Barbara Collins This is Me

 Web References

1. 1. Valerie Reiss: Writing Clips

   www.valeriereiss.com/clips2.ht - [Cached]

   Published on: 12/18/2000   Last Visited: 11/2/2007

   Barbara Collins's and Michael Whitney's inner children have plenty of room to play.
   ...
   Barbara and Michael ask guests to guess the original life of a pair of modern, curvy lamp bases.
   ...
   If Michael is the inventor of the pair, Barbara is the harmonizer of the big picture.
   ...
   When Barbara, a designer and fabric specialist at ABC Carpet and Home, moved in last spring, she had the task of de-bachelorizing the space. Though she adores his art, she pulled everything together and made it home. "He builds and creates, I stylize... He's my honeydew: 'honey do this, honey do that,'" she laughs.
   
   Barbara and Michael met while collaborating over design ³ she wanted to make a room screen and someone at ABC suggested calling Michael, a problem solver who worked with their visual department. After months of tossing around design ideas and flirting in the name of junk-hunting, they finally got around to the screen. This constant play/collaboration is still a major theme in their relationship. "When we're not working, we're working on the house," says Barbara. They lugged one of the many ³ and heavy ³ antique doors that line a hallway from South Carolina. Another, they schlepped from Montreal. A peek into the "garage" ³ Michael's studio ³ reveals projects past and present: shelves of lamps-to-be, umbrella chandeliers and phone book mirrors. "Just say it ³ it's okay," Michael grins, "we're nuts."
   
   In addition to being a FIT graduate and a former flight attendant, Barbara is a pack rat extraordinaire. Her "playroom/guest room" is lined with Ikea cubby shelves -- the only furniture in the loft that hasn't been "brought back to life" (as Barbara likes to say of their recycled objects). These hold her collections, which include everything from 70's sunglasses to antique silver vessels that belonged to her grandmother to a bottle of original Farrah Fawcett shampoo. The antique wrought-iron guest bed was hers to play with as a girl in upstate New York. Her family owned a former cigar factory where decades of junk was stored -- a "big dollhouse" for her to play in. "People are freaked to stay in that bed. They say, 'I can't sleep with a mannequin staring at me,'" Barbara says, gesturing to a life-sized mannequin and a pair of legs in the corner.
   ...
   says Barbara.
   ...
   "Using your imagination," says Barbara, "lets you challenge yourself to not look at things the same way."