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Text by Tony Dimartino •
Styling by Darva Hirsch •
Photography by Davies & Lawery
Lisa Burnett was caught in the golden handcuffs.
After 20 challenging,
successful years in the corporate world, she felt stifled. “I wasn’t using the
creativity that had led me to study interior design in college,” she recalls.
“But the money was so good, I was afraid to quit.”
Married for the first time
at the age of 39 (“My parents always told me to wait till I was ready, and they
were right!”), she found an understanding partner in her husband, Bobby. “He’s a
minister-turned-attorney who left a huge law firm to start his own practice, so
he knows all about changing career paths in midstream.”
While honeymooning in
the South of France, the couple blissfully explored flea markets and antiques
stores. “I’ve never seen you so happy,” Bobby told her, and encouraged her to
start her own antiques business.
It took awhile. “I got started about five
years ago, but kept my day job for the first couple of years.” But even when she
was buying and selling antiques on a part-time basis, it gave her such a sense
of inner peace that she named her business…Inner Pieces.
Christmas Morn
(a) Pretty
wreaths all in a row.
(b) In the sunroom, a pastiche of antique wicker and
‘50s garden furniture includes a chipped metal chair and a glass-topped table
(draped in a soft green cloth for brunch). “I found the wicker wingback in the
basement at an estate sale and recovered it in linen,” Lisa says. “That basement
was full of wicker. I went bananas and bought 18 pieces.”
Hands-On Holiday
(c) The outdoor Christmas tree, adorned with fresh
apples and straw nests (d), glows beneath a pergola built by Bobby
and his brother. (e) In the guest bath, Lisa made and applied the
gold-leaf wall stencils. An antique chest opens for storage. “We had a metal
base built to make it table height.” Instead of the expected basket, she
displays towels in a salvaged iron wall vent.
Multipurpose Magic
“I enjoy taking everyday things from the past and totally
transforming them into something else,” Lisa explains. (f) A graceful floral
arrangement blooms in an antique water filter. Metal letters, probably
from an old building, shout out a holiday greeting.
no-tinsel zone page
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