A Reflective Home

I didn't grow up with a clear picture of what it meant to be a woman. Raised by my father with two brothers, I had to find pieces of womanhood in the women I worked with, read about, or admired. But slowly, I built a life of intention, crafted with purpose.

As a wife, mother, and business owner, I believe the choices we make, the way we build our homes, the clothes we wear, the meals we prepare, these all shape the lives we lead. It's about creating a space for joy and peace, not by accident, but by design.

We'll explore the stories of people who live life with intention. People who don't wait for life to be perfect, but embrace the beauty and meaning in their everyday choices. Because living a life of faith and beauty isn't something we wait for, it's something we create. And through these stories, we discover new ways to flourish, one intentional step at a time.

Every home tells a story. Here, in the serene, snow-blanketed forests of Montana, an interior designer shapes spaces with intention and care, blending personal touches and natural elements so that every corner reflects the lives and hearts of the people who live there.

I come about two or three times a week. It's always different. There's always something that has changed. Trees fall, branches uncover themselves. I just go and see what's up on the property and grab it if I think it looks good. I never know what I'm going to do with it, but I'll figure it out, and I just really love. Gathering stuff that's unusual, that I think I could do something with. It is really fun, because you'll sometimes discover stuff that you're like, I didn't even know that this was here.

So, I came down to the lakeshore one day, and I was like, look at all this wood. What is this doing here? And the color is so pretty. So, I was like, I'm going to go regularly and grab wood. Is it driftwood? Is that what it's considered? It's really trees that fall. And they land here somehow. They make their way towards the lakeshore. You're repurposing God's creation, right? Yes. He gives us this life, and then you're bringing this outside life to create more liveliness within your home.

Yeah, it's so pretty, and it's like nothing in my house is like, it's pretty much all wood everywhere. There is no material that is not, you know, something that looks like it comes from outside, so might as well just go with that. That's what we do. So, I mean, look at the color. Yeah, it's so natural. It's so beautiful. I love that it still has value when it's fallen and gone, and it adds an entirely different aesthetic.

So, this is my favorite log right here. So, I don't know why this log is so prolific with growing moss, but it just is always here every season. It's buried right now, but this is kind of probably this bald spot is where I probably got some last time. Okay.

I would just use that piece for something, so we kind of just start like that. Okay. All right, so let me just... Oh, my gosh. I mean, I was thinking it would be fragile, but it's taking part of the wood with. It's not. So, this is the substrate of the moss. It comes right off. And then this will all dry it before I use it, but it's going to even turn a different color once we get it inside and we let it dry.

As a designer, how do you explain this creative process? I mean, the answer is I don't know, because I don't ever know what I'm going to do with something. Sometimes, like, the uncertainty of something is really fertile ground for creativity.

I think creativity is very interactive, and you might see something, and then it'll give you an idea, and then you have to go and try it, because ideas don't always work. I mean, I think that the point is to be outside, to look at textures, expose yourself to things that are beautiful, and then something will come, you know, you'll get an idea. Yeah, I mean, this is so much more fruitful than, you know, walking in a home good. Yeah, I mean, this is a dead tree.

This is a dead tree, and it still has value. Okay, here is something I want to show you. And this is juniper. See this beautiful berry? Pale blue. It's really pale blue right now. That berry is gonna dehydrate a little bit. Okay. It ages and turns even a more sort of brighter blue, and they're so pretty. So, I'll kind of cut all the needles away, and then just use the berry. What do you typically use these berries for?

The berries make perfect wreaths. Wow, I'd love to see that. I have some cut inside that are already dry, so let's go and make some wreaths. Warm up. Bringing nature inside reflects Charmi and herself. Every branch, each pine cone. They all carry a piece of her style and vision. Simple choices reveal who she is through the spaces she creates.

Let's see what we can make with this stuff that we found. So, I just wanted to give you an idea of, this is one that I made a couple weeks ago. Wow. So, you see how these berries, how they turn, like, even a more vibrant blue? They just shriveled up a little bit. They shrivel up, and I just think they're so pretty. These are the juniper berries, aged and dried and preserved. I started with this shed, so I find these on the property.

