“My passion is to help people enrich their lives by making sensible, aesthetic changes to their homes,” says interior stylist Janet Grey. "A simple enhancement may be all that’s needed, or it might just be the starting point, inspiring a complete transformation.”

Janet had long been known for her unique and delectable sense of style before friends and associates insisted she become a personal shopper, assisting them in finding just the right pieces to complement their wardrobes. When she turned her eye to her home, clients urged her to shop for their interiors. Today, Janet is a full-time interior stylist, specializing in locating extraordinary pieces at affordable prices, mingling them with clients’ favorite home furnishings, and performing her special alchemy to achieve a captivating and cohesive look.

Janet concentrates on decorative details such as paint colors, fabric, upholstery, hardware, accessories and artwork. Rather than encouraging a client to invest in a brand-new sofa, for instance, she may recommend altering the form and updating the fabric of an existing piece, bringing new life to the entire room for a relative pittance. She also tends to shift things around: That rug may look tired in the living room but move it to the den, and everything feels bright and new; a chair that’s not quite right in the master bedroom may become a rejuvenating focal point for the guest room. Janet is always guided by the tastes and attitudes of her clients, creating an optimized version of their individual styles. Her unique ability to listen and tend to her clients' needs, desires and concerns renders the process collaborative and fun while it evolves at her clients' own pace .

“I love to combine high-end home furnishings with carefully-chosen affordable items for a balanced, economical mix,” Janet notes. “If everything you acquire is low-end, the effect is to reduce the level of the room as a whole; when everything is high-end, on the other hand, the result can feel a bit stuffy, more like a showroom than a home. But if inexpensive items are carefully selected and interspersed with a few fine pieces and some one-of-a-kind or custom accents, the drab becomes delicious!”

Janet makes the acquisition of these key elements easy. “I simplify the home-improvement process by doing the legwork for my clients,” she says, “bringing them choices to consider at home. They usually don’t have the time or energy to find these things on their own. I know exactly where to go, how to get the best prices, and I really enjoy the search.”

Much of Janet's aesthetic sensibility was developed during the years she spent living in France and traveling extensively throughout the world. During these adventures, she refined her understanding of how people respond to color and texture while developing her photographic eye (Janet's photographs can be viewed at www.greymattersphoto.com).

“Beautifying your home cultivates a sense of pride that bolsters self-confidence,” Janet observes. “It fosters a general feeling of well-being that is renewed upon waking in the morning and returning home in the evening. Clients are inspired to entertain more frequently, revisiting and strengthening cherished personal relationships. This renewal often leads to other positive changes in their lives as well.”