In interior design and life, Stacy Harshman doesn't pay much attention to the rules. The 51-year-old artist and entrepreneur moved to Vermont from New York City nine years ago, seeking a more grounded, peaceful life and a sense of community. Two business launches later, she's made her free-spirited mark on Wallingford, turning the small, rural town between Rutland and Manchester into a veritable design destination.

In 2017, Harshman opened the Sparkle Barn and Bloom Room, a whimsical, treasure-filled gift shop and art installation, in a 19th-century dairy barn on Route 7. She bought another historic property in 2022, the former White Rocks Inn on 18 acres just down the road, and spent nearly a year transforming it into a boutique lodge she named Sparkle on the Rocks. Earlier this year, she began renting out the four-bedroom retreat, located a few miles from the White Rocks National Recreation Area, for overnight stays.

The two venues serve different purposes but share an aesthetic: bold, maximalist and bursting with color. When picking out items for each space, Harshman said, she let her heart guide her more than her head.

"When I am inspired, I get a feeling in my body that is very energized, tingly and warm," she explained. "If something doesn't feel good in my body, even if I really want it intellectually, I'm not going to get whatever it is."

Wallingford is a long way from where Harshman grew up in central Illinois, on a farm surrounded by flat, seemingly endless cornfields. Driven by wanderlust, she lived in Spain, France, Costa Rica and Panama before settling in Manhattan in the early 2000s. There, Harshman pursued various creative endeavors: She recorded six folk and rock albums, imported and sold tribal rugs from her East Village apartment, and made unique glass lighting fixtures inspired by vintage cocktail swizzle sticks. She also conducted a social experiment in which she wore different-colored wigs around the city and gauged people's reactions, which she chronicled in her book Crowning Glory: An Experiment in Self-Discovery Through Disguise.

With grandparents who owned an antique store and a mother who worked as an interior designer, Harshman always had a knack for selecting special items and decorating spaces. Having her own shop appealed to her "because I knew I could fill it with stuff that people would buy," she said.

A couple of years after moving to Rutland County in 2015, Harshman was perusing real estate listings and came across the Wallingford barn, which previously housed an antique store. She knew immediately that it would make the perfect retail location. Today her unique gift shop attracts people from every corner of Vermont — and beyond. She's had visitors from Canada, Maine, Texas and California.

Before stepping inside the Sparkle Barn, visitors encounter the Magic Garden, an outdoor installation composed of oversize metal flowers sprouting from multicolored gravel; a Technicolor mural depicting a unicorn, mermaid and butterflies; and a spray of glass discs affixed to the barn's exterior and interspersed with fish and other sea creatures to present a fantastical underwater tableau.

As a child, Harshman dreamed of having a stained-glass house. She's created a mini version of it in the entryway to the Sparkle Barn, featuring dozens of stained-glass pieces procured from architectural salvage shops. Two are originally from a bakery in France; another once hung in a Brooklyn church.

The store itself is packed from floor to ceiling with a wide assortment of decorative goods, toys and art. Wind chimes, colorful glass orbs and flapping bird mobiles hang from the ceiling. Items are playfully grouped by themes, including fairies, rainbows, crows and horses.

A roll of washi tape printed with cats and a mermaid-themed headband cost less than $5 each, while an original painting or stained-glass panel might ring up at several hundred dollars. For those in the market for unusual home goods, the options are plentiful — from mango-wood cheese boards inlaid with constellation designs ($25.99) to patterned mini-shades that turn a wine glass into a table lamp ($14). Garden décor includes handblown glass hummingbird feeders ($34 to $65), birdhouses made from recycled food wrappers ($19.99), and rainbow flag garlands featuring chickens or honeybees ($38).

A sparkly mosaic wall lines the stairwell that leads to the Bloom Room, an immersive space complete with larger-than-life flowers and butterflies and a suspended centerpiece dripping with bouquets. A green shag carpet stands in for grass, while chairs in the shape of petals provide comfy perches from which to take in the view.

"I wanted to create a room where one feels part of a fantasy garden," Harshman explained.

According to several guest books in the Bloom Room, visitors have embraced the fantasy.

"It's so pretty. I wish it was my bedroom," one entry in kid's handwriting reads.

"This is such a healing space where the energy is so pure," reads another entry, this one from a Castleton college student.

A note from someone in recovery reads: "As I sit in my own uncomfort, my own misery, there is a moment of reprieve ... Thank you for making this place."

Just a third of a mile down Route 7, Harshman's new project, Sparkle on the Rocks, has a similar soul-filling energy. From the outside, the boutique inn looks like a stately farmhouse — white with black shutters and flanked on one side by an inviting screened-in porch. But the vibe changes completely once one enters through the bright pink back door.

Each room is a feast for the eyes, with its own theme and layer on layer of décor. The foyer is Moroccan-inspired, with a gold-and-aqua woven pattern stenciled on one wall, patterned throw rugs, jeweled mirrors, and ornate gold light fixtures. The dining room boasts a woodland motif: A fox and a deer adorn hand-carved cabinets from Anthropologie, and chairs from Target are covered in flora-and-fauna-printed fabric. At the center is a swoon-worthy farmhouse table that seats 10, purchased at Perfectpiece in Manchester.

The variety of places from which Harshman sources furnishings illustrates her eclectic design sensibility. Affordable throw pillows and side tables from online retailers such as Wayfair are mixed and matched with antique and custom pieces, such as jewel-toned Murano glass light fixtures and decorative Belgian wall tiles.

Upstairs, each of the four bedrooms has a distinct personality. The Glam Garden features an explosion of floral pillows on a sleigh bed, bright yellow curtains, pops of pink paint and a wall of stained-glass butterflies. The Prairie Girl Suite, in contrast, is more subtly feminine with a soft color palette, though there are still lots of patterns and prints.

Harshman's own multimedia art hangs throughout Sparkle on the Rocks. Works from a series entitled "Second Flight" showcase preserved butterflies pinned on glossy, iridescent canvases. Other creations incorporate dried flowers and thick layers of drippy paint.

Harshman likens her painting process to the way a jazz musician improvises. "You never know how they're going to turn out," she said.

She also takes a spontaneous approach when it comes to future projects. Harshman is working to double the size of the Bloom Room, which she hopes to use for community gatherings such as poetry readings, plays and standup comedy — something she started doing regularly before the pandemic. She recently purchased a 26-foot box truck on a whim; she plans to decorate the inside with layers of flowers and turn it into a mobile Bloom Room for parties and events.

It's just one more way for Harshman to spread sparkle across Vermont.