Mary Douglas Drysdale Interior Design

I have worked with Mary as a subcontractor for many years and find her to be a brilliant and creative designer with very refined architectural taste. Her ability to direct a project towards balance and harmony in form, texture and color is unmatched. We have worked together on projects large and small, and regardless of scale, Mary makes client satisfaction her one and only priority.

Congratulations on the Best of Remodeling! Mary is a great designer and provides excellent customer service. Her passion for the design industry is remarkable. Hope to see her work for years to come!

I believe everyone should have art they love in their home. Paintings of roses and daffodils in the kitchen. Watercolors of Paris cafes and streets, framed and matted, in the sitting room. Bold and colorful abstract paintings in the living room. Black and white photographs, cityscapes and landscapes, in the home office. Contemplative art in the bedroom. The dining room. Framed poems and postcards in the hallway. I believe a house without art cannot be called a home; a home that inspires and enlightens—enriches. I believe art you love is part of making a house a home, giving it individual and personal expression. And perhaps there is no interior designer who uses art to inspire and enlighten more than Mary Douglas Drysdale. Mary exemplifies the ideal of interior designer as curator. To call Mary simply an interior designer is like calling Richard Avedon a photographer, Mozart a musician, Picasso a painter, Julia Child a cook. Like a great artist, Mary transforms interior design, transforms homes with a keen appreciation of art, building upon a foundation of intelligence and curiosity, a love of architecture and the decorative arts, composition and storytelling. This “American Design Icon” infuses all she creates with a vision that is poetic and confident; bringing the interiors she designs to life with color, texture, humor---with art that helps to make a house a home. As a fine art photographer and trained art historian it is a great pleasure and blessing to work with Mary, supplying her with framed fine art photography for her clients' homes.

We bought a new house during the past year. It was a challenging experience because we were "upsizing" after having downsized about 10 years prior. (This was reverse course for most of our generation, but with the family expanding through our children getting married and having grandchildren, we finally concluded we had overdone the downsizing.) While the house was just the right size, it had been built in the 1980's and not be redone since then. Mary wisely recommended renovating before we moved in, but we had never before undertaken a renovation of that size and scope. As usual, she provided a plan that focused on the importance of enhancing the design and flow of the interior space - things that while not major from a structual standpoint, make a huge difference and give that "wow" feeling when you walk in the house - such as widening the halls, removing a wall between the kitchen and adjacent family/breakfast area, heightening the entrances to rooms (and making sure they all are the same height!), and designing a coffered ceiling for the great room and expanding the glass door leading from it to the patio so that the feeling of openess and exposure to the garden is fantastic. She also came up with beautiful stone tiles for the master bath and equally pretty tiles for the two other bathroons. The kitchen has already been published and is bright white and with a beautiful view to the garden. Our prior house had sunny yellow colors, but for this house she picked beautiful neutral, gray, cream and beige tones - her ability to select just the right color (there are millions of grays, whites and beiges) is truly exceptional. She has a unique touch and knows how to not only enhance the beauty of a house but also its value. The project took approximately 8 months commencing in June 2012

We have thoroughly enjoyed working with Mary Douglas Drysdale in collaborating on her Signature Colors for Casart coverings as well as other projects. Her design acumen and wealth of experience never cease to amaze us. Mary brings the highest degree of professionalism and reason to deciding difficult and confusing choices. Watching her construct a photoshoot is pure artistry. She has a sculptor's eye for what to chisel away to give the most memorable impression and it's usually an image that becomes the cover of so many magazines. We are both honored and proud to have an ongoing working relationship in which we can happily say a bond of friendship has been the most important.

Mary Douglas Drysdale is a rare gem, an iconic neo-traditional designer with an genuine love of design and passionate pursuit for perfection. But...hers is more than your usual "detail-oriented" perfectionism. Her pursuit of beauty in all its glorious forms extends to her work. Mary's meticulous attention to detail, keen eye for finishes and fine craftsmanship, and her own strong sense of personal style translate into magnificent projects that clients love. As an architectural photographer, I have worked closely with Mary for many years. We share the same vision: for the highest, best, most magical result possible. I highly recommend Mary Drysdale for the client seeking absolute perfection.

My wife and I have worked with Mary for many years. She has shown us many options that never would have occured to us and that made both the opportunities and the choices clear. In short, she is a genius.

Mary is a genius designer. She has worked on three large projects for me, one better than the next. Her work is aesthetically beautiful and very functional. She adds great value.

Mary Douglas Drysdale is a design guru. She is one of the most published designers because she is one of the most talented. I have had the pleasure of witnessing Mary's approach to design and her creative process. I am always impressed at how simply she is able to create the most magnificent designs that are always spot on with the client's taste and needs. We asked Mary to take a look at a space plan for our property and in minutes she had reworked it into not only a design that was wonderful, but one that was much more functional than we ever could have thought of on our own. She is the best!

Each project that I have been associated with Mary Douglas Drysdale and her team has been a true life lesson for me. Her ability to capture a dream and bring it into realization for her clients is a treat to see. Like a skilled surgeon Mary cuts to the heart of what makes a space work for her client's lives and with their home. Never one to get caught up in trends, Mary reworks the classics in a fresh manner, which brings life to an older home and grounds new construction with personality that are often left behind by others less detail oriented.