Ready Made

To achieve superior interior design with minimal elbow grease, it pays to be a household of artists (or at least to know a few).

By Anna Hirsh

Photo: Daniel Root

Anna Joyce and Victor Maldonado next to a painting by Maldonado, a Mexican American artist influenced by the street art of San Francisco.

Anyone passing by the ocher ranch duplex that painter Victor Maldonado and designer Anna Joyce call home wouldn’t necessarily guess a couple of visual savants dwell there. But once inside, it’s clear from the artful placement of objects and the unabashed use of vibrant color and graphic patterns that both Maldonado and Joyce possess an uninhibited flair for artistic sophistication. A single bright blue wall helps a tiny bedroom pop without jarring the senses. On a dining room shelf, a quirky thrift-store plate decorated with cartoonish blossoms evokes warmth and cheer.

With just about every accent in their Buckman home, Maldonado and Joyce’s goals are to engage the eye and to entertain, talents they honed as students at the California College of Art in Oakland, where they met in 1998. After living in Chicago for three years, they moved into their Southeast Portland rental, which has huge windows, a full basement big enough for each to have an art studio, and lots of wall space—which gives Joyce her own blank canvas of sorts. “I’m an artist but also a stay-at-home mother, so decorating my house is my creative outlet,” she says. On those walls, she’s hung a combination of Maldonado’s work and her own flora- and fauna-inspired fabric wall panels. And these pieces provide a backdrop for their modern Danish furniture, designer ceramics, and garage-sale knickknacks.

Instead of worrying whether colors match or patterns clash, the couple believes that if they love something, they’ll find a place for it. “If it were up to us, we’d probably live inside a Matisse painting,” says Maldonado. “A bright red wall with all
this crazy stuff in front of it—that’s us.”

Jonathan Adler Vase Joyce is a fan of potter and interior designer Jonathan Adler (jonathanadler.com): “I bought my first Adler vase as a gift but couldn’t give it away.” She now has four other Adler pieces, courtesy of eBay and Greg’s (3707 SE Hawthorne Blvd; 503-235-1257).	1930s Rattan Desk Chair $350 This 1930s rattan deck chair belonged to Joyce’s great-grandmother. Joyce found the Thomas Paul fabric at Hexafoo, where she had the chair reupholstered (900 SE Salmon St; 503-234-4550).	Handmade Pillows $80 each Joyce sells her handmade pillows as well as wall panels, appliquéd sweatshirts, and grocery totes; at Portland’s Olio United (oliounited.com), at SpielWerk (spielwerk.net), and on Etsy (annajoyce.etsy.com).
Midcentury Teak Credenza $565 This midcentury teak credenza from Hawthorne Vintage (4722 SE Hawthorne Blvd; 503-230-2620) is Joyce’s favorite object. It serves as a stage for a rotating assortment of things the couple loves, such as Maldonado’s acrylic-and-glitter canvas titled Sweet Spot . “Angelina got me into using glitter,” Maldonado says of his daughter’s contribution to the painting.	"Keep Calm and Carry On" Dwell duvet cover and pillow shams ($87); Framed poster ($25) The couple used last year’s federal stimulus check to pay for a bird-and-leaf Dwell duvet cover and pillow shams at a sample sale. Above the bed is a framed poster reading “Keep Calm and Carry On,” a reproduction of a British World War II propaganda item (reformschoolrules.com). “I decided that, with raising a three-year-old and a new baby, I needed to see it every day,” says Joyce.