Living in style
Donna Talley's home is as fresh as the designs on magazine pages

By DOUG BLACKBURN, Staff writer for Times Union Newspaper
First published: Sunday, November 20, 2005

Donna Talley treats her Saratoga Springs home like it's a kaleidoscope, constantly changing the kitchen, living room and other spaces. With a few deft, elegant touches she can quickly transform a room or an area, depending on the season and the occasion.

You might wonder why Talley is always remaking her century-old home. It's not that she's obsessed. Really, she's not. Talley is a story producer and photo stylist for a host of national design, gardening and food magazines. Her house is not only her home. It's her studio space, too.

The current issue of Holiday Celebrations, a special interest magazine from Better Homes and Gardens, features three stories shot in Talley's house: one table four ways, 20 garden-style decorating ideas and a joyeux Noel brunch. Even a discerning eye would be hard-pressed to tell that any two of them are set in the same place.

"It doesn't take that much to make a room look different. You just have to be creative," Talley explains. "I take what's already there and enhance and accessorize it.
"I also try to space out the assignments that are set in my house, so that it still feels like home. It can definitely be disruptive to life in general to have photographers and carpenters and painters coming in and out of the house. You learn to live amidst a little bit of chaos for a few days."
For every design story that takes place in Talley's house, she directs at least as many at other homes in Saratoga Springs and the Capital Region. She was also in Vermont for Holiday Celebrations, putting together an apres ski piece set in the Mad River Valley. "I basically created the job of my dreams," Talley says. "There's this whole, untapped area up here with great houses and homes. Five years ago, this area was virtually undiscovered as far as national magazines are concerned."

Music training
Five years ago Talley was just getting her feet wet, creating yet another career for herself, seemingly as quickly and effortlessly as she is able to transform a room.
A Chicago native, Talley was a pianist who trained to be a composer at Julliard in New York City. After getting her degree, she spent a decade working hard but making little progress in the Big Apple.

She paid the bills as a music publicist for jazz artists and small theater companies, what she called her day job. She would sit at the keyboard late into the night, focusing her energies as a contemporary classical composer. It got to be too much.

"I think there's a point as a creative person where you have to have the hard conversation with yourself: Can I really, really do this and be proud of the work?" Talley says. "It was very hard to realize I wasn't going to make a great living at actually writing music.
"Something you're passionate about isn't something that you can necessarily have be your vocation. I've learned it may have to be your avocation."

Talley came to Saratoga Springs almost a decade ago. She opened a garden shop on Broadway, Ivyvine Topiaries. She had the store for two years, until she lost the lease at the end of 1998.
Field editor
By that time, however, she had begun to develop the job she's flourishing in now. She used her background in publicity to have Ivyvine Topiaries featured in Country Home magazine, one of the many journals put out by Meredith Corp., publisher of Better Homes and Gardens.
This led to Talley working on a garden style projects book for Meredith. She's now a field editor for the company.

"Donna has delivered some top quality editorial to us," says Joy Taylor, editor-in-chief for Better Homes and Gardens' special interest publications. "She's a very creative and talented individual."
The Talley touch mixes casual and elegant. Her look is relaxed and livable. "Things don't own me, I own them," she says. "That's my philosophy."

She has pricey copper French cooking pots in her kitchen. She also has dollar wine glasses. She likes to browse at Target, Home Depot and Lowe's in search of inspiration every bit as much as Pottery Barn or Williams Sonoma.

"Whatever it is, I like to put my own twist on it," she says. "I'm always on the lookout for new ideas, new story possibilities.
"The biggest thing is keeping it fresh and interesting and something people would want to try at home. You don't want a room makeover to look so unbelievably difficult that you wouldn't want to do it yourself. Accessibility is important."

Enhancing what's there
Talley looks at rooms, including those in her house, through a stylist's eyes more than a decorator's. She takes what's already there and enhances it. Oftentimes it's a matter of a few touches. She's a big believer in changing pillows and curtains, or adding a rug to give a room a fresh, new look. "Think in terms of grouping," Talley says. "I have maybe 20 glass bottles of all different shapes on my mantle. They're definitely a focal point in the room, without question.
"Do you know what's really cool about those glasses, besides the fact they're all different? They cost me a dollar each at a flea market. Styling is not an expensive thing. It's a creative way of composing room vignettes."