Chanler Holden and Major Mittendorf’s converted Highland Road barn – My Space

Barstools. Cows were once milked and cared for where we now pour milk and care for our children. The cypress wood with black paint was original to the barn interior. Flea market finds in New Orleans such as these bar stools bring in age and texture. I love to make up stories about what kind of conversations went on around them, much different from the chitchat of Sponge Bob episodes between brothers at breakfast that goes on today.

French country cabinet. Natural textures and colors give a relaxed feel to the barn. The French country cabinet, with its bubbled glass and intriguing blue interior, holds many of our most cherished American Indian art objects: pottery, Hopi kachina dolls, sand paintings and baskets, plus a few art projects made by our children.

Architectural drawing. This property plan was made in the 19th or early 20th century in New Orleans when land was sold publicly at auction. There is a great body of these types of drawings in the New Orleans Notarial Archives.

Mosquito netting. We hung this over the antique Acadian bed, and it conjures visions of the past when there was no air-conditioning. What a nightmarish thought! We are awakened daily by the “cock-a-doodle-doo” of our old rooster and five hens just outside the bedroom window.

Persac painting. A photograph of a 19th century Marie Adrien Persac painting of a rural scene between Lafayette and Breaux Bridge hangs above silhouettes I made of our three boys. Persac was a French-born Louisiana artist whose work portrayed his unique view of life in the lower Mississippi Valley.

Pasture mural. The monumental mural was painted in 1950 by Clark Hulings, a Baton Rouge resident and artist who left this area many years ago and is now better known for his paintings of the American West. The work had been commissioned for the Louisiana Creamery Building here in Baton Rouge on Choctaw Drive and had hung there for many years. As a freelance graphic designer and illustrator of children’s books—the Flippy and Friends series—I am interested in the infinite varieties of colors, lines, forms and textures found in the world around us. The barn as a living and working space and each and all the objects that were chosen to surround us reflect this interest to some extent. Some of the objects have been part of our family’s history, and Louisiana heritage can be seen in almost every room. As my mother puts it, “It is physical reminders that link us with the past.”