Ray Staples - The Room Doctor |
UPDATE - Ray Staples, The Room Doctor, and dear friend, passed away on July 16, 2012, peacefully, in Toronto, Ontario. Ray never feared death (see below about her Near Death Experience) just the process. She was finally able to go through the tunnel of light - and stay. I, along with her family, friends and associates, will miss her dearly, yet I know she lives on in our memories.
From near death experiences to choosing carpets and colours - Ray Staples, interior designer and TV personality
A story by Rosemary Phillips, taken from the book "Sliced Bread", published in 1999.
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Ray Staples at home - photo by Janet Bailey for Style at Home magazine March 2004. |
Mover and shaker
CBC Outside-Inside with Alex Trebek
Bright colours in brown paper shopping bags
A near death experience (NDE)
A carpet the client won't like - at first
The final touch
CityLine TV
Honest advice
INTRO: I had known Ray Staples for over 40 years, admired and loved her dearly and felt honoured to call her 'friend.' As eccentric artists we understood each other explicitly (of course she may have had something to say about that), and we always had delightful phone conversations. For many years those conversations were like 'kick ass' as Mama Ray would give me 'what for' and 'sound advice' on many things. That's what I enjoyed about Ray - she didn't skirt around the issue, she gave it to you straight.
For example, when I was introduced to Ray's new bookkeeper I said, "I consider Ray a mentor." Mama Ray stepped in and replied quite matter of factly, "Don't ever call me that kid (yes, that's what she called me for many years), I don't want to be responsible for the end product!" And when giving her humble opinion on a subject once stated, "Humble opinion?" and laughed out loud.
"If you don't care who gets the credit, you can accomplish miracles," said Ray Staples. "My mother used to say that to me and I'm so glad she did."
Mover and shaker
Ray was a mover and shaker, and a frequent visitor to the offices of the Interior Designers
of Ontario on Colbourne Street in Toronto (that was 1971 - IDO eventually became ARIDO). I often
assisted Olga Collins, the office manager, with typing, mailings
and general office duties. When Ray walked into the office the room
was instantly filled with vibrant electricity and colour. Our attention
was caught by her artistic charisma, enhanced by her flowing cape,
shockingly bright red hair, and outrageous Robin Hood hat that featured
a long feather swirling up towards the ceiling. When she spoke her
words matched her outrageously eccentric appearance. Direct, bold,
and completely honest, her opinions would leave listeners bristling
or fading in shock.
"If you can say firmly what you believe to be the truth, how
can you offend anyone?" would be her response to my questioning.
I often wondered if it was her appearance and being in her early
fifties that permitted her to be so downright honest about things.
"As a designer people are paying you for your opinion and it
had better be the truth. If you're not telling the truth you're
not doing your job."
CBC Outside-Inside with Alex Trebek
In 1972 we both started working for "Outside/Inside", a CBC Television
show about design for everything from cities to tea pots, even dogs. It aired on Sunday mornings in 1972-3. Ray was co-host with Alex Trebek (before he moved on to California and Jeopardy fame), Shirley Franklin was producer, Chris Paton as director, and Dodi Robb was executive producer. I was the researcher who also typed out the scripts. So, Ray and I spent a great deal of time together
doing research, filming, and having lunch. Lunches with Ray were
a special treat that I looked forward to. They were long, and while
we ate we talked about many things, not just design, but about life, and,
with a bit of philosophy thrown in - the kind that's 'out-of-the-box' thinking, talked about life after life. I loved to sit and listen to
her stories.
Bright colours in brown paper shopping bags
During an initial visit with a client in Forest Hill, north of
Toronto, Ray was invited into the living room and sat down while
the client discussed her requirements. "I want everything in
beiges and browns, and I want a home that all my neighbours will
just love."
Ray looked at this woman closely, observed her bright jewel-coloured
clothes adorned with beautiful accessories, and took note of her
jewellery-bedecked arm that was draped dramatically over the end
of the sofa. Ray then carefully scanned the room with her designer's
eye. On her second visit she arrived with a few brown-paper shopping
bags full of samples, not display boards full of colour swatches
and illustrations like we were taught in design school. Ray spread
samples of fabric across the sofa and over chairs producing an excellent
example of a very neutral scheme of beiges and browns. The client
purred in raptures of oohs and aahs as she touched the fabrics and
delighted in their simplicity.
Ray grabbed the samples and as she briskly shoved them back into
the shopping bags said, "Well Honey, that ain't what you're
gonna get. This is what you'll be having." She reached into
another brown-paper shopping bag and pulled out samples of wonderfully
bright, brilliant and happy colours.
