How one client found her confidence through a yellow dining room
What if a color could change the way you walk into a room and into your own life?
When I first met Valerie, she had just moved into a beautiful apartment on the Upper West Side. Everything was in place: furniture, art, light but it all felt… muted. Not dull, just detached. Like a life that had been edited for other people’s comfort.
We talked about her home the way you’d talk about an old friendship that had lost its spark. I didn’t ask her what she liked; I asked her what she missed.
She thought for a moment, then said, “Warmth. I want warmth.”
When I asked what color warmth looked like to her, she smiled, almost surprised by her own answer.
“Yellow. Not the lemon kind. The one that glows, like late afternoon in Paris.”
Translating Emotion Into Space
That single image became the blueprint.
We painted the dining room in a mellow golden tone, one that doesn’t shout, but hums. I layered it with walnut wood, antique brass and artwork that echoed the warmth without competing with it.
The space started to shift. Not just visually, but energetically.
It went from a room you pass through to a room that greets you.
When Color Becomes Confidence
The day of the installation, Valerie walked in and went completely silent.
Then she laughed, the kind of laugh that comes from relief. She said, “It’s strange… it feels like I’ve been hiding from myself and this color just found me.”
A few weeks later, she told me she was hosting her first party in years. She wore a yellow silk blouse that matched the walls. That’s when I knew: this wasn’t about design anymore.
It was about permission.
Design as a Mirror, Not a Mask
People often think design is about taste. It’s not.
It’s about truth, about translating who you are becoming into a physical environment that supports it.
Every project I do starts with one question: what does this next version of you need to feel at home?
Ready to Feel at Home in Your Own Story?
If your home looks “fine” but doesn’t feel like you anymore, it might be time to reimagine it, not just aesthetically, but emotionally.
Book a call with me and let’s create a home that reflects who you are becoming, not just where you live.
Written by Carole Vaudable, interior designer.
Dining Room proposal designed by Carole Vaudable Interior Design.