Name: Kelly Rae Roberts
Location: Seattle, WA
Size: 1465 square feet
Years lived in: 1 year
There are some homes that truly reflect their owners' personalities. The Seattle home of artist Kelly Rae Roberts is one of those homes. Like the mixed media pieces for which she is known, Kelly's house is colorful and whimsical with lots of feminine details. In just one year, she has made a cozy home, filling it with vintage collections, art and plenty of personal touches.

Creativity abounds in this home and it begins with the entryway that Kelly made where one didn't exist. By placing an old church pew/bench in the front part of the living room with old wooden shutters behind it, she was able to carve out a space to hang coats and drop off bags and umbrellas. The warm and inviting space hints at what is to come: rooms decorated in bright and bold palettes and filled with art, both her own and those of favorite artists.

AT Survey:
My/Our style: cottage vintage meets colorful whimsy
Inspiration: artwork, flea markets, vintage collections/groupings
Favorite Element: original artwork collection
Biggest Challenge: We have absolutely zero closets downstairs so we had to create an entryway space to hold our umbrellas (we live in Seattle), jackets, and shoes
What Friends Say: "You must come over and decorate my place right NOW!!"
Biggest Embarrassment: In our guest bedroom, one curtain panel is long and the other is short (sewing mistake).
Proudest DIY: My husband created a stunning bookshelf out of colorful old salvage wood
Biggest Indulgence: Our apple green leather couch. We took a chance on that one and it totally works.
Best advice: The same with painting --> there are no rules, and no mistakes. Go for it. Create spaces and rearrange furniture to your hearts delight. Play with color. Take risks. Dream big. And don't purchase a single thing for your home unless you are absolutely in love with it.
Dream source: Anthropologie, and etsy

Resources:
Chairs, side tables, collections of vintage items, architectural salvage materials: vintage flea markets, ebay, garage sales
Rugs, master bed furniture, couch: Pottery Barn
Bedding, kitchen ware, general inspiration: Anthropologie
Original art and unique crafty touches: etsy, art + craft shows
Cutains, hardware, storage: Ikea

