Tour Painter and Muralist Rachel Gloria Adams Home in Maine

As an artist, mural painter and designer, Rachel Gloria Adams sees her home as a canvas that she and her husband, also a muralist, fill with joy and color.

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May 30, 2023

By: Gloria Ballard

Show: HGTV Handmade

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Photo By: Jill Hoyle

Art Is the Heart of This Home

For artist, muralist and designer Rachel Gloria Adams, art is at the heart of her home. She and her husband Ryan Adams, also a muralist, and their young daughters Zoe and Norah live in a three-story townhouse in Portland, Maine, that they consider a work in progress.

“We knew that with having four of us live here that we could never really fully commit to this one space always being one thing, and we had to be open to the fact that our needs were going to constantly change,” Rachel says. “They’re the things that happen within our artwork, but it’s now kind of translated into the home. And as artists, we’re maybe doing things an interior decorator might not think to do just because of the way we process color and process pattern and texture, and just not being afraid to put it up, whatever that may be.”

It shows in the bright prints and bold colors throughout the rooms and the pattern matching and color stories that she refers to as “vignettes” around the house.

The artists have lived in their townhouse in Portland since 2017. “The first thing we did when we moved in was scraped off the popcorn ceiling,” Rachel says. Since then, the rooms and decor have evolved and changed as needed for this creative family.

All In the Family

“My mom’s an artist and an art teacher, and I think that I kind of bucked against the reality that I had it in me, so I didn’t really start making art until my senior year in high school,” Rachel says. “I went to a college fair and talked to an art school and they said they didn’t have homework. And I was like, that’s the school I want to go to!” With her obvious talent, she got into all the art schools she applied to, “And I just haven’t stopped since.”

Go-To Green

Rachel’s love of color and pattern is evident as you walk in the door to the living room. The walls are filled with art, including a quilt-like piece of her own in shades of green that she says “straddles the line of quilting and painting.” It's made of painted fabric pieces stitched together and mounted on canvas stretcher bars. An accent wall is also painted green: “I was kind of going through this green period, so you’ll notice that this wall color is the color that I used on six or seven, or eight or nine or 10 murals last year. It was just kind of my go-to green.”

Meeting the Color Challenge

The inspiration for the living room colors is a vintage silkscreen print of a mask in bright greens on an orange background. “It’s the first piece Ryan and I agreed on and bought,” Rachel says. “We were drawn to the pops of color and the graphics. It felt like a unique piece.” It also challenges her to work with colors she generally avoids. “I actually don’t like the colors red and orange that much, so I knew that I needed to warm it up a little bit,” she says.

Art In the Unexpected

The colorful illustration of a couple surrounded by bright orange and yellow flowers was a gift from Rachel’s childhood best friend, a pillowcase the friend had bought on a trip to South Africa. “I just got a kick out of it as an illustration,” Rachel says. Framing it as art keeps it in pristine shape, and it mimics the color story of the vintage print mounted on the wall beside it.

Arts + Letters

The walls and rooms showcase their own work, but a lot of the art in their home is also from artist friends, or other artists in the community, Rachel says. The “Unlimited Cuddles” print is by lettering artist and muralist Annica Lydenberg, of Dirty Bandits. “This is kind of where Ryan’s style comes into play,” she says. “This felt like the perfect kind of piece to put into the girls’ room.”

Having a History

Rachel points out some of the unique pieces that have special meaning: the Marimekko fabric that her sister gave her when she was pregnant, a needlepoint pillow that reminds her of her step-grandmother who enjoyed needlepoint; a poster that she and Ryan picked up on their first trip to Europe together. "It’s nice having a history with some of the artwork. It’s tied to a relationship or an experience.”

A Family at Play

Rooms and spaces in their home have evolved over time, Rachel says. The basement, which was once an office and studio, is now the girls’ playroom, filled with color and energy. “We wanted the girls to feel like it was their own little world, and we wanted there to be all kind of activities for them to do in here,” she says.

An Accent Wall That Stands Out

The mural on the stairwell wall is an artist-parent’s dream: “Ryan and I both paint murals, so we kind of assigned each other an area,” she explained. “He was able to do their names in his graffiti lettering.” This was also where the girls had their own input into the design. “Norah has a thing for strawberries, and she also asked for … poop? So we’ve got a poop emoji as well,” Rachel laughed. “You know, clients have their needs! Zoe, we call her Zoe-bug, so she’s got a ladybug."

Bringing Art Ideas Home

For Ryan (here, photo-bombing the picture), the mural wall evokes a memory from his own childhood. Ryan's mother lives in a condo nearby and was also an indulgent artist-parent, and now he is also a muralist. “He got to start spray-painting in her basement, so it’s one of those sweet moments of his childhood to be able to do it for his daughters,” Rachel says. "The things that happen within our artwork are kind of translated into the home."

