My favorite room: Let the good times roll

Aug. 6—A mile down the road from the New Mexico Governor's Residence (more popularly referred to as the Governor's Mansion), on the northside of Santa Fe in a neighborhood known as Vista Encantada, is a big, sprawling adobe that's filled with activity. Used to be, Karen Galindo and her husband, Paul, would rent out this part-time home when they drove back to their full-time residence in Austin, where they owned patio furniture stores. No longer. After ten years as part-time Santa Feans, they took the leap, relocating here full-time three years ago and opening the Karina on Canyon women's boutique. Now, their 7,200-square-foot historic adobe, designed by artist/architect William Lumpkins in the mid-1900s, is their home base.

Galindo's favorite room? "The dining room!" she says. "It's so convivial and light and fun. It's been the scene of many, many great dinner parties!" At 30 feet by 30 feet, it's a large room furnished with a 60-inch round table from Southwest Spanish Craftsmen that seats eight, plus a rectangular table for ten, and a banco built in under the large custom window that looks out on trees. This dining room has even been known to squeeze in 28 — which is not an unusual number of guests for the couple. "We have such good times in this room. We have friends over and cook dinner and laugh and have the best times. It's also got a really cozy little fireplace, so if it's even remotely fireplace weather, we light the fireplace," says the effervescent Galindo.

About those friends, Galindo says, "We like other people who are in retail because they understand what we go through, and we can talk business. So other retailers are fun for us to hang out with. And real estate agents! They're in sales as well, and so we find their jobs fascinating, and we like to talk with them. I have a brother and sister-in-law who now live here part-time, thanks to us, so we see them a lot, too," Galindo says. "We've developed a lot of friendships."

The dining room is the room where that happens. "I'm known for my parties. I like to have people over. That's what makes me happiest — to have people around me," Galindo says. "We always have red and green chile on the table. We sometimes have a tamale dinner with locally made tamales. Paul makes an unbelievable, crazy good green-chile stew." She continues, "We barbecue a lot. You can take the girl out of Texas, but you can't take Texas out of the girl. If you come over here, you're probably getting meat," she predicts with a laugh. "We're big wine drinkers, too. In the summer, we drink a lot of rosé."

The dining room brims with warmth and drama. There's a great big Mexican chandelier, plus two huge four-foot-tall candelabra from Jan Barboglio. On the walls, there's a circus show painting by Jim Vogel, a scene of the Plaza at night by Kim Wiggins, a colorful landscape from Phyllis Kapp and a buffalo by Andrée Hudson. Says Galindo, "The dining room is one of my happiest rooms. The art is very whimsical, playful, colorful. It puts me in a great mood to see it. We have our happiest art in the dining room. We did that on purpose, to make for a convivial atmosphere, so when people are dining with us, the art lifts their spirits." The terra cotta walls are hand painted, creating a distressed finish. With its 15-foot-high ceilings, the room glows with jewel tones, from the carpets to the fabrics on the chairs and pillows.

Galindo says, "There's not a room in the house that's more of a gathering point than the dining room. We sit in this room for a very long time because it's so comfortable. We like everyone to leave very full and feeling they've had a lot of fun." She adds, "I like camaraderie. I like it when we're all together and laughing and sharing stories. That's the highlight of my life. Good food. Good wine. That's probably why I like the dining room."

She also notes, "This is probably my most 'Santa Fe' room. That's why I love it so much. The furniture is all handmade. The art is local. The people that congregate in this room are all wonderful Santa Fe friends."

Galindo, 56, grew up in Austin and spent most of her life there. Moving to Santa Fe, she found it easy to live here. "It's like a little big city. We have everything — restaurants and art and festivals and retail — but none of the hassles of traffic and pollution and a sprawled-out downtown. Everything is so beautiful here. It beats Austin hands down in terms of quality of life. Austin, unfortunately, was discovered, and it's so overwhelmingly traffic-y, and it's so hot, and so many cranes in the sky. You can't get better restaurants anywhere in the world than in Santa Fe."

She and Paul bought their five-bedroom house back in 2011. She recalls, "I could see myself throwing parties in this dining room. Having people over, cooking, having a great time" — which is exactly what has come to be. The extroverted Galindo says, "I get a feeling of companionship, love, brightness, nature, Santa Fe and happiness when I walk in here. And hunger! Hunger for one of my steaks!"

My favorite room: Let the good times roll—Karen Galindo's dining room is where she joyfully mixes it up