The DI
e s g t o r wn o e G f Y Queen o
Krista Wells chronicles her styling journey as she creates something unique in every room of her St. John’s home BY ELIZABETH WHITTEN
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hen you set foot into the porch of Krista Wells’s home, you immediately get a sense of her unique style. She believes it’s the rich colour she painted the room that makes it one of her favourite DIY projects to date. “I took a risk, and I went with a really deep burgundy on the vertical shiplap,” says Wells from her turn-of-the-century home. “There’s a rug with some burgundy and some blue in it and we had chevron tile installed. And everything in that room just came together perfectly. Exactly the way I envisioned it … So, it’s the first impression you get when you walk in.” Wells and her family live in a neighbourhood known as Georgestown in St. John’s, N.L. It was previously her husband’s childhood home and when her in-laws were moving out in 2018, they decided to scoop it up. Since then, she’s made her mark on the space with creative flair.
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Wells also documents her work on her Instagram channel Georgestownonmymind, which has more than 10,000 followers. Her house is filled with projects she’s taken on: old furniture turned new, walls splashed with deep colours, fixtures made to her exact specifications. “I love the satisfaction of creating something and seeing that vision come to life with my very own hands,” she says. Wells also takes on design jobs for others and says it’s satisfying to see people’s faces when you’ve helped them make a home more enjoyable to be in. One of her first handy projects, with some enlisted help from her husband, was a coffee table made from pallets. It sparked a passion for DIY. She picked up some tools, started watching YouTube videos and asked people for their tips and tricks.
SUMMER 2022
Over the past few years, Wells has accumulated several skills. For instance, she says she’s better at math now. There’s also a myriad of tools under her belt and she’s no longer afraid of the miter saw. She’s also working on her confidence to wield the table saw. “I have no problem using a nail gun at all,” she says. “I can hang anything and everything at this point. I’ve become friends with most of the folks who work at Kent, because I spend so much time there.” She’s also learned some design skills and computer programs for rendering. One of her favourite home projects was creating a passageway from the master bedroom into a spare bedroom to make a dressing room. “Knocking down that wall was the most liberating thing at a very difficult time,” says Wells, who is a teacher. Last year she and her Grade 1 class had to switch to online learning,
