ARTIST SPOTLIGHT Interviewed by Bethany Rau
"I just want people to love their homes as it changes the way you live."
WENDI NORRIS For this month’s Artist Spotlight, Vip sat down with a local interior decorator and design service specialist at Floorboys Flooring Professionals of Florence, Wendi Norris. Floorboys was started by Wendi's cousin nearly 20 years ago in Lexington, South Carolina. Wendi and her husband of 29 years, Robbie, decided to open their own branch in Florence almost a year ago. Continue reading below to learn more about Wendi's passion for design and how she incorporates it into the business.
DO YOU REMEMBER HOW YOU FIRST KNEW YOU WERE INTERESTED IN ART AND DESIGN? My mom loved to decorate, and she would do everything herself…cook, bake, sew, hang wallpaper, paint, refinish furniture, design flower beds (and plant everything herself), rearranged furniture constantly….. pretty much everything. I am so much like my mom. My dad, as a commercial contractor, had a drafting table in his office and taught me how to read blueprints and use all of the tools at an early age. I loved drawing floor plans of my bedroom, my classroom, my friend’s rooms and adding the furniture we wanted which was usually hideous. He would ask my opinion about design and then tell me how it wouldn't work. Now we have collaborated on several projects.
18
VIPMagSC.com
September 2021
GROWING UP, WAS YOUR FAMILY INVOLVED IN THE ARTS? Actually, my family was more musical. We all play instruments (or at least used to). I would wake up to my parents singing while they were cooking breakfast. I don’t think I even knew art classes were a thing when I was a kid. I had three brothers and we lived in the country. We had horses, go-carts, a big barn to play in; we built forts, ramps, playhouses (or “clubhouses”); we cleared out paths in the woods to ride bikes, horses, four wheelers, even riding lawnmowers….we were very creative and handy with tools. Art class in elementary school was more of a “craft class.” I loved to color, but it never occurred to me that one could be taught to draw. I thought it was a talent you were born with and I knew I didn't have that.