Daughters and Dolls

Rachel’s fabric printing company, Tachee, is an extension of her studio practice. These dolls, pictured here in the playroom, are a collaboration with The Linnea Company, a dollmaker based in Warren, Maine. With clothing made from fabric that Rachel designed, the dolls are, of course, depictions of her daughters Zoe and Norah. “They are the cutest!” Rachel says.

Shapes for Shifting

Various colorful shapes painted on the walls — squares, flowers, diamonds, rectangles, rainbows — are appointed with framed photos or other fun objects or designs. “When I was designing this part of the mural, we left these large shapes so that things could be hung within them.” Rachel says. The flower shapes with matching removable picture frames allow for flexibility, as images can be changed out as the girls get older, "and maybe add additional ones as time goes on."

Favorite Playtime Places

Rachel’s daughter Zoe loves to read and enjoys a cozy reading nook made of canvas and outfitted with a pallet, coordinating cushions and a small shaggy throw. “She’s able to go into her little den, zip it up and have no one bother her,” Rachel says. Norah, “our little foodie,” also has her favorite part of the room nearby, a toy kitchenette stocked with colorful wooden pots, pans, appliances and food. “She’ll make ‘food’ and bring it upstairs on a tray for us,” Rachel says. “There’s something about toy food, I don’t care how old you are, there’s something very magical and fun about it!”

Family All Around

Playroom shelves and walls are filled with toys, books, interesting objects and plenty of family snapshots. “Just being surrounded by pictures of family makes everything better,” Rachel says.

A Nod to Good, Clean Design

While the playroom’s focus is on Zoe and Norah and their favorite playtime activities, the room feels welcoming to the grownups, as well. “Neither of us grew up with a playroom, so we didn’t really have a bar set for what a good playroom entailed,” Rachel says. “Once we decided to do it, we just kind of let our inner child shine and figure out what we would have been excited about.” But they also wanted to feel comfortable in the space themselves. “As adults, we wanted to be able to visit the girls’ space, check out their pad and also have it be within a color story and imagery that’s not overtly childish. Just whimsical, good, clean design.”

A Family Playhouse

“I think I’ve always liked bright color and pattern, but I think having kids has enabled us to lean into that and maybe do things we would have done, but maybe not quite as boldly,” Rachel says. “It's all of our playhouse, really.”

Inspired to Create

Zoe and Norah share a bedroom that’s small, but colorful and tidy and filled with meaningful objects. In the room are the two pieces of Merimekko fabric stretched over canvas that her sister gifted to Rachel when she was pregnant with each child, as well as felt wall art pieces created by Norah’s godmother that are mementos from her childhood, the “Unlimited Cuddles" poster and other original creations. “By having all these handmade objects by family members and loved ones around, I hope it inspires them, if they have an inkling to be creative, that they can just do it, and they have examples of people doing it,” Rachel says.

Small Space, Big Dreams

Rachel’s daughters had asked for a pink room. Instead, they got a room where pink pops amid the blues and whites and other color and design elements. She did give them a pink, patterned rug, however, and with that as a base and because she loves the ocean, Rachel chose an ocean blue for the walls that gives the sense of “an immersive experience.”

“I think to have these pops of pink makes pink feel stronger. Color can really create an environment without having to have a lot of space,” she says. “The girls’ room painted this blue color, that seems to make the room seem way bigger than it was before.”

Colors That Appeal to All

“I really don’t like the whole assigning-color-to-gender situation. My girls love the color pink. It’s not necessarily because they’re girls,” she says. The space may be small, but it feels sophisticated. “Just because it’s for kids doesn’t mean it has to be straight-out-of-box kind of color, and you could have something that’s appealing for both a child and an adult to enjoy.”

Sophisticated + Playful

“I think that with my design and mural work, I try to balance that line of it being approachable by both children and adults. I think it makes kids feel sophisticated and maybe makes adult feel a little bit more playful, and I think that’s empowering,” Rachel says.

Joy In Art and Life

Living in a home surrounded by art and artists is a good life lesson for their daughters, Rachel believes. She and Ryan always tell the girls, "Be unapologetically yourself."

"I think that for them to see us both following our dreams is exciting, because not a lot of people get to see their parents do what they love. And I think that, in itself, is powerful.”

Besides that, growing up in a house full of art is joyful, she believes. “The artwork that they bring back home, I can see our house reflected in what they’re doing at school. It’s what we’re passionate about, and being able to share that passion with our kids is really exciting."

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