A two-story canvas in Narberth

Carla Krash’s Narberth home is a reflection of her extensive artistic talents.

Her inventive projects include hand-painted stenciled walls, unique furniture designs, luxurious bedding, and imaginative ways to create stunning decor from ordinary objects. She bought the 1,450-square-foot, two-story home in 2005, and has used it as her canvas ever since.

A psychotherapist by trade, Krash has always made art and design a big part of her life. She received undergraduate and master’s degrees from Rhode Island School of Design, giving her the credentials to support her passion. She considers her style eclectic — thoughtfully designing each room in a manner that is unique and often surprising.

Krash spent about a week and a half painting the walls of her primary bedroom. She started with a deep orange base coat, followed by a layer of brushed gold paint and then a sponged square stencil with a pearlescent sheen.

“There are thousands of squares,” Krash said. “I framed out the room with brown painted wooden strip that makes the room pop.”

She also designed and made the bedding, including the coverlet and bed skirt, by photographing the wall in close-up detail. She then uploaded the print to Spoonflower, a web company that creates made-to-order printed fabric designs. Krash, who makes most of her clothing, has also purchased fabric from the site with other artist’s designs.

On the home’s first-floor landing sits an upholstered bench Krash built. It features a vacuum-formed plywood base covered in earth-toned glass mosaic tiles and a tasseled cushion seat.

“I like to incorporate my interest in textiles into furniture design,” she said.

Her unique, dramatic design in the guest bathroom includes decorated orecchiette pasta, their edges brushed in silver paint, topped with a coat of acrylic paint hardener. Krash attached the pasta in rows above the wainscoting she attached to the lower half of the walls. Then she painted the top half of the walls a rich cobalt blue and the wainscoting graphite gray.

She tiled the floors in blue iridescent glass tiles and built a pedestal sink made from the same tile and a wooden salad bowl.

“I love the richness and mix of the varied materials, both in color and tactility,” she said.

The dining room features a stenciled sideboard, one of Krash’s trash finds.

When Krash adopted her daughter Jinx from China, she was given a stamp with the child’s Chinese name, which transliterates to Tong Min Die. Krash painted the dining room cabinet burnt orange and deep brown, and then used the stamp of her daughter’s name to create a repeated pattern in white on the sides of the sideboard. She also added capiz shell tile to the countertop and hand painted the figures on the doors.

A costume Krash made for Jinx for Halloween when she was a toddler, stands in the living room behind the upholstered gray couch she made in the Biedermeier style, which incorporates a branch from the Wissahickon.

Krash’s wall art hangs above the fireplace, made from pieces of fabric rolled into cones and then slipped into grommets.

“I liked the opportunity and freedom to have a focal point above the fireplace for an installation with texture and volume, rather than a painting,” she said.

She also creates unique art out of wearable accessories, including a hat wall and earring wall, which double as storage. She keeps her handmade winter hats artistically displayed on the living room wall, grabbing them as needed on blustery days.

She designed and made display boxes for her collection of handmade earrings, from polymer clay with miscellaneous other materials. She fashioned a shelf from a board she got at Material Culture.

Krash also displays many pieces created by her mom, Joan Krash, who died earlier this year. After retiring from a career in psychology, Joan shifted her attention to art-making. One of Carla’s favorite paintings by her mom is a depiction of Angkor Wat in Cambodia, which hangs in her bedroom.

An avid gardener, Krash enjoys spending time in her backyard. She built a bamboo fence to shield her home from the sounds of the trains that run behind it. She also enjoys cuddling with her Bedlington Terrier, Farfel, 8, on the porch bed swing she built.

That’s where her neighbors stop to chat and catch up on the latest news.

“Narberth is a very friendly, warm place where I know all of my neighbors and people help each other out,” said Krash.

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