listed simply as “metal dresser.” She sent her husband to get it from a sketchy situation, scored a smaller matching piece, and sold that one to made her money back. “Best find ever,” she declares. The mix of textures fascinates—vintage meets modern, expensive next to thrifted, collected over time rather than bought all at once from the same store. Design Philosophy in Action Bukowsky’s approach is refreshingly practical: don’t follow trends blindly. Decorate your home the way you want. Stop worrying about rules. She loves color but rarely on walls. She changes her mind too often. Instead, color comes through furnishings, art and accessories that can be swapped easily. She advises buying pieces you love even if you don’t need them yet. Her dining room table sat in Florida storage for two years before finding its place. She hunts art while traveling, supporting smaller artists whose work costs less and carries more meaning. "Everything has a story,” she says, gesturing around the room. “Curate and collect.” The space isn’t a showroom. It’s a polished but lived-in home where three boys and a husband actually live. Furniture gets moved around regularly. Nothing stays the same for long. And that’s the point. "Just because a house is one way when you buy it doesn’t mean you can’t customize it and make it your own,” Bukowsky says. “small changes can make a big impact.” She’s already thinking about what she’ll change next. In Courtney Bukowsky’s world, a favorite room is never truly finished— it’s always evolving, just like the person living in it. You don’t have to spend a million dollars to make your home look like a million. You just need vision, patience and the courage to break the rules. costs—inventory became scarce and expensive, and staffing her lacquer shop proved challenging. Last summer, after 10 years, Bukowsky closed the showroom and returned to her first love: aesthetics. She now works as a representative for a skincare line serving medical spas, dermatology and plastic surgery offices. But her passion for design lives on in her home, and in occasional design consults where she acts as “your honest friend over for a glass of wine,” as she calls it, rearranging furniture and giving suggestions without the stress of full-service design. A Room That Tells Stories Her living room embodies everything she preaches: high-low shopping, bold color choices and pieces with stories. The white plantation blinds that came with the house? Gone, replaced with bamboo blinds from Ikea and Amazon. The couches? All six of them over six years came from Facebook Marketplace. She reupholsters vintage pieces, switches things constantly and never gets attached. "Your design is always evolving because you are always changing,” she says. The lime green painting hanging prominently is by her favorite jewelry artist’s niece Mary Royall—a piece she waited seven years to find. Pink parsons chairs sit low, keeping sight lines open. Shells fill decorative boxes throughout the room. A gold Sarreid chest—her absolute favorite find—came from OfferUp, HOME + LIFESTYLE 47 WWW.CHARLESTONWOMENPODCAST.COM | WWW.READCW.COM | WWW.INSTAGRAM.COM/CHARLESTONWOMEN Photos by Jen El-Haddad of Jennifer Mary Collective
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