Not ‘cute’; but surely ‘bodacious’

“Bodacious! That’s what’ll it be!” proclaimed Rudy.

I smiled and nodded. Exactly what I had in mind. Bodacious. It’s such a delicious Southern word, one that only Southern women truly understand and use regularly. Bodacious means bold, showy and outstandingly Southern in the best, unique kind of way.

Rudy, you may recall from an earlier column, is the decorator that several of the divas use. I call him Mr.-I-Don’t-Do-Cute-Rudy because a few years ago, we were working on my living room when I found the perfect swatch. “How cute!” I exclaimed.

With trembling lip, Rudy folded his arms and looked heavenward (for strength I suppose) and declared emphatically, “I don’t do cute. I do stunning, pretty, lovely, handsome, gorgeous, fabulous, elegant, wonderful, spectacular and I have, on occasion, done bodacious. But never, under any circumstance, do I do cute.”

So a rare occasion for Rudy to do bodacious has arrived in the package of my new house, a quaint Country French design I built to be both spacious and cozy with the charm of a cottage. Meticulously, I have guided each step of the design, building and decorating processes with careful reminders that I want the house to have my personality.

“I want it to look like a set from a Hollywood movie in the 1940s with the kind of coziness that just draws you right in,” I said repeatedly.

No elegance in my house. I have said “no” to granite counter tops (tile and butcher block, instead) and elaborate trims while saying yes to arched doorways, a custom-made mahogany round door and an adorable – not cute – French Country kitchen with painted cabinets, red brick tile and gingham prints.

By coincidence, my niece, Nicole, and I wound up building at the same time, almost completely in sync with the various steps. I always felt compelled to explain that Nicole was building a country manor and I was building a cottage. Both of us, though, are building exactly what we want and that’s what counts.

I was the first to meet with Rudy to discuss colors and decor.

“I want to do my living room in a deep, rich orange,” I announced.

Rudy smiled like a Cheshire cat. “That’s good. Orange is very hot right now.”

I am always pleased when I please Rudy.

“Red is passe, especially for dining rooms,” he continued. “Orange is the new red.”

So, a couple of days later, when Nicole announced that she planned to paint her dining room in red, I felt it imperative to explain what Rudy, the wizard of style and trend to whom we all bow, had said about red being passe.

She shrugged. “I don’t care. I want red.”

I dutifully reported the exchange to Rudy who, in turn, teased Nicole about it when he was summoned to the manor for the first consultation.

She laughed and replied, “Well, I’m certainly not going to paint it tangerine.”

For the record, my living room is not tangerine. It’s dark, burnt orange. But here’s what counts: Nicole and I, while similar are also very different, so we have followed our individual desires, insuring that both houses will reflect each distinct personality. Nicole’s will be stately and elegant while mine will be daring and different.

“I love working with you,” Rudy said in a perfectly appropriate groveling way. “You’re so out-of-the-box. You take risks that most people won’t take, especially with colors.”

Aw, those were lovely words to hear because it meant that, after months of detailed attention, I really had managed to give the house my risk-taking, unrestrained personality.

One word sums it up perfectly: Bodacious.