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The Outlook, The Post, The Estacada News
Friday, September 13, 2013
fall home improvement
A7
By CARI HACHMANN
Pamplin Media Group
A
fter summer ends,
many of us living in
the Northwest have
come to embrace
fall.
We find serenity in the
cool, misty grey mornings
and multi-colored tides of
falling leaves.
Fall is the beginning of the
indoor season: warm layers,
hot foamy drinks and a book
to get lost in.
It’s also anticipation of the
holidays, when people start
thinking about entertaining
friends and family.
In my family it was tradi-
tion to drag out the card-
board boxes, stuffed with
decorations and help mom
unload them onto any avail-
able surface in the living
room, dining room, mantle,
etc.
Nostalgic for many or
dreadful for some, interior
designer Sharon Hocking of
Corbett offers a fresh per-
spective on how to decorate
for the indoor season without
the stress, clutter and mess.
Get rid of stuff
“I hate stuff,” said Hocking,
who was employed as a
graphic designer for Nike be-
fore she started a family and
raised three daughters in
Corbett, eventually studying
at the Heritage Design School
in Beaverton.
Combining interests in art
and graphic design, interior
design has been Hocking’s
forte for the past 13 years.
She now works for herself,
helping people create homes
that are livable, functional
and beautiful.
Living in the Northwest,
Hocking said she does most
of her cleaning and organiz-
ing in the fall.
“It’s a good time to get
things streamlined, so your
home is more efficient,” she
said, “as we spend more time
inside in the fall and winter
months.”
Around the holidays, peo-
ple bring more stuff into
their house, said Hocking,
and it can get cluttered very
easily. When a home isn’t
functioning well, is cluttered
and doesn’t reflect the best
of who you are, Hocking said
it can feel like a frustrating
place to be.
“I like to get rid of stuff,”
she said.
Living art gallery
Hocking proposes a fresh
way to display meaningful
family collections, photos, art
and decorations.
Recently Hocking helped
two clients who weren’t sure
how to display their collected
treasures.
People tend to scatter little
photos all over the house,
Hocking said, wincing at the
idea of clutter.
Instead, she likes to bring
those pieces together onto a
single wall in a gallery-like
setting where photos, art-
work and decorations can be
displayed on a set of shelves
and interchanged as often as
you wish.
“Think of it as a working
gallery, and you can change it
out with the season,” Hocking
said.
Design magazines call it
the “curated look.”
Hocking, who designed
Stomping Grounds Coffee
House when it opened in Fair-
view, got the idea in 2005
while working on a street of
dreams home with other de-
signers from Troutdale’s Cel-
ebrate Me Home.
Hocking’s latest projects
have involved helping con-
tractors furnish new homes
and homeowners remodel —
everything from choosing
paint colors to space plan-
ning to making homes more
functional to exterior up-
grades and window cover-
ings.
The photo display should
be in a living room or dining
room, Hocking said, some-
where guests can see and en-
joy it and it can create con-
versation.
“Everyone has a wall where
this can be done,” she said.
Deep-set shelves can be
purchased in various sizes
and price ranges, from Target
to IKEA and Pottery Barn.
“The mix of art and photos
and the texture of natural ele-
ments is really what gives
this look interest,” Hocking
said. Think of stacking old
books for height or framing a
treasured letter and anything
that as meaning to you. She
also loves the juxtaposition of
mixing in old art.
Hocking framed an archi-
tectural drawing her daugh-
ter brought back from Italy.
“It reminds me of the trea-
sure she is and the lovely
place she got to experience,”
she said.
The display also is a place
where seasonal touches can
be tucked in, she said.
For fall, Hocking likes to
add natural elements like
pressed leaves, nuts, acorns,
wood, potpourri in vases and
candles.
“It doesn’t have to look like
a gift store. It just has to have
some tasteful accents of col-
or,” she said.
At Christmastime, you can
tuck in glass ornaments, tree
toppers and bring out the
photos of kids sitting on San-
ta’s lap.
“It’s a changeable, living
art gallery of your family and
your life,” Hocking said.
“When photos and art are
on the walls, we are a little
more reluctant to change
them. The shelves give us an
easy way to keep things
fresh.”
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Things to know
Who:
Sharon Hocking,
interior designer
What:
Hocking offers
consulting, by the hour or
by the project, on colors
for inside and outside
homes, floor plans,”space-
lifts,” remodeling, bath-
room and kitchen design,
fabric, window treat-
ments, rugs, carpeting,
bedding, wood flooring
and accessorizing.
Price:
$75 per hour. “I
can get tons done in two
hours,” Hocking said.
Contact:
Reach Sha-
ron by phone 503-886-9875,
email JSHocking@cas-
cadeaccess.com, or to
learn more visit her web-
site at
inginteriors.com.
Color help:
11 a.m. to
2 p.m. first Saturday of
each month, meet Hock-
ing at Gresham Miller
Paint to get color tips for
painting walls inside your
home.
A bird painting, pinecone and her daughters’ photos are displayed in Sharon Hocking’s living room display.
A
Meaningful collection
■
Shelf gallery allows interchangeable photos, art and fall decor
Above, Hocking
mixes old books
with wood and
framed family
photos for a
curated look.
Left, the
Garretts bring
family photos
and collected
treasures
together in their
living room in
Corbett.
PHOTO: JIM CLARK
