By Christopher Oquendo
For the AJC
Angela and Jorge Cuartas kept three things in mind -- their young children -- when choosing how to decorate their home.
“We took steps to make our home more kid-friendly," Jorge Cuartas said of the house in the Forest Brooke subdivision in Cumming. "We converted our formal dinning room into a playroom. We child-proofed the home by using child safety gates and had our backyard landscaped with an added playground for the children."
Cuartas, a freelance graphic designer and muralist, put his skills to work in painting the rooms for each of the children -- Luka, Sophia and Elena.
“We didn’t want them to look like typical kids rooms and wanted them to reflect each of their personalities,” Cuartas said.
“Sophia’s room was tough," he said. "Laying out perfect circles turned out to be a nightmare task, but in the end I think the room ended up looking good."
For Luka's room, Cuartas used "a lot of yellows, greens and blues, along with fluid design elements." For the room for newborn Elena, the key was soothing colors.
Cuartas had this tip for anybody thinking about doing a similar project: “Make sure you buy plenty of blue line masking tape and do all of the prep work so that you aren’t having to redo many mistakes.”
While kid-friendly, the home's interior also is pleasing to adults.
“We picked bright but muted colors in our home.” Angela Cuartas said. “We wanted to stay away from Crayola colors and wanted the walls to feel a bit earthy without having to go all brown.”
Also on the walls are lots of photos of the family and art, including works by San Francisco artists Russ Abbott, Shepard Fairey, Benny Gold, Doze Green and Tyson Mcadoo.
The Cuartases didn't confine their work to the inside. They had a landscaping and stone work company level an uneven hill into a flat plateau to create more usable space. They also added a fire pit, retention wall, 10-x-10-foot sandbox and a swing set.\
“The only downside to having a great backyard is that you have to fight to keep [the kids] inside,” Jorge Cuartas said.
As for Forest Brooke, Angela Cuartas said, “We couldn’t have gotten luckier with our neighbors.”
“Everybody makes an effort to hang out with each other," she said. "It's not uncommon for 10 neighbors to get together and throw pool parties.”
“Our kids love it," she said, "because they get a chance to get out and play with other kids.”
