The Decorating Therapist

Interior Designers & Decorators , Universal Design

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The Decorating Therapist

24 Reviews

Family Parlor at Mt. Ida

Mt. Ida was built in 1828, and was the last home built by the Ellicott family. It was sorely in need of a face lift, which it received as a Decorator Show House.
Every year Historic Ellicott City hosts their Decorator Show House as a fundraiser to support their efforts to restore and save historic properties in Howard County.

Project Year: 2014

Project Cost: $25,001 - $50,000

Country: United States

With 11 1/2' ceiling height using the vertical space of this room was one of the keys to its comfort. The custom draperies framing the window carry your eye upward to the beautiful original crown moldings. The traditional design of the hand-painted leather wall hanging over the fireplace is...

Playing with Tall Ceilings

Comfort is the key to this room. Warm neutrals are balanced with the cool background of the wallpaper. The scale and proportion of the furnishings capture the grandeur of this home built in 1828 and make it feel fresh and inviting.

Linen and leather seating

Often a corner goes unused, but this was the perfect spot for a small game table for two, with good lighting from the floor lamp. The wallpaper pattern is subtle and organic with a textural sheen, a good background for the large watercolor of the gentleman reading a newspaper.

Chairs for ghosts at the Game Table

The informal parlor, sorely in need of a face lift. Notice the crack in the wallpaper in the corner - the plaster walls had cracked during an earthquake a few years earlier.

(Before)

Used more for storage than for entertaining, the room was a hodgepodge of old furniture. The wallpaper hid some major cracks in the walls that were discovered and repaired after the old paper was removed.

(Before)