their personal feel for colors, and you have to figure that out. Often I ask clients,‘ Have you ever made a scrapbook of what you like?’ Of course, everybody has. Sometimes you get their Pinterest pictures, and it’ s every kind of house in the whole world. So you then have to narrow it down. There’ s a time for me to learn about the client, for the client to learn how we work, that I think is worth it in the end.”
Does she have a favorite color?“ How can I have a favorite color? Look outside. It’ s the blend of colors. It’ s like my garden. It’ s how you put them together that becomes interesting. That’ s why I love doing flower arrangements, because I can make these interesting mixtures of colors.”
What are common mistakes people do when decorating their homes?“ You really need to assess your house. You need to measure things. You have to get the scale right. I also find that people don’ t know how to really arrange furniture. You’ ll go in a room, and all the furniture is around the outside of the room. That’ s not the way people talk to each other. If you have a sofa, you want some chairs around that sofa. You imagine six people are going to sit and talk to each other, and they need to be close to each other. And everywhere they sit, they need a little table to put their coffee or their glass of wine on. I don’ t care what style I’ m working in. To me, these principles make a room work and function. People will stick a chair over in the corner. Nobody’ s going to go sit in that chair by themselves. So, I think it’ s really getting the floor plan right and think, okay, if I’ m going to have a big sofa or an L-shaped sofa, what kind of chairs, and balance the scale of the room. Sometimes, people get the scale wrong because they buy stuff online. It looks good there, but they haven’ t figured out if it’ s going to really work in their room.”
If there is one piece of furniture that’ s worth the investment, it’ s the sofa, says Bunny.“ It can be re-covered, but it’ s kind of a mainstay. It shouldn’ t be too extreme. It shouldn’ t be too big, because you might move. A good seven-foot long sofa is plenty big. A ten-foot-long sofa, where’ s it going to fit? And can you move it? It should be comfortable to sit on, and maybe a couple of comfortable chairs. What’ s great is to go and find the table to put next to the sofa, and the lamps. If people just go to tag sales and country fairs, it’ s there. It’ s so much fun.”
Bunny loves estate auctions, although it’ s important to know a bit about the value of furniture before you bid. You might not find museum-quality furniture at country auctions, but you can find really good buys.
The industry has changed a lot, and one of the good things about it is that it’ s grown, says Bunny.“ There’ s so much more out there. When I first started, you didn’ t have big stores like Restoration Hardware or all these commercial stores. What’ s sad to me is that because of the internet, everything’ s gotten dumbed down. There are still inventive designers, but there’ s a lot of work that is derivative. It all
D’
ak
z
THE SCULPTOR WHO INSPIRED A NATION
Discover the historic home, studio, and gardens of Daniel Chester French
www. chesterwood. org
STOCKBRIDGE, MA
C ll |
|
|
|
B k h |
H l hS |
m. g / O h p |
c |
Spring 2026 BERKSHIRE MAGAZINE // 27