(Thanks, Kelly!)
Images: Kelly Rae Roberts



Sprout Side Table
Wonderful, creative house. I thought I was sick of seeing turquoise and wasabi, but you've made them fresh and fun again. Heck, with all the great design going on in your house, you could probably even rock avacado and harvest gold. Great place!
love the art above the bed & the green couch
makes me smile :D
Kelly Rae is a wonderful woman and talented artist. Her personality and creative spirit are reflected throughout her home, which is bursting with energy and beauty.
there are so many wonderful things in this house, make me wanna move :-))0
I love the bedspread on the left hand side green bed. its lovely. where is it from?
there are so many fantastic details on this house that i dont even know where to start...great job, and "You must come over and decorate my place right NOW!!"
Beautiful home! Love love love that green couch!
Fresh and exuberant! Looks like a lovely place to live...
This apartment is REALLY cute. I mean REALLY, REALLY cute. Maybe even over-the-line cute. I thought to myself, "it's obvious that a man does not live here". Then I read the copy and and was very surprised to find out that you do, indeed, have a husband. He must be one very secure man!
I am in love with your home! Can I move in? I love all the color and it's used so well. This is so my style.
Love, love, LOVE. The colors, the textures, the wabi sabi furniture, the art, the old tins, the clocks, EVERYTHING on that mantle... A happy place. Full of life and whimsy and creativity. Did I mention I LOVE it ???
Love it. So bright and happy! And yes, the paint color names, please?
love the color in this house!
Now this is the house that should have won the color contest. She used so many beautiful colors is such creative and wonderful ways! Love it!
So cute! I'm always impressed when people can decorate in a way that is fun and girly without being precious or frilly. That house just looks loved and lovely.
PS--I want that floral bedspread! Is that from Anthropologie?
Beautiful! Quite the inspiration. I also would like to know the color of the blue paint in the bedroom.
I love the colors wonderful place.
So nicely done...harmonious from room to room and full of creative space-saving and storage ideas. The only room that underwhelmed me was the dining room. Somehow it lacks the positive energy of the rest of the house.
I want to live here!!!!!!!!!!
I am in love.
So beautiful. Tons of inspiration! Thx!
Some of the elements in this home I have in my own home. It's almost like this could be my house....but this is way, way nicer! There's a lot of inspiration here....love her ideas!
I love that green couch- it's wonderful
The decoration of a house reflect the personality of a person but the decoration of the bedroom reflect the spirit, i think the furniture above is so inspirational.
See...this is how to collect vintage and display them in an edited and not junky way in the home. Love it....you couldn't help but be happy in a house this colorful.
One of my favorites. Not even my "style" but this house is just incredible. Kudos!
This home tour just makes you want to smile when you see it, total happy vibe! I'm in love with the green couch and the other splashes of green throughout the home! I always love seeing spaces that are unique and one of a kind!
Yes, I think the vintage collections really work because the homeowner has kept the big picture in mind, with respect to the use of color and line. I think that's definitely the artist coming out. And it's very different from those who collect strictly for a sense of history.
I registered just so I could tell you how much I love your house and PLEASE post the paint colors used.
Such a wonderful and cheery home!
I love it, I love it, I love it. I can't get over it! She is so confident with her use of color. Every new photograph gave me more inspiration - I feel like, hey, if this place can make such intense colors work, maybe I can, too!(?)
I feel like I would want to come spend a day here as a vacation, as a house guest. Fun!
Wow!!! As someone with a strictly modern/mid-century modern minimalist aesthetic, I LOVE THIS! For an ultimate minimalist to LOVE THIS... WOW! The colors, the textures... it's comfy, it's country, it's chic, AMAZING!!!!!
Yes, another request for the paint colors. Specifically, the beautiful cream color used in the living room.
Just a beautiful home all around. Gorgeous!
I LOVE SEATTLE!
http://raenovate.blogspot.com/2009/11/seattle-condominium.html
Such a vibrant, fun, beautiful home. Love, love, love.
absolutely wonderful home!!
love the church pew and the rug in your dining room, do you have the source info for it?
wonderful workspace and art!!
Ooooh I love it! I have blue walls in my home (that I can't change) and am always scared to go blown out with color. This tour inspires me to give it a shot!
Can anyone tell me who makes the white bed in the master bedroom?
I like the dining room. Lovely french doors.
There are not enough adjectives in the English language to adequately express how much I love this house!
This house should have won the colour contest...AMAZING. Is that blue in the dining room BM Gossamer Blue? Looks great.
This may be my favourite house tour ever. It takes a deft hand to use that much colour and control it so masterfully. This is so inspiring - it's what my little house wants to be when it grows up!
This is great. One of my favorite house tours ever! Good job!
(I have major couch envy over your green couch...)
so refreshing, the color choices both vibrant and calming somehow. More stuff sitting out than I could deal with though. I always wonder when I see places with many decorative objects sitting around: do they ever move? collect dust? don't you get tired of them? not necessarily a critique because I simply don't know how to do that: any free surface in my home gets used for un-decorative stuff sooner or later, and my kids grab and move everything that isn't attached.
Love it! The guest room is my favorite. The quilt is amazing!
Do you know where you got he lampshade in the guest room?
love. love. love. love.
I like the couch & pillows, etc, soooo colorful !
from washington state, new to this web site.
Joyous is what comes to mind!
Wow, I really, really love your home! I feel like this is a perfect haven in an often grey and dreary Seattle.
Wow. This looks more of a doll playhouse than a farmhouse because of all the lively colors! Very lovely! :)
Oh my gosh!!! Kelly this is such a weird coincidence but I really liked the pictures of your place so I clicked to enter the tour and realized that I recognized the artwork. I immediately went to check where you got it and realized it's yours!!! I was out at my mom's for Christmas in Buffalo, MN which isn't big at all and found your plaques and stood there forever trying to think of which one to get because they were like 60% off but I decided not to because I thought my mom would think I was just adding to all of the things I need to pack when my daughter and I moved away! I really wanted one but thought well I will just forget about it and not care later but NOW I found you online!!! YEAH! I can buy a plaque after we move and can pick one out that's just perfect. I really liked one that had two girls that looked very similar and were tannish. It reminded me of my daughter and I who get called sisters all the time.
I'm so excited I found you!!
I once read a quote from some French woman recalling her mom's advice on getting dressed, or maybe it was on getting 'dressed up': after you've got your clothes and jewelery on, your hair and makeup done, when you are ready to go out -- look at yourself in the mirror and take off one item. Every room in this house would benefit from taking off one item. In some pictures I wonder if its that the place was gussied up a bit for Apt Therapy and that's why it feels overdone. Perhaps, perhaps not. But for me, this place has crossed the line from homey to corny, if only by an objet or two.
Oh yeah: the bed/bedding in the guest bedroom is so awesome nobody is notice the length of the curtains.
(Although I still think a couple of the chatckes to the right of the bed need to go.)
I love it! What's the source for the fun orange/floral rug?
Great job - I could live there!
one of my absolute favorites. viewed it twice--going back at least once more
who's work is that on top of the luggage/ nightstand? amazing house and like many other commenters-- it made me smile--the bright light belies the seattle-gloomy rainy rep
The art is beautiful.
I love this home! It's full of originality and does not shy away from risky pieces/colors/etc. What a wonderful job!
Why is there a red couch in the view of the living room as seen from the dining room, and a green couch in the living room images?
Ahah! Busted.