A deer antler. Yeah. Okay. So, I do have a jar of feathers. You want to see my other jars? Yes. Okay. So, this is a whole grouse in here, and I love using the feathers because my sons and my husband are big hunters, and it's something that they do together, and they've always done together. So, it was important to me to use this because I want it to be that grouse that he shot on Thanksgiving, so whenever he comes home, he sees that, and he knows that he had a part of that.

But that's what I love about... Either wreaths or prints and frames is that you could really storytell with these small things. I'm a strong believer that if you love something, it will pair well with other things you love. Oh, sure, sure. You might have something that's personal to your family that you think of, and you could add it. So, it's just amazing that all this stuff is just laying on the ground, or it's growing somewhere, and then you could harvest it and make something pretty.

Not knowing what you're going to do is sometimes the best place to start, because then that's where creativity happens. This is gorgeous. I mean, that's kind of good for me, right? For me? Oh my gosh! Maybe a few more berries. This is beautiful! But, I don't know, maybe I want to do a few more. Do you like this? Yes, just clip it off. I want to fill in with these little bundles of berries. I mean, this is even something beautiful to gift.

The thing that I like to do with a gallery wall is, it's really not so much about the things that are on it, but the... The memory, or at least an experience that you had, like sometimes when you go on vacation, you don't necessarily need to bring stuff home from that vacation. You could just bring photos home, and you could have a gallery wall of that particular vacation instead of having things in books where you don't necessarily see them. One thing that I like to do, and I actually got this idea because I was going through an old recipe book, and I found a recipe card that my mother-in-law had given me.

So, my mother-in-law passed away about 10 years ago. But I thought, how cool that it was her handwriting. So, instead of keeping it in a book, I got the idea that what if we photographed an ingredient that's in a dish? In our family...

A really coveted recipe is my pumpkin cake. Okay, the pumpkin cake. The pumpkin cake. It was fall. I went to a pumpkin patch. I took a picture of pumpkins, and then you turn it over, and there is the recipe for the pumpkin cake. This is so special. And how great would it be to have your great-grandmother's handwriting? And, you know, if you use the recipe, and there's a butter stain on it, frame it. My son is a... Pretty good cook, and so he's really always really interested in recipes, so I'm going to give him this.

It is so thoughtful. Yeah, I think it's fun. Well, this is what generations will remember. Well, I love that you're using such inexpensive materials. Let's look at this. So, this costs, this is $1.99. I think it's definitely inexpensive to do. That's going to be a beautiful watch.

Oh, I love it. It makes such a difference. It's fun. Your walls don't need store-bought art. They can showcase your story, even experiences, travels, and moments. Every frame reflects a part of who you are. We have the wreath that you made with the feathers that your son hunted, right? We have this photo from your own property that you took, and... So, when you come in and you sort of see this, you're like, wow, look at that story. That's cool. And the shelf makes you, you know, able to switch things out and change it around for the seasons.

So, when you shift a spring here, you'll, you know, you'll transition something here, and then will you transition just the art? In that one? Yep. And that's all you have to do? Yep. Change the colors, change the print, probably two or three times a year. But that's easy. You know, you don't have to add all these things and buy all the pumpkins and buy the nutcrackers. No. There aren't really a lot of rules with gallery walls. With a gallery wall, it doesn't have to just be prints.

It could be objects. It could be this shelf, which is going to give us some projection. To me, it's the combinations of... things that are more important rather than like the individual things. Don't be afraid to tell your story with your pictures, and you could change your story because, you know, stories change and they evolve. Every wall doesn't have to be covered. You should leave room for things to happen and experiences to unfold. A home tells your story, not with words, but through every choice you make.

When your space reflects who you are, it carries intention, personality, and life. That's where a home becomes more than just walls. It becomes a living expression of yourself. And in that reflection, you truly flourish.