The client stood overwhelmed, excited and in ecstasy. "How
did you know?" she cried out.
"Easy," was Ray's response. "I just had to look at
you and your wardrobe."
A near death experience (NDE)
One day we went to try out a new restaurant that served salads
in clear plant pots. It was a bright cheery restaurant with lots
of light and flora, a totally uplifting atmosphere. The menu was
simple and delicious. We sat and ate slowly, enjoyed the conversation,
and drank wine followed by lots of coffee. It was a particularly
long lunch and discussion went into an entirely new direction as
Ray confided in me her near death experience:
"I had gone to visit the dentist for a minor extraction and
was put under gas anaesthetic. While I was unconscious I had the
sensation of floating above myself and of moving towards a beautiful
light accompanied by a feeling of wonderful warmth and love around
me. I was getting closer and closer towards that light then suddenly
I was drawn backwards into a darkness. I returned to consciousness
in the dentist's chair and found paramedics pounding my chest. The
minute I came around I knew I had been moved into a different room.
It's a decorator's ploy. I had scanned the place and knew that the
drapes were of a different material. My eyes had been trained to
do that automatically. The dentist kept insisting that I hadn't
been moved, maybe because it was against the law to move someone
while they were unconscious, and they were not going to admit that
I had died, that they had lost me and had to revive me.
"It took me at least two weeks to get over the incident. I
was angry at the dentist for bringing me back from that wonderful
sense of peace and happiness, and that place of knowing the answers
to life's mysteries. Since then my feeling about death has been
that it is simply a transition. I have no fear of death, but I do
know that we are afraid of the process of death, of the actual dying,
and of being a burden on others in this life as we die."
We continued talking about death and dying, and the continuation
of life, and as we talked the waiters began to clear tables and
set them for the evening meal, all the while clattering cutlery
and dishes around us.
"Do you suppose they're trying to tell us something Ray?"
I asked.
"Yes, I think we ought to get moving on," was her reply.
We walked back to Ray's car in the parking lot, a designer's car
full of samples of fabrics, flooring and wallpapers. We both still
had work to do, so Ray dropped me off at the CBC offices on Church
Street and then went on her way while I headed for my desk to type
up the scripts for the next show.
A carpet the client won't like - at first
Friendship with Ray has lasted for many years. While visiting
Toronto in 1987, I met Ray for lunch and we picked up conversation
as though there had been no passage of time between then and the
previous lunch of years earlier. I then followed her around as she
went in search of items for a new client. We stopped at The Bay,
on the corner of Yonge and Bloor streets, and looked through huge
racks of gorgeous area rugs. Ray picked one, paid for it, and ordered
it to be delivered that afternoon.
"She's not going to like it," Ray chuckled. "She
won't like it one bit, but tomorrow night she has company coming
over for dinner. She'll phone me the next morning and tell me that
she loves it and wants to keep it."
Two days later I phoned Ray to ask about the results of the rug
delivery. "Yes," Ray confirmed, "I got a call from
that client first thing this morning insisting that the rug has
to stay. Her guests just loved it, and now, so does she."
The final touch - a yellow vase
That same year I made another very quick trip to Toronto from
Vancouver and Ray offered to drive me back to the airport. On the
way we made a delivery of a huge vase to a client's home. I carried
a mirrored pedestal while Ray carried the vase. We entered an incredibly
elaborate condominium Ray had been working on in which she was joining
together the furnishings and accessories belonging to separate households
of two former clients who had come together and married. As I entered
the living room I noticed a distinct flavour of his taste on one
side of the room and on the other was hers with a blending of the
two in the middle. Ray placed the vase on the pedestal right smack
in the middle of it all and as if by magic the room came together
in a song of harmony.
"It's like the final brush stroke on
the canvas that makes all the difference," was Ray's explanation.
We then proceeded on to the airport where we sat huddled for several hours over coffee and conversation. Her mother had recently passed away and she was missing her - missing that special someone she had loved and been inspired by all her life.
CityLine TV
"You know, it's funny getting to be a celebrity when you're
an old lady," Ray mentioned in a discussion a couple of years ago. "As
I was getting off the plane on my trip to the Arctic a few years
ago, a journey I had always wanted to take, people turned and said,
'There's Ray Staples!'"
Ray's smiling face was seen regularly across Canada and the Arctic
on CITY TV's Thursday edition of CityLine where along with host
Marilyn Denis and other designers Ray gave tips and answers to
questions on decorating the home. The comment that Ray often heard
from people on the street when they stopped her was, "We really
enjoy your show, and we love your honesty."
And here's a special piece of Ray's honest advice: "Don't just do one wall - do them all!"
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