LIVING SPACES
By Nancy Peevy | Photos by Chadwick Turner
A Modern Home with Custom Art
This talented homeowner created all the art for her home
Carlley Hurley’s talent as an artist came in handy when decorating her family’s new home.
She started painting in high school but took a break while majoring in apparel at the University of Arkansas. After college, she worked for Dillard’s in Little Rock as an assistant buyer. Her next job was for Debi Davis Interior Design, and it was there that she began painting again.
“I learned so much from (Debi Davis), and I started doing some large-scale abstract pieces for her,” Carlley said. “I learned from her and her high-end clients and was able to take some of that into my other commission paintings.”
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For her first home, Carlley realized most custom paintings were out of her price range since she was freshly out of college, but she knew she could replicate them — for herself and for others. “So, I combined my experience with my taste,” she said. “I just started from there, and I’ve had a pretty consistent business with painting, mostly large acrylic abstracts.”
Carlley often gets her inspiration from Pinterest, pulling from different colors and designs she sees. When she paints pieces for others, her clients give her “inspiration for a general look and feel of the painting, and then I’m able to match fabric swatches or paint swatches.”
“It’s really fun to be able to do something on my own time and from home,” she said. “I’m a very creative person, and it’s nice to sit down when I have time and pull out all the supplies and have the right lighting and do a painting. It’s very therapeutic for me. It’s stepping away from everything else that’s going on in life and getting creative and creating something beautiful that brings joy to somebody’s home.”
Today, Carlley’s art graces many walls throughout her own home. She and her husband, Turner, found the perfect residence in Fayetteville when Carlley was seven months pregnant.
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The Hurleys wanted a modern-style home and found one only a few years old in a great location and neighborhood. The floor plan had their must-haves of a large primary suite downstairs, guest room, two bedrooms upstairs and lots of closet space.
“It was like a custom build to us because we were able to put our touch on it but not have to actually go through the process of building a home, especially while I was seven months pregnant,” she said.
The Hurleys’ touches included adding a black vent hood in the kitchen, painting the island black, sanding down the cabinets to a tan color and adding lighting throughout the house. They bought new doorknobs and added wallpaper and wooden shelves in the living area.
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“We both gravitate toward modern design but still wanted it to feel warm and cozy,” Carlley said. “It’s hard to make modern design feel homey, and raising a child here, you want it to still feel cozy. I wanted a mix of color, so I feel like bringing in my navy sofa and some of those natural woods helped warm it up a bit.
“I also love that the house feels open yet divided at the same time. A lot of homes these days are very open, which is beautiful, but I do like how the rooms are divided, which is harder to find in new construction. And then also being somewhat new construction, I feel like it has some unique features. For example, the living room roof line is at an angle. Things like that make it a bit different from your average new construction.”
As for the artwork, Carlley’s paintings include the floral piece in the living area, the abstracts throughout the home, and the art above her son’s crib that ties the room together and soften the effect of the dark wallpaper.
“I think that paintings and pillows are really an easy and fun way to bring color to your space,” she said. “You can keep it basic elsewhere, because if you don’t want to tie yourself to a certain color palette, you can really make it interesting with a painting, and that’s easier to swap out later down the road if you want to update. I always tell my clients that I can go back and add a certain color and go over it and revamp it, if it doesn’t work for them.”
To the front of the house, the Hurleys added four black planters for curb appeal. In the back, they covered the patio, making a nice breezeway between the detached garage and the house. The breezeway area is also fenced off from the rest of the yard. “We have a pretty good-sized backyard, so it’s natural to close off that area if the baby’s playing there and to let the dog run in the back,” she said.
If the weather is nice, the couple can open both sliding doors from the house to the breezeway and extend the living space onto the back patio. It’s a great place to host and entertain.
And Carlley and Turner do enjoy entertaining.
“Our goal was to be able to welcome whoever wanted to come for whatever occasion,” she said. “My son is the first grandchild on my husband’s side, and all his family lives here. So, we had the family for his birthday this year and for his baptism. We wanted everybody to be able to come to our space and make it super comfortable and have a spot for everybody to feel welcome. And we’re able to do that for so many events. That’s really special to us.”
Carlley’s art is found on Instagram @artbycarlley.
