"I've always been interested in the juxtapostion of objects and color," says Kelly Gale Amen, one of Houston's most colorful and talented artist-designers. "I love using soft with hard, light with dark, large with small. It's all about surprise."

Amen recently downsized his longtime Montrose compound and sold much of its contents. He used his living and dining rooms as the canvas for a special Gloss environment embracing the 'black magic' theme now pervading home décor as well as fashion.

Amen used mood to stir the imagination, beginning with lighting. A 25-foot square, mirrored shelving grid became a wall of candles in the living room. Amen's own custom pouf added layers of texture and color - a perfect contrast for his sharp-edged blackened aluminum console table (both available through Bering & James). On top of the table, he mixed his own bronze candlesticks with a display of modernized Grecian urns from Baker Knapp & Tubbs and a 'vase' - actually a fine piece of Venetian paper, rolled up - of black twigs by florist Aubrey Sellers.

Amen offset the darkness with an area rug from Stark Carpet and several high-powered chairs from Baker Knapp & Tubbs: Karges' Parler Deux Chair, custom-upholstered in a black, gold and cream stripe; and a Manor House armchair. A dark and drippy-looking painting by Austin James added mystery to the wall.

Against the mirrored dining room wall, he topped a custom chest by Design Direction with Grecian petal vases from Baker Knapp & Tubbs and Sellers' arrangement of black calla lilies. A floral-inspired painting by Blakely Bering brought another touch of deep, lush color to the mix. One of the Parler Deux Chairs sat prettily here, too, with Amen's Compounded Sculpture Pillow as an accent, on a modernprint rug from Stark Carpet.