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[||!prliignore6||Today's C&D Guest Blogger is Ursula Bamnolker, the editor of ||!prliignore0||, a design blog that celebrates all things chic, fun, modern, colorful and green||!prliignore7||]

When you think of the Midwest, what comes to mind? Corn fields? Cows? Beer? How about Jonathan Adler? Chic, sexy design? Lacquered furniture and fun, fabulous colors?

I’m guessing you chose the former…unless you’ve come within 50 feet of St. Louis designer Amie Dupre Corley. Bringing a fresh viewpoint and a wonderfully creative approach to the table, Dupre Corley is a designer who knows how to mix high with low, transform a space that’s feckless into fabulous…all the while staying on a minimal budget.

I sat down recently with her to delve more deeply into her treasure trove of knowledge. Here’s what she had to say:

1) First of all, tell me a bit about your background. You didn’t start out in the design field. What did you study in school?

I am actually a big science nerd at heart.  I was pre med all the way through college and while I was getting my master’s degree in tropical medicine at Tulane, I decided that I needed a little creativity in my life and signed up for photography classes.  It was then that I realized I was probably more talented in the creative arts than the scientific ones!  When my husband and I purchased a one hundred year old home in the Central West End of St. Louis in 2004,  I was faced with the challenge of restoring and decorating a 6,000 square foot home on a very limited budget.  That was when the decorator in me was born and I have been obsessed ever since.

2) When you first moved into your home, it was in less than ideal shape. How did you tackle renovating it on your own? How did this lead you to start your own design firm?

It was actually a blessing in disguise that I was forced (by a limited budget) to focus on renovating and fixing what was wrong with the house before I was able to actually decorate it. We spent most of our money at the beginning on renovating the kitchen which was in beyond horrible condition.

I spent months burning off layers and layers of paint in the butler’s pantry and my husband and I learned to tile and actually gutted the guest bathroom ourselves.  At the time, we had no children and I was working part time so it was doable, but home renovating is really a HUGE job.  It is time consuming and requires a ton of patience.

For the rest of the house, I literally took it room by room.  Each room posed a new challenge and we just had to learn as we went.  We are still nowhere near the end, but that is part of the fun of it.  I love having a project and with old houses there will always be something to do or fix!   I spent those first two “renovating” years pouring over every design publication out there and knew exactly what my vision was for the house and was finally able to start buying furniture and having fun with it.  This past summer, I decided to enter my home in the Jonathan Adler “Happy, Chic Home” contest and when he blogged about my home, I decided that I might be on to something!

3) You have a gift for mixing vintage pieces with modern colors and fabrics. Where do you get the vintage pieces? What is the key to mixing vintage with modern?

I find the vintage and antique pieces on ebay, while shopping in New Orleans and Chicago, as well as at auction houses like Ivey-Selkirk here in St. Louis.  I think the key to mixing anything is balance, balance, balance.  Modern pieces look more expensive and interesting when paired with some vintage and time worn, and antique chairs seem to come alive when reupholstered with some shockingly bright fabric.   I like to create a space that is memorable by mixing things from my past with things that I love now.

Being a southern girl, I love frivolous, french furniture, but only when it’s paired with something simpler and less grand to tone it down.  I also take a light-hearted approach to decorating.  It should be fun and more than anything reflect your personality.  Pairing serious furniture with bright fabrics and punchy prints is my favorite way to transform a stodgy piece into something young and playful yet still elegant and timeless.

4) When working with a client who is on a strict budget, what do you focus on? What do you suggest they do first?

Well, it totally depends on the client as different things are important to different people.  Some clients are wallpaper fanatics and are happy to spend 80% of the budget on the walls.  I actually love working with clients like that because then we have to get really creative with the rest of the room. That is where my ebay fanaticism comes in hand!  I love working with tight budgets because it is so gratifying to see what amazing things you can get on ebay and transform them with a little paint or fabric into something chic.

I also suggest spending money where it matters- walls, floors and lighting.   I think that furniture can be found on ebay or in vintage stores and refinished very inexpensively — whether it be reupholstering chairs or lacquering an old buffet.  There are quick fixes that can transform a cheap, ugly piece of furniture . Accessories are also great ebay finds and a great place to save money.   I always say, “spend your money on the statement piece”, for some, that may be a fabulously patterned wallpaper.  For others it is a killer chandelier in the entryway or a great piece of art.  Whatever the statement is in the room, then that is where the money should go.   I think that furniture can be moved, changed or updated and shouldn’t be thought of as permanent- so have fun with it

5) What are your favorite online resources?

Sadly, I love the domino magazine website which will soon be no longer.   I love their resource guide and have clicked on every single link over the years! I am also a 1st dibs addict for vintage and antique pieces.  It can be a little pricey, but it is a great resource for finding items and learning good “key words” for ebay searching.  Also, I can’t say enough about the value of all the great design blogs out there.  They are an invaluable resource for me.  I have a few favorite websites that I visit regularly like mecoxgardens.com, jaysohomeandgarden.com, perch-home.com, and 20×200.com for cool, affordable art.

6) Who are your favorite designers?

I would have to say that my favorite is Miles Redd.  His work in Shyama Patel’s Gramercy Park home is still one of my favorites as well as the crazy and colorful home he did for Laurie Thiel that was on the October 05 Domino cover.  I keep that issue out on my desk.

Others that I love are Todd Romano, Vesta Fort, Anne Coyle, Mary McDonald and of course, I won’t deny that I have been greatly inspired by Jonathan Adler and Kelly Wearstler who really set the standard for design.

7) Do you read design magazines or books for inspiration? What are a few of your favorites?

Fashion was my my first love and I have spent the last eight years working in many different areas of the fashion world, so I am always using fashion magazines for inspiration in designing. I love international design magazines like British Living etc. and Australia Vogue Living.  There is something about British style that is so nonchalant yet still refined.  I love that. It is a hard balance to achieve, but they manage to do it so well.

As far as books go, I am a collector of photography and fashion books and some of my favorites are Richard Sexton’s books on New Orleans.  The photography is beautiful and he captures so well the juxtaposition of elegance and decay in those gorgeous homes.

There is something about fashion and decorating that go hand in hand.  One of my favorite artists is Marc Clauzade.  His work is only available in a few galleries in the US, one of which is in New Orleans.  My husband and I stop in every time that we are there and “visit” our future paintings.  Both of his grandmothers were French fashion designers and his paintings look like giant fashion illustrations set on a beach or in a Paris cafe.

8 ) Tell me a bit about your plans for the future. Will you ever offer E-design services

At the moment, my focus is on getting my design business (Amie Corley Interiors) off the ground and running.  I am also working on a design blog with a unique twist to it…stay tuned for that.  If all goes as planned it will be up in the next month or so.  I would love to offer e-design services as I think there is so much great info and resources online that it would be an easy transition.  I am currently helping friends all over the country with small decorating projects and it is amazing how much can be done online.

One of the reasons that I decided to start my design business was to offer a more reasonably priced design service that would focus on providing clients with an array of options for decorating their homes- not just the standard to-the-trade furniture, etc. etc.  I want my clients to feel that they are getting a room that is totally unique and completely personal with stuff gathered from a little bit of everywhere.

[For more info on Amie, contact her at amiecorleyinteriors@hotmail.com]