THREE LOCAL DESIGNERS DISCUSS THEIR FAVORITE THINGS
STORY BY Kris Antonino & Shannon Morgan
Rose is Rose
Bolted above Rose Bennett’s fireplace is a four-foot fan blade. Around the corner, a hammered metal dining table 
for eight with large cobalt turned legs sits surrounded by ghost chairs. A teal farmhouse kitchen sink settles comfortably into white Carrara marble countertops. Bennett picks up an antique bulb horn and honks it loudly. “I wanted to create spaces where my children could be free and creative and not worry about having everything in its place,” she says.
Ellicott City-based Bennetts, owner of Rose Bennett Interiors, likes to create comfortable, livable spaces for her clients – while at the same time generating enthusiasm. She listens to her clients to understand how they want to use a room before getting to work.
“At the end of a project I want my clients to feel excited about the room,” she says. The goal, she says, is “to meet their expectations and surprise them at the same time.”
Bennett’s favorite project was working with a client who lived in a row house and purchased the one next door to create one large home. She won an award for the project from the American Society of Interior Designers (First Place in Residential Design under 3500 Square Feet). “It was a great collaboration with the clients and architects,” she says.
We asked her to pick five favorite pieces in her own home. Bennett had a hard time choosing, But surprised us by saying, “my new doors.”
1. Lining a hallway Bennett added custom interior doors by OE Customs of Baltimore, a company Bennett visits and works with often. “The frosted glass makes them come to life with natural light shining though what would otherwise be a dark narrow hallway,” she says.
2. A Vintage School House Clock from Barefoot Dwelling in Baltimore, one of Bennett’s go-to places to shop for fun salvaged and vintage finds. “The two sided midcentury clock brings a feeling of nostalgia to the kitchen. ” barefootdwelling.com
3. A 100-year-old butcher block island she found in New Jersey. “I love the mix of salvaged wood with crisp modern cabinets. It instantly brings warmth to the space.”
4. The Palermo Blue Farmhouse Sink by Kohler, designed by Jonathan Adler. “It reminds me to create and design spaces that reflect the clients needs and brings something unexpected to the look.”
5. MidCentury leather lounge chairs with a weathered wood finish from a shop in Philadelphia. “The mix of wood and dark leather against the large whitewashed brick is pure comfort after a long day – with a glass of wine it’s heaven.”
– Kris Antonio
Personality Driven Design
Carol Lombardo Weil knows a thing or two about home décor. She’s been decorating homes in Howard County and the greater Baltimore-Washington area for more than 20 years. Weil owns The Decorating Therapist, a design consulting business. The energy and passion evident in her work, she says, come from her clients.
“I look for what makes a client’s heart sing and make it happen,” she says. “My goal is for the client to say, ‘This is me.’ Letting the client’s personality shine is so much fun.”
She starts by getting to know the client, by listening to what they want and need. One of her favorite projects was an addition built on an historic home in Washington, D.C., for a client who had been born in Italy. The project gave Weil the opportunity to blend new elements with old and create a space that reflected the homeowner.
“The colors were her colors,” says Weil. “The dark turquoise reminded her of the Adriatic Sea and made the room feel like home.”
Weil likes to blend texture, color and style to create balance in a room – as well as excitement, she says.
1. Gorgeous Fabric “I’m a fabric hound,” Weil says. “I love silk and natural fibers.”
2. Engineered Stone “For durability, function and beauty, these stones are incredible,” Weil says. “They are fabulous countertops for kitchens and bathrooms.”
3. Wallpaper Yes, wallpaper. “Wallpaper has come a long way,” says Weil. “Manufacturers have outdone themselves. You can get wallpaper with glass beads embedded in it that’s absolutely gorgeous.”
4. Metallic Weil recommends blending metals. “The trend is toward brushed nickel,” she says, “but that’s limiting. Sometimes you need the warm with cool.”
5. Sentimental Pieces Weil has an appreciation for design elements from her childhood. One of her favorite pieces in her own home is a walnut side bar that was originally built for her parents’ dining room. She uses it to store crystal and china. “It’s sleek and beautiful. It’s a family piece.”
–Shannon Morgan
Kate McCullough helps her clients get there by considering these five elements in her design:
1. Affordability “It’s necessary for clients to build what will work for them,” she says. “I look at what’s the best I can do with their budget. You can do a lot of great things on a budget.”
2. Functionality “Once I understand the client’s needs – the more they tell me about their dream – I can design a solution to meet those needs.”
3. Emotional Response “There’s a certain kind of goodness that you feel in a pleasing space. That’s what I’m going for,” says MCCullough.
4. Heavy Materials “The materials we use are heavier compared to those used in residential design,” says McCullough. “We use concrete, steel, aluminum, wood, stone and glass.”
5. Daylight “I love daylight and fresh air.” It’s essential to a beautiful space.
Building with TLC
In the eyes of architect Kate McCullough, beauty runs deeper than the stone façade of a building. To her, what makes a building beautiful is not the materials used but the care in the design.
“The buildings that I think are beautiful exhibit an intense caring from whoever designed and built it,” she says. At the same time, a beautiful building “usually exhibits simplicity, too.” McCullough points to the Carroll Baldwin Memorial Hall in Savage as an example. “It’s simple and people care intensely about it.”
McCullough incorporates both caring and simplicity into all of her projects. “I don’t come to the design process with an idea in mind,” she says. “My designs come from talking with my clients and determining how their needs work within their budget.”
Her firm, Symmetry First Architects, LLC, in Savage, specializes in commercial architecture, in designing buildings that meet the needs of their clients and the communities they serve.
“I became an architect because it was the thing I was most passionate about in life,” says McCullough. “I enjoy the challenge of providing my clients the best environment to do what they need to do.”
One such challenge was a large renovation of the Florence Bain Senior Center in Columbia. “We had to shut down half of the building. It caused a major disruption,” she says. “But it worked out and they got almost a brand new building. The day it reopened, it was packed full of people.”
Helping people is what inspires McCullough. “Any day the call can come, some new person needs our help to get from where they are to where they want to be.” *
