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"   Serendipity played a major role in the creation of Lauren Fuqua&amp;#039;s Atlanta home. The photographer had just bought her first house, a Craftsman-style bungalow in her hometown, and she knew she needed an interior designer. That&amp;#039;s when she saw a magazine photo of Wendy Blount next to a particularly appealing midcentury chair. Fuqua suspected that she had found her design soulmate, and she was right. &amp;quot;We immediately became fast friends,&amp;quot; says Blount, who -- like her client -- has lived in Europe and embraces other cultures with a passion. &amp;quot;Everything about this house and the way it all came together seemed like it was written in the stars.&amp;quot; Fuqua liked Blount&amp;#039;s free-spirited blending of design icons, flea-market finds and vacation treasures. &amp;quot;I like to call it &amp;#039;the new modern,&amp;#039; &amp;quot; Blount says. Putting their heads together on the oddly shaped living room, for instance, the two dismissed traditional ideas about furniture placement and instead focused on how Fuqua would use the room. After she talked about Sunday-night Sopranos parties, Blount envisioned a cozy seating area where a custom sofa and ottomans could be mixed and matched depending on the occasion. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s a U-shaped sofa with removable ottomans. You can pull them out and put a table in there for eating or put the ottomans back in to turn it into a guest bedroom,&amp;quot; says Blount. The Manuel Canovas silk curtains that envelop the space bring high style to the TV room, although Blount chose practical carpet tiles as a floor covering, anticipating future spilled wine or similar mishaps. &amp;quot;This place feels a little bit like an Alice in Wonderland house,&amp;quot; says Blount. &amp;quot;It has funny passageways, round windows and a rabbit etched in the front-door glass -- all these magical touches.&amp;quot; By a happy coincidence, the house was once owned by one of Fuqua&amp;#039;s favorite art teachers -- something she didn&amp;#039;t know until she had already moved in. Because of the playfulness of the house and Fuqua&amp;#039;s artistic nature, the two approached each room in a nontraditional way. The bedroom is designed around a Santa Fe-made &amp;quot;bird bed&amp;quot; that Fuqua bought on a trip to New Mexico. A painting of an oversize red pear is treasured by the homeowner because her father gave it to her as a graduation gift, so she asked for it to be a focal point in the newly redone dining room. Blount welcomed the challenges of these personal items and went a step further. Before Fuqua left for a trip, the designer asked for a list of favorite words and phrases. &amp;quot;Lauren is a spiritual person and a big fan of words,&amp;quot; says Blount. &amp;quot;I wanted to include phrases that have meaning for her around the house, as a gift.&amp;quot; One of Fuqua&amp;#039;s catchphrases, FOLLOW YOUR BLISS, is now prominent in the breakfast room over the French doors. As is fitting for a room that celebrates happiness, Blount designed the area for lingering. She started with a traditional round table and a modern light fixture that Fuqua already owned, then chose two wingback chairs for comfort and height. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s a traditional look,&amp;quot; says Blount, &amp;quot;but with one of Kelly Wearstler&amp;#039;s great fabrics to make it interesting.&amp;quot; The design for the dining room started with Fuqua&amp;#039;s pear painting and her wish for an oval table. Blount chose the mahogany-and-macassar-wood one for its sleek lines, the simplicity a contrast to the ornately carved extant fireplace. The Murano-glass chandelier by Barovier &amp;amp;amp; Toso is an homage to styles of the 1920s and &amp;#039;30s. A wall of Fuqua&amp;#039;s favorite phrases -- including a line from a Grateful Dead song and a passage from Kahlil Gibran -- is the only other artistic touch in the room. The wall of words becomes a conversation piece in the very room where an interchange of ideas should be encouraged, Blount believes. Even the adjacent kitchen has something to say. Blount&amp;#039;s decorative artist, Kathleen Denson, made use of the mirrored backsplash as a canvas for a favorite biscuit recipe of Fuqua&amp;#039;s grandmother&amp;#039;s. As clever as all the painted-on words are, it&amp;#039;s the more subtle ones that touched Fuqua. Blount selected six words to be applied without color, just a glaze, so that they&amp;#039;re not immediately apparent. &amp;quot;You have to be standing in the right place to notice them,&amp;quot; says Fuqua. It became a game with friends to search for these hidden words, and some, such as PEACE, above a doorway, were easy to spot. Only after Fuqua had been in the house for a while did she find the last word, in the TV room. The fact that she&amp;#039;d just had a life-changing epiphany made it all the more significant that the word CLARITY appeared one day. &amp;quot;It really gave me chills,&amp;quot; she says. What the Pros Know To add words of wisdom around a house, decorative artist Kathleen Denson uses interior latex paint mixed with Floetol, a paint conditioner that helps paint go on more smoothly. She also recommends using a natural-bristle lettering brush for best results, although some people might be more comfortable with a paint pen. Depending on the job, she might apply the phrases free-hand or with stencils. For a sheer look, she brushes on the words with a glaze in a contrasting sheen to the walls, or uses a spray-on glaze on stenciled letters (preserving the wall&amp;#039;s matte finish). The size of the letters is determined by available wall space and the importance of phrases. &amp;quot;In Lauren&amp;#039;s dining room I made two important but short quotes larger for extra emphasis,&amp;quot; says Denson. She also chose a straightforward typeface to avoid distracting from the message or competing with other elements in the room. Click here to see the resources. 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<http://www.elledecor.com/design-decorate/a1438/contemporary-craftsman-51050/>