Recently, I attended a celebration for a young friend who is graduating from high school.

It was an extremely fun evening filled with gowns and glamour and took me back a few years to my own daughter’s graduation and how proud I felt seeing her receive her diploma and how grown-up she looked in her formal wear. It reminded me of how exciting her wedding day will be – if that day is ever going to be a reality!

The hundreds of new graduates performed their grand march around the auditorium and we were treated to a view of varying dress styles and colours.

To sum up the long march in just a few words I would have to say that bodices adorned with jewels or sequins melding into flowing tulle skirts seemed to be the ‘go to’ fashion statement of the grad class of 2015.

Every so often a break would appear in the dress parade and like a breath of fresh air a girl in a simple tunic with braided hair and a headband or a short sassy dress complimented by cowboy boots would come strolling by.

These dresses made me sit up and take notice!

They were not the most glamorous and certainly didn’t have the massive skirts that had just brushed past but they were unique and extremely distinctive.

It was those dresses, and the guy in a tux and bare feet, which captured my attention and made me smile at these young trailblazers who used this event to let their individuality shine.

It is easy to design a home if you throw enough money at it.

The stores are full of beautiful furniture and accessories and there are enough builders and designers around to have anything your heart desires created.

The challenge and (I believe) higher satisfaction comes when you find that total ‘score’, that one-of-a-kind look or piece that stops you dead in your tracks and sends your imagination flying.

It’s about finding a special element that may remind you of travels or a beloved family member or about customizing a piece of furniture to create a completely one-of-a-kind statement in your home.

Those pieces in your home that all your friends want to steal that you KNOW they can’t just run out and copy, these are the breaks in the mundane – the breath of fresh air.

Nothing showcases a well-designed home better than an interior that tells the world who you are – not necessarily through walls covered in family photos but rather in interesting pieces and decorative elements that you have assembled.

What is your favorite colour and do you decorate with that shade?

If not, then why not?

If you are ravenous about the colour pink, it should be in your home or at least in your favorite and private spaces like your bedroom.

Not all of us suit a sequinned dress with a undulating ballerina inspired skirt; some of us feel our most fabulous in a simple cotton dress and cowboy boots and our homes usually reflect our choice in clothing style.

Even if everyone around you has their home dressed in crystal and steel, don’t be afraid to forge your own path and dress yours with leather and wood because you will never make a wrong choice when you stay true to who you are.

Kim Wyse is an interior designer with Carpet Colour Centre in Red Deer.