FLORIDA MOM MAGAZINE - July '08 - Cari Barksdale - Stylish House DesignBy: Michele Gillis Photos: Carrie-Lynn Smith
 As you enter Cari Barksdale’s home in Pablo Bay, you immediately feel comfortable and welcomed.
“We wanted a house where people feel welcome to show up at any time and come on in, sit down and stay for a while,” said Barksdale. “We’ve never wanted a home where people are worried about touching things or breaking things. We want a live-in house.”
Barksdale did all of the interior design and had a huge hand in choosing the building design of the home, which they moved into in 2002. She does credit her husband, Chris, a national account manager for ConAgra Foods with the layout of their patio area.
Barksdale used to work with her father, Tom Jones, who was the owner of Stratford Homes, a home building company. Her grandfather and great-grandfather were also builders so the art of putting a floor plan together to make it flow and work for a family of four was just ingrained in her from a young age.
 “It definitely helped as far as layout and how we wanted the house to function,” said Barksdale. “I used to spend a lot of summers working with my dad looking at floor plans. I’ve always been interested in homes. I think it was a combination of working in the building business and how my and Chris’s family functions. Both of our families entertain constantly. When we bought our house we knew we would be entertaining all the time. We needed to have the flow and the whole backyard area so we have enough room for when we have people over.” The kitchen features a lot of cabinet space and granite countertops with a bar that overlooks the large living room area, which is perfect for entertaining.
Her home is a Coppenbarger model and used to be one of their most popular floor plans, but she said she was told it sort of fell off the radar in the early 2000’s. “I’ve been in the building business with my father, so I had certain things I just knew I wanted,” she said. “I wanted a traditional floor plan with the formal living room and formal dining room as soon as you walked in and this model had it. I wanted the clean area at the front of our house. Chris wanted the open kitchen/family room area, which I’m glad we found. We had to go out to Eagle Harbor to look at the model home and when we bought it they said we were the first people to purchase that particular floor plan in years.” The house has four bedrooms and three bathrooms.
Both she and her husband work from home, so having a home that caters to their both being home a lot helps. Barksdale owns Tropical Holdings, Inc. that buys condominiums and town homes and holds them as rental properties with the intention of eventually selling them. She has a management company that helps manage them. “We use our house more than most people use their house,” she said. “We are home during the day, so we want to be comfortable in it.”
 As a mom of two little ones, Carter, 3 and Lauren, 11 months, Cari wanted an interior design that was fashionable, yet functional for her family. Her color scheme of calm green walls with burgundy accents and palm trees abound offer a tropical feel that is welcoming and soothing all at the same time. “I decided whichever colors we chose to carry them throughout the entire house,” she said. “It’s such an open floor plan that we could do
that.” Their back patio is an oasis complete with comfortable patio furniture, palm trees, a bar area and of course a large hot tub.
Carter’s room carries on the tropical theme, but leans more towards fishing with netting on the walls with shells and a fish tank. As you enter Lauren’s room you feel as if you stepped into a fairytale forest. A forest mural painted by Jacqueline Cason, owner of Jac-of-arts covers the entire walls and ceilings with trees and storybook animals. There is even a gate attached to the wall that can be opened to reveal a painting of the family dog, Ozzy.
 The formal dining area at the front of the house looks as if it may have cost a fortune, but it really is an antique family dining set that was passed down the family line. Barksdale used her interior decorating talents to bring it up to date and make it a notable addition to her home décor. “That was an old set that belonged to my grandparents and then went to my parents and now to me,” she said. “It might have even been in a display home once upon a time. When I got it, it looked old. So, I wanted to update it. I picked out the fabric and took the chairs to an upholsterer.” Barksdale had someone make the runners, napkins and the window treatment for that room. Next, she covered the inside of the china hutch with the same fabric and added lights to make it more modern.
“I saw how she did the window treatments and that it wasn’t that hard, so I did the other room myself with the same fabric to try to tie it together,” said Barksdale.
The table that sits outside her kitchen area also came from a display home and was in need of some work. Barksdale decided to sand it down, paint it and tile the top in a design of white and burgundy. She also re-covered the chair cushions with extra fabric that she ordered along with her new living room furniture. “I think the only thing we bought when we moved into this house was this couch, chair and ottoman,” she said.
In addition to having an eye for decorating, Barksdale is also quite handy with a sewing machine. Barksdale made throw pillows with the extra fabric from the couch and the window treatments for several of our rooms. “I took a decorating class,” she said. “I’ve also watched decorating shows on television, and I just got hooked on it. I really liked it. I’ve always figured that if it didn’t look good I didn’t have to put
it up”
 As most moms know, bed time is the best time. It’s a time for them to reflect, plan and take time for themselves. Barksdale takes that time to plan her next decorating project and eventually work on it. “Just today, I was thinking I want to start a project in Carter's room,” she said. “His fish tank is on an old computer stand, but I saw this nice fish tank stand in this really fancy catalog but it was $1,000. I’m not going to spend $1,000 on a fish tank stand. I said this would not be this hard to do, so I’m going to go to Wood You or a flea market and try to find a table. I get kind of motivated after they go to bed. I’ll kind of sit out on the patio and work. That’s my time to myself, so I’ll try to do it then.”
Though she enjoys working on her own home, Barksdale isn’t sure if interior decorating is a future endeavor as a business for her. “I put so much of my heart and time into my projects and truly enjoy it,” she said. “If I ever did this for anyone else I'm afraid that it would take the fun out of it. That is why I love helping my friends with ideas and colors and things like that, but I stop just short of taking on anyone else's projects. But, I would never say never!” Next on her decorating radar is her and Chris’ bedroom, which she plans to do in a spa-like theme. Cari Barksdale, a stylish Florida Mom! |
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