Okay, feed the chickens! Chickens! (slow guitar) So I live in this house
with my husband, Mark, my daughter, Julia. Right now we have about 500
sheep, two Border Collies, a Great Pyrenees, and
also about 25 chickens. I live in the town of Leyden, which has got about six to 700 people. This is New England, and it's very, very
cold here in the winter and it's very white outside. So I feel like color is so warm, and inviting, and enveloping, and cozy. So I just plaster color all over my house. In textiles, in paint colors, paintings, lampshades that are decorated. I don't have anything beige in my house. In my living room , I actually, every wall is a different color. They all go together. People would say, that's
just nuts and psychotic, but because they're analogous, they're close to each other in tones, it holds it all together. So my husband and I have been married for 31 years and, you know
like all first married couples, we had nothing. And so our relatives started
giving cast off furniture. And my table in my kitchen
is from my mom and dad. And it's oak veneer, and it's all chipped, and it's, it's worn out. But I love it because it's 31 years of our life in that table. Every time my mom comes
to the house she says, you've really gotta get that done again. And I say, Mom! I like it, I like the layers. And that's how I feel about a house. Let it get dents and nicks and everything. That doesn't matter,
you can always fix it. So I got this phone call from
this young woman photographer and she said, I'm writing for
this website called Houzz, and could she come take some pictures. And the story went live in September and it started getting these comments. Every night I would go
on, read the comments. And it became clear to me that people were terrified of color. So I was able to do a book proposal about writing about
color and write a book. And it was all because
of the Houzz article. I like to paint furniture. I don't paint really old furniture. It's usually, I use like
a hundred year rule. I have a set of sideboard
dining room table and these great carved chairs and they came from my Aunt Jenny, when she died and nobody
in her family wanted them. It was an ugly oak color,
and I didn't like it. But I put a wash of oil,
black oil paint on it. And, like, the piece came to life just by changing the color. So I'm not really afraid
to change the color of a piece of furniture if
it's not working for me. I have my grandma's Hoosier cabinet, which I painted bright orange. I have my great aunt's beautiful sideboard and it's bright, fire engine red. It just, it makes a piece
of furniture or a house have a little more soul,
than something say, you just bought brand new. - I like the idea that I
can get up in the morning and she's all excited
at the breakfast table because she decided at two in the morning, she was gonna paint a room. In my mind, like why the hell would you ever do something like that? But in her mind, it's
perfectly acceptable. I would be nuts to tell her she could or could not do something. That would just destroy her creativity. - [Narrator] About four years ago, I decided I needed a dedicated studio 'cause I wanted to do some teaching. So, there was a cement pad and I was able to put a
two story addition on it, and in the basement is my studio. The walls in that room are white, but when you go in, all
you see is all my things that are all over the walls. 'Cause everything that I do is in color. I've always loved oil paintings
but couldn't afford them, so I figured I would teach myself to paint and just started fooling around with it. And so now my house is full
of these oil paintings. So we raised pigs one
year, and my first pig, her name was Pinky. So I thought it would be really
cool to immortalize Pinky in an oil painting. So, I painted Pinky, the pig. And so many people have
wanted to buy that, but I will not let Pinky go. I went to my friends house in Maine, and she asked me if I would
bring some fabric paint and paint her lampshades for her. So I didn't know what I was doing but I figured, what the heck, I'll try it. So I put all these patterns all over it, stuck it on her lamp, and then
when I moved here I was like, man I am gonna put these
things all over my house. So I get a white lampshade
with a styrene backing and I use a textile paint called Jacquard, and it's a translucent. So when the light comes through it, it almost looks like stained glass. And I put different colors,
pretty bright, around it. And when you drive down the hill and you see these lamps lit
up, it's just so pretty. I love this home because it's so old and it has so much history. I always wanted to live
in a really old house. - [Mark] I was raised on a small farm. As the crow flies, it's probably less than three miles from here. You can't really see much
more than a quarter mile, half mile, in any direction. It's really nice having small pastures, small, vistas, and a mile down the road, it might be a totally different thing. - Look at 'im. Isn't he a looker? - I wanted to raise my
child on a small farm. She has a certain amount
of rural, country sense. She'll never admit she
does, but I can see it. During lambing season, once
in a while we get a lamb that's chilled or needs
a little extra help. There was one time, where
it didn't look too good, this and that. Julia's comment was, it's not dead yet. So, most little kids wouldn't see, are not exposed to life
and death like that. - I feel very lucky to
be living in this family. I have very supportive parents and I really wouldn't
have it any other way. - So this house is like a
really nice family house, and you just walk in and
you feel loved in it. Ever since we've lived here,
we've had Thanksgiving here. So, that's like one of the
greatest memories for me of this house, is everybody gathering here and having this, pretty raucous
party in this living room. And then eating in the dining room, and now the kids are all,
you know, they're in college. They're moving away,
getting their first jobs and they're not gonna
be able to come anymore. But I hope that when they go
on and their lives continue, that they remember Thanksgiving
at Aunt Kristin's house. (slow joyful music)
