interior design
The art and practice of planning and supervising the design and execution of architectural interiors and their furnishings
Drysdale Design Associates, of which Mary Douglas Drysdale is the Creative Director, is a full-service interior design firm. Drysdale and her namesake firm are accomplished in the areas of design required for a complex or simple interior design project. These areas are the planning and documentation of interior architecture for either existing buildings or new construction, including the coordination with contractors and construction and documentation of interior architecture for new buildings. Additionally, the firm is an expert with respect to the interior decoration of such projects. Drysdale and her staff will capably develop, with the client, furnishing and decorative schemes describing all of the moveable decoration, including the art, rugs, and accessories.
The firm has long-term relationships with consultants in various areas of artistic endeavor, including specialty rugs, and antiques. Additionally, Drysdale has cultivated over two decades of long-term relationships with contractors, fabricators, and artisans in many areas of expertise, who are called upon, as needed, in order to achieve specific project goals. Drysdale Design Associates was founded in 1980 and has since been given numerous awards for performance and excellence in interior design and interior decoration. Should a project require it, we can bring in architects, landscape architects, as well as audiovisual and security experts to supplement our own efforts. Our view is that the design process is a collaboration, and the client and design team are partners in reaching shared project goals. Our process emphasizes planning, and transparency and requires the client to be active in the decision making.
Drysdale has worked throughout the United States and abroad
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The success of any room and the ultimate experience of any interior cannot be separated from the architecture against which the decoration is viewed.
The detail, shape, proportion, and finish of every space inform and complement the elements of design that are not part of the built environment, such as furniture, rugs, art, and artifact.
The work of Mary Douglas Drysdale is strongly connected to her remarkable talent with respect to the planning and detailing of interior architecture. She is recognized for her knowledge of correct architectural detail, and her interiors balance the articulation provided by a skilled detailer’s hand, with the confidence of inventive decorative talent.
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Gardens take on many forms and can obtain a layered quality through the interplay of vegetation and built structure. At Drysdale, we have specialized in the design of urban gardens that typically have a strong architectural component, such as a patio, deck, fencing, and/or stair. However, our strengths primarily reside in the planning of the overall site, the development, and delineation of the interfaces between various outdoor spaces, and the detailing of all aspects of the design. Certainly, the furniture and planter selections for these outdoor areas are carefully considered and determined as well. We often design custom fences, walls, and garden buildings for further aesthetic enhancement and to provide design solutions for troublesome city lot layouts. Our fundamental belief is that the more natural the connection between dwelling and landscape, the more successful and graceful the entire project will become.
We have often worked with pool specialists, civil engineers, and landscape architects on projects, if requested and/or needed, with great success.
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The design and development of respectful relationships between the elements of art, architecture, and decoration are at the core of my creative work. I have been fortunate enough to be engaged to design for several major collectors and to have been raised by two parents who collected seriously the work of one artist. I have never known a home without a strong place for art and artifact. I am confident that this exposure to the world of art, from a young age, encouraged my creativity and my ability to appreciate form and color.
Today, I love to invigorate the spaces I design with the brilliant vision, color, texture, and humor of the artists, my clients collect or begin with me, to collect. I have assisted many of my clients, with the help of qualified art dealers, in the formation of their collections. While architecture brings order, and furnishings provide flavor and comfort, art brings with it the vision of what an artist wants to say and reveals something of his or her time.
Artwork need not be expensive; I think that what is important is the exploration and development of personal taste and developing what I call "visual literacy". Putting out there what it is that you like, is part of making a home, and giving it individual and personal expression.
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Mary Douglas Drysdale's work is distinguished by its breadth.
Having studied architecture, industrial design, and interior design, there is a connectivity forged between foreground and background which resonates. The element of her work that most distinguish her from the efforts of others, at her level, is the dynamic created by her foundation of architectural rationalism which is often transformed by her iconoclastic use of highly decorative color. In this category, she is stand-alone.
The vividness of her color sense and confident use of it, has made her name and the brilliant use of chroma synonymous.
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The Drysdale studio has always been a design office that specializes in interior planning and detailing. In the mid-Atlantic region, Drysdale Design Associates has become a highly regarded, National Kitchen and Bath Association repeat award winner in the areas of both kitchens and bathrooms.
In 2014, the work of Drysdale was recognized by American Standard, and Mary Douglas Drysdale was tapped to design and build a luxury bathroom for the launch of American Standard’s luxury line, DXV. The Drysdale bathroom became part of a national promotion and won the 2014 NKBA award for “best in class” for a large bathroom, and was subsequently featured in Home and Design Magazine. Drysdale’s work with American Standard led to the development of a Drysdale tile line, which is currently in development.
The knowledge of how to best design kitchens and baths requires a firm understanding of the planning and detailing of many architectural materials such as stone, ceramic, mirrors, cabinetry, lighting, shower doors, and vanities. In addition to multiple wins for her kitchen and bath designs, both at a small and large scale, Drysdale is an excellent detailer and has won numerous awards for millwork and stone design and detail.
The evidence of the kitchen and bathroom design quality produced at Drysdale is supported by the frequent publication of her work in magazines, such as Home and Design, Veranda, Traditional Home, Kitchen and Bath, K+BB, House Beautiful, and others.
The Drysdale studio can work with you to update or completely refurbish these vital living spaces and has excellent relationships with both suppliers and installers in all the significant areas of kitchen and bath design.
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"When we invited Mary into our 111-year-old home, we had only modest ideas about what to do and how to do it. We faced a particular challenge since I have serious mobility challenges that required a rethinking of the whole structure. She walked around with an inquisitive smile, asked us probing questions, and created a floor plan which she drew and redrew as her imagination took flight. Eventually she proposed that we move past our original thoughts and embrace a more comprehensive strategy that would simultaneously restore some of the elegant original plan while bringing us more flow, more beauty, and more light. During our collaboration, we learned the same lesson as her many admirers: Mary makes magic. She built her career on her creativity, courage, and startling yet classic sense of beauty. She has the ability to see what is not yet there, and then to bring it into being, inspiring her friends and clients every step of the way."
-Bob Massie, American author and politician
Collaborations and limited scope project work are an important part of the work that we do at Drysdale. Our engagements are with many different entities, for whom we take on varying roles. We are a full service interior design firm, but we often collaborate with fellow creatives to provide a certain scope that is woven into an existing vision, such as furnishings, kitchen and bath, millwork, art acquisition, finishes and other aspects of design or decoration. Often builders and developers are provided only with a site plan, and schematic interior plans. Drysdale can evaluate interior plans for use and furniture layouts, enhance kitchen and bathroom plans and in turn provide suggestions for lighting. For HOAs we can consult on public spaces, as well as, fencing and painting standards. And of course, for architects we can evaluate layouts, providing furniture layouts complimenting the architectural layouts. At Drysdale our design process is based on collaboration.
Whatever the role Drysdale is engaged to undertake, our perspective is that a client fully engaged with the process, will contribute to a more successful project with greater satisfaction to the end user. While creativity is necessary at every level of project development, we believe that collaboration and communication are key elements throughout the process and contribute to an end result that is on time and aesthetically on target.