorable cats playing host for this...