It's pretty much a given that you'll need to paint a house before moving in . . . unless your house was previously owned by a local artist and therefore the colors are already perfection. This was the (extremely serendipitous) case for Brittney Borjeson when she moved into her three-bedroom residence a few blocks from the heart ofSan Miguel de Allende, Mexico. The expat (she formerly called the Northeast U.S. home) happened to meet mixed-media artistPatricia Larsenjust as she was getting ready to sell her historic (read: approximately 400-year-old) estate, once inhabited by Father Antonio Bustamante Montes, a healer and priest beloved in Mexico. "I was the lucky person to get the property next," says Borjeson, and she left much of the home's color palette and structure as is. "I fell in love with her soft, earthy tones as a contrast to the bright yellows and reds of San Miguel."
Borjeson spends her days designing textiles and textile art with indigenous communities in Mexico through her companyEvoke the Spirit, and the constant creativity her job requires meant her house needed to be as low-key as possible. "It was essential to me that I not be overstimulated with too much to look at," she explains. "It helps me with designing, to keep my spaces simple. It seems like a contradiction, but it is how I can best spend time in my imagination." There isn't a rug in sight, furnishings are few and far between, and the art—works by either Larsen or Borjeson herself—is hung sparingly.
Though undoubtedly minimalist, the house is far from intimidating. "I call it my secret garden," says Borjseon. "I wanted to blend the feeling of inside and outside." Plants dot every corner and the windows are always wide open, as is the front door. "The first few rooms of the house are also a gallery for the art and textiles I make for my business," she notes. "But oftentimes, people do not come simply to see my work, they come to pay homage to the father who is depicted in the mural in the entryway." Another frequent visitor? Larsen. The house brought the two together once, and continues to do so to this day. According to Borjeson, "We are great friends now!"
