The Picasso-style artwork is Case’s own handiwork. She also has been known to paint directly on the wall. The credenza is an eBay find, and thrifting expeditions turned up the travertine cocktail table and a diminutive side table with a marble base. The dramatic tête-à-tête chair with curvy metal legs is a prime example of pieces that aren’t comfortable but look cool.

Meeting influencers who have loads of style and great taste can be overwhelming for those of us who consider ourselves social media introverts (raises hand).

Rosie Case has more than 13,000 followers @rosie.case on Instagram, where she posts photos of her Aledo home filled with vintage finds, pedigreed pieces and things she loves just because. Case also has writing chops, having worked as a copywriter at Vogue and a freelance writer at other publications while living in New York. Her IG posts are short and to the point, as she lets the visuals speak for themselves. To help prepare for our interview, we study her social media feed relentlessly and take countless notes. We ask her to meet us for coffee — and show up without our wallet. Whoops. Case immediately sets us at ease and pays for our cold brew.

The New Jersey native moved to Texas after she became an Army wife, settling in Georgetown, near Austin, for three years. Her husband, now a retired warrant officer, then took a post at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth. The family, including two children, decided to make their home in Aledo. “I really like Texas, even the summers. I felt like I was home,” says Case.

The house itself was a foreclosure that had sat empty for a few years. “It was built in 1995 in an older subdivision and sits on more than an acre, so it offered some privacy thanks to the lot size. I also like that the architecture doesn’t scream one era or style over another,” she says. And the two-story home is spacious, allowing for more options — and more stuff — than her New York apartments or the military base housing she has lived in.

There still was work to be done. “We replaced all the floors, taking out carpet and adding wood-look porcelain tile. I had everything painted using Clear Moon by Behr,” says Case. The remodel also included a few more arched doorways, as Case is partial to curved lines (and pointy things) rather than straight ones. “If it’s round or dangerous, I probably will like it,” she says with a smile.

That mantra is repeated through her home, from furniture to accessories to sculpture. Her preferred color palette skews heavily toward light neutrals, although she admits she’s OK with bits of yellow, blue and green.

While the 5,000-square-foot house doesn’t offer the open concept some might prefer, the rooms feel airy and bright. And they’re a visual wonderland. The adjective that comes to mind is “shapely.” The more apt term might be “architectural,” but that sounds too stiff. We’re talking about curvaceous sofas, tables with legs askew, benches shaped like snakes, mirrors in every shape but square.

Form is more important than function and comfort. There are many pointy accessories — remember, she said she likes “dangerous things” — metal wall art, slender candlesticks, free-standing cactus sculpture. “We make sure things are attached securely to the walls,” says Case.

She also has an ongoing love affair with brass items, although she admits that relationship has cooled a bit, and with animal objects, especially anthropomorphic designs. “I like a piece that has movement and motion.”

The mix is remarkable considering that Case shops everywhere from highly curated online sites such as Chairish to the egalitarian Craigslist. She checks out cavernous antiques malls in Benbrook, Fort Worth and Weatherford, and small shops such as Fort Worth’s JunkerVal’s, while T.J. Maxx, HomeGoods, Target and other big-box stores are on her radar. So are thrift stores such as Goodwill. “Hit them on a good day and you’d be amazed at what you can find,” says Case.

And, of course, she shops Instagram, where fellow collectors share legit sources. While many of us are overwhelmed by online treasure hunts, Case admits she has excellent “scanning” skills and can spot something interesting fairly quickly.

“I don’t buy just to buy something; that leads to clutter.” She has learned the hard way not to buy something that needs new upholstery. She isn’t deterred by the size or weight of a covetable piece; that’s what movers (or husbands or friends) are for. And she’s OK with letting things go. “There are just a few things that I’m attached to — the dining room is pretty much set. I store items and then bring them out now and then.
I move things around. I give a lot away.”

Case is working on a bathroom project, and there probably will be another one in the works after that. Now that her kids are 11 and 8, she’s not as welcome to tinker in their rooms. “I try and decorate, but my son just wants all the antiques gone. I am lucky that my husband is very patient.”