August 17th, 2007
A two-mommy household: a Miami couple find design inspiration in tropical colors - home - Brief Article
How do a lesbian couple living in Florida find their place in the so-called American mainstream? Judith Williams and Charisse Grant discovered the answer in the Belle Meade section of Miami, Florida.
By this city’s standards, Belle Meade is an “old” enclave (read: 1925), once forgotten but now a diverse community of modest single-family homes. The two-bedroom, two-bath house that Williams and Grant settled on met all their requirements: lots of light, hardwood floors and a manageable backyard for the family they planned to start. It was close to Miami Beach, yet secluded enough to provide a measure of privacy. And their neighbors include a White gay couple, a retired Cuban husband and wife, two Latina lesbians and an unmarried Black woman. “You don’t find that everywhere,” observes Grant happily.
When it came to decorating, Williams and Grant, who have been together for five years, were ideally matched. The two chose colors that complemented their art collection. The inside of their home is a kaleidoscope of daring shades–Chinese red, cantaloupe, mustard yellow, deep purple, vibrant green. In the foyer, a large painting with hints of yellow is set against a maize wall. In the living room, a batik wall hanging in earth tones and burgundy is displayed against a dark eggplant shade. The Florida room, or sunporch, would be a playroom for 2 1/2-year-old Elijah, the son they eventually adopted, so they wanted it to look fun and bright. Their solution? The eye-popping green of young papayas.
Both women love objects that “remind us of where they came from or the people behind them,” says Grant, a 37-year-old program director at a community-development foundation. She contributed a dining-room table and an entertainment center she built, as well as photos from her stint as a teacher in Namibia and batiks gathered on side trips to Zimbabwe. Williams, 38, shipped an armoire and sideboard from her native Jamaica. The couple also relied on her acute radar for bargains at garage sales, flea markets and consignment shops.
“Our home is designed to be comfortable so we can entertain easily,” explains Williams, a professionally trained chef who now works as a sales associate for the local Yellow Pages.
It had always been Williams’s dream to have a family, but three years ago the feeling intensified. Her mother had died years before, and she was estranged from her father.
Grant, who was raised in Denver by parents she calls conservative, wasn’t so sure. “I never really thought of myself as a mom,” she says. “I wasn’t opposed to the idea, but it wasn’t part of the big plan.”
Williams eventually prevailed. The couple tried artificial insemination, but without success. Then, says Williams, “Elijah found us.” Her adopted brother told them about a pregnant woman who couldn’t keep her baby. Elijah was handed to them two days after he was born.
Most of the time, life in the Williams-Grant household is like that of any loving American family. “We have a house, two cars, a kid; we both work,” says Grant. “It’s amazing how routine our lives are.”
Then again, accepting their version of family may prove difficult for some. Grant’s father, for example, initially found the notion of gay parents disturbing. Today, he dotes on Elijah, to whom he gave the baby rocking chair Grant used as a child.
Grant and Williams dote on him, too. “I tell Judith all the time that I look at Elijah,” says Grant, “and I can’t believe I almost missed this.”