Tour Photo and Art Direction Duo Michelle Norris and Forrest Aguar’s Bold + Joyous Atlanta Condo

Michelle Norris and Forrest Aguar were home-brainstormers before they became homeowners. That stands to reason, since they’ve made a name for themselves as the creative powerhouses behind Tropico Photo, a kaleidoscopic collaboration that spins out art direction and visual delights of all kinds. “I think over time we started integrating our aesthetic more and more into what we were doing, and then that grew into what our home looks like, what we dress like — anything that’s visual, being able to put our stamp on it became more important,” Michelle explains. “And by the time we were buying this place, we were really excited to put that stamp on where we lived as well.” So, what’s it like to live inside your own mood board — and how do you put it together? Join us on a tour of their dazzling Atlanta loft and find out.

“When we first bought this condo it was totally white; it was a blank slate,” Forrest recalls. “We had cement ceilings, cement floors, white walls — and it was perfect. We used Photoshop to draw on the photos that were in the actual listing [to] design what was going to go on the walls, and then we hit the ground running as soon as we closed.”

The living room features one of Michelle and Forrest’s all-time favorite pieces: “a custom entertainment center that our friends Matt and Eve of Silt Studio built for us,” Michelle says. “They are local to Atlanta, and we had the benefit of being able to match the colors to the paint colors in our space.”

Another benefit of commissioning work from creative friends? “They also built it to spec for us so it fits the space perfectly. Without it, this area wouldn’t feel complete,” Forrest says.

Crafted with Southern yellow pine, heart pine accents and painted plywood, the entertainment center also displays the knickknacks Michelle collects as she and Forrest travel. It’s no accident that the pieces and colors here and throughout the loft evoke international destinations and creators like Luis Barragán, a Mexican modernist known for his bold use of color: “We have visited both Casa Luis Barragán and San Cristobal Stable,” Michelle says. “Also we had the joy of visiting [Spanish architect] Ricardo Bofill’s Muralla Roja, which is truly inspiring.”

Don’t let the whimsicality of the electric-fuchsia turf Forrest and Michelle installed on their balcony mislead you: They thought ahead for rainy days, too. “[T]here’s irrigation tiles cut to scale underneath here so that the water can go through the turf and leave the patio without causing structural damage to the cement,” Forrest says.

As much as they love curios, Forrest and Michelle made a point of leaving the desktop in their living room bare. “This is Forrest’s work station and since we work mostly from home, quite a lot of his time is spent at the desk,” Michelle says. “We like to keep it clean from clutter for visual purposes and also to accommodate its easy use for anything from client Zoom calls to podcast interviews to sorting mail to drawing to answering emails.”

Michelle and Forrest have a healthy appreciation for decor designed for children. “I love incorporating things that are for kids into our space,” Michelle says. Rejecting something outright because it feels childish, she argues, might simply deprive the imagination. “It’s good for us to see colors — it’s inspiring, it’s developmentally helpful, it makes you happier and more creative — and I think it is something that I want incorporated around me all the time.”

Michelle isn’t just talking the talk about cherishing kid stuff. Exhibit A: The plush mounted flamingo that presides over the sofa. She encountered and fell in love with it at a children’s store … and it made a fortuitous appearance in the loft later that year as a Christmas gift.

The deliriously healthy pothos plant suspended from the ceiling between the living room and kitchen contributes to the transitional area’s tropical feel — as do its planes of bold color. Michelle considered this interior architecture an opportunity for innovation: “The way that this space above the kitchen comes down was a fun opportunity for painting but also a fun structural prompt,” she says.

The tropicalia continues with the succulent jade Michelle and Forrest selected for their kitchen storage. “We think of this dark green color sort of as our neutral, or like a black replacement, and [that] was the idea for anchoring the space with this color for the cabinetry,” Michelle says.

Michelle and Forrest seasoned the nook above and behind their range with opulent aubergine paint and bold geometric tile. “We knew that we wanted to put some kind of pattern or color on this backsplash,” Forrest says. "This tile pattern in particular just really called to me. I also think the diagonal lines in the pattern mimic the diagonal lines on the walls and the patterning is reminiscent of the checkers, which can be found [in] other places in the apartment.”

That diagonal motif and checkerboard patterning recur in the dining area, where a feature wall combines bold paper with Sherwin-Williams’ Rayo de Sol (formerly Glitterati Gold). The collaged double portrait of Forrest and Michelle is Michelle’s handiwork, and the artist behind the abstract canvas to its right is a mystery: “[It] was found in a dumpster outside [the University of Georgia's] Lamar Dodd art school” Michelle says. Anonymous painter, know that your work is cherished."

This space’s seating is the product of both lightning reflexes and a lot of patience. “We’ve been big followers of the [textile and home goods line] Dusen Dusen for a while. They did these chairs in collaboration with another designer and a furniture company, and they fit the aesthetic perfectly," Forrest says. (The entire run of those chairs sold out in an hour.)

“We waited like eight months for the chairs to arrive,” Michelle adds. “It was totally worth the wait, and [they] helped inform the choice of the wallpaper. The green and the blue together was pulled from the idea that they would be a little bit anchored by these chairs.”

The dining area boasts another bespoke feature: “The light fixture is actually a new addition,” Forrest says. “This is marbled spray paint; each individual piece was done by hand [by Freaky Lamps] and constructed to spec for us.”

The condo is very much an ongoing project. “We would love to replace our countertops in the kitchen and bathroom, as well as the bathroom sink,” Michelle explains. “That’s on the backburner while we get our new office-slash-art-space-slash-vintage-boutique off the ground, but it’s fun to think about.”

Looking for a theme to bring order to your tchotchkes? Consider Michelle and Forrest’s tribute to their handsome roommate. “This is where we keep our shrine to Taco,” Forrest says. “We’ve got lots of Taco figurines that are brought back from different places that we go.”

Taco is Forrest and Michelle’s 13-year-old dog, and the result of a serendipitous visit to Animal Control. “Taco was sitting there quietly,” she recalls, “three months old and having just been picked up wandering the highway. I couldn’t help but adopt him even though I was expressly not in the market for a dog and he’s been my sidekick ever since.”

The succulent tone Michelle and Forrest used as a neutral in their kitchen takes root in their bathroom as well. “We wanted it to be very calming and grounding, but also we leaned into the tropical here with the dark green,” Forrest recalls. Gleaming white tile on the lower half of the room creates contrast and serves as a practical frame for the shower and soaking tub.

A checkered bath mat and showered curtain add touches of the warmer shades Forrest and Michelle use throughout their home. “[They] all follow the simple color-blocked color palette where we’re incorporating greens, purples and pinks,” Michelle explains.

The bedroom is Michelle’s favorite spot in the condo. “It’s a pretty small space and we got a pretty big bed to go in it, so I feel like that’s made it feel really comfortable and relaxing in here,” she says.

Relaxing doesn’t mean bland, mind you. “We loved the striped comforter — we love bringing in the stripes and to play with the pattern,” Forrest says. What separates coziness from chaos? “All the pillows are different patterns, but they have the same size pattern going on throughout so that’s really what links all of these,” Michelle explains. They favor textiles from Dusen Dusen, Brooklinen, HAY and Verloop.

Michelle and Forrest painted a half-circle in their sleeping space to create the look of an oversized headboard. “It’s one of my favorite painting details in the house,” Michelle says. “It’s a really fun structural trick that I feel like I’ve seen more and more online — playing with that idea of creating the architecture of a space using painting. When you can’t have exactly what you envisioned, you can create an impression of [it] using painting to imply [depth].”

Michelle framed the bedroom door with more of her artistry. “I freehanded the painting on this wall; it’s a little bit nonsensical [and] I’ve thought about changing it, but I think there’s something fun about it here,” she says. The handmade, wall-mounted dog sculpture to its left — a souvenir from a trip to Guatemala — introduces even more pattern and whimsy. “It’s got that pop art feel that a lot of the house does.”

Ceiling-mounted lighting and fans are well and good, but accessories that add dimensionality deserve hang time, too. “We really loved the opportunity to have plants hanging; it builds the space out in a different way,” Michelle says. “When you do have things like dropped ceilings, it’s a fun opportunity to play with things that are coming from above rather than from the ground.”

When it comes to bedroom workhorses, the first piece one thinks of is abstract neon wall art, of course. “We picked the neon because the design really spoke to the space nicely,” Forrest explains. "We also have it on a timer, which is really nice: it turns on in the morning when we wake up and it turns off after we go to sleep. It creates a really calming, beautiful light in the space as well. I like that it’s colorful and abstract, but I also like looking at it and seeing different faces in it.” He makes strong points, no? (For a bespoke feature of your own, check out the customizable LED neon at Yellowpop.)

Who says statement pieces should only speak up when you’re wearing them? Michelle used embellished hooks and a turquoise frame fitted with sturdy chicken wire to give her jewelry a forever-home as functional sculpture on the bedroom wall. “I feel like I’ve really built this specific area to be sort of a shrine to my earrings — which I do love and are very important to me!”

The abstract painting above the bench in the bedroom shares creative DNA with Forrest and Michelle’s entertainment center. “It’s by our friend Eve [Nettles, cofounder of Silt Studio]; her work is amazing, and we loved all the breathing room that this piece has while also incorporating that really deep blue that runs throughout the house,” Michelle explains.

“She custom-painted the frame,” Forrest adds. “Originally this piece was taped on the wall with painter’s tape and we thought that the blue tape looked really cool — so she integrated that into the final framed piece.”