The Aspire House McLean project began in 2018, when Bill Harrison, renowned architect and principal of Harrison Design, introduced aspire design and home CEO and Founder Steve Mandel to a developer he worked with called Artisan Builders. Mandel was immediately impressed, and planning began for a showhouse in this elegant suburb of Washington, D.C.
The residence, which adapts Palladian concepts of geometry, proportion and symmetry, is modern and light filled, with vast windows to flood the space with sunlight. In order to make sure the interior design matched the caliber of the architecture, Mandel invited Mary Douglas Drysdale to be the design chair. Drysdale explains, “A talented group of designers and creatives from the Mid-Atlantic region displayed their skills to create a home that is a modern classic mix, referring to the architectural traditions of our region and to the lifestyle that people aspire to today.”
In our recently released aspire design and home Showhouse Issue, we sat down with Melissa Colgan to learn more about their creative process in designing a bedroom suite worthy of a style icon for this project.
Inside the Showhouse with Melissa Colgan
Inside the Showhouse with Melissa Colganaspire design and home: How much time did you have to complete this room, start to finish?
Melissa Colgan: More than I originally expected, thanks to COVID. We had about five months which is eons more time than a normal showhouse.
aspire: What was your biggest challenge?
Melissa: The biggest challenge was to not start changing my design plan once the showhouse was delayed. Like most designers, I tend to get excited by what is new and next, and so I had to stop myself from making too many tweaks to the original design once we found out we were going to have quite a bit more time. But I think the biggest challenge was to make sure that my room really held together as a suite. The bathroom was sponsored, and the plumbing and fixtures had already been selected. The tile I selected—a tumbling block marble which feels modern but has its roots in ancient Greece—helped hold the more modern fixtures and fittings together with the more classical elements of my bedroom. And then I layered in art, plants and accessories to give that bathroom the same feel of layering that I had in the bedroom.
aspire: What did you and your team accomplish that you thought would not happen in time?
Melissa: Like most designers, I am pretty nervous that something will not happen right up until the day of the install. But even when we found out the opening of the house was delayed, I kept on all my various vendors to stay on or near our original deadlines. It was really nice to install in a calm and timely fashion. I guess I was most nervous about the paint colors for the walls and the bed. We were working off a palette that had not yet been released, and choosing colors from a tiny swatch is always a scary proposition, but I loved how the colors came out.
Seeking Inspiration
Seeking Inspirationaspire: What was your inspiration for this room?
Melissa: My aim was to create a Virginia bedroom inspired by a young, worldly girl. Maybe she just returned from boarding school abroad, listens to Grimes and Billie Eilish, and has ombre pink hair, but she decorated the room with her beloved Granny who has impeccable and studied taste. I looked to take more classical shapes and intellectual patterns and render them in a way that felt irreverent. I wanted the space to feel like it was comprised of items collected and cherished over generations, and my aim was for it to not feel too youthful. More juvenile elements, like the papaya pink, the scalloped crown, and the playful monkey fabric were tempered by antiques in more time-tested shapes. Together the Neoclassical bed, Baldwin-style slipper chairs, Giacometti-inspired bench and fabrics in a verdant mix of greens with pops of cantaloupe results in a room that feels sophisticated but with the joie de vivre of youth.
aspire: Did you step out of your comfort zone for this project, and if so, why?
Melissa: Yes! I love playing with color and pattern—especially pattern mixing, but it is not always something you can get a client to agree to. I like spaces to feel collected and not too matchy-matchy, but I do also greatly appreciate the details that only a decorator could think of. I went for a palette and pattern mix that I think most people would think, “These do not go together.” In order to make sure they did not feel too disparate, there were repetitions of color, tone and motif. For example, there is a very pale Robin’s Egg blue in the passion vine fabric on the windows and the box spring cover; that color is repeated in small ways throughout the space. Additionally, the bed is really the only item that was the papaya pink (the fabrics are really more cantaloupe in tone), so adding the simple painted banding to the ceiling really helped to tie the bed color in with the rest of the space. There are many different patterns, but they all were drawn from the natural world—vines, florals, animals and insects, and where I did use a more graphic pattern, it had more of a hand-drawn feel, like the scalloped dots. I also mixed several eras and styles with the furniture‚ but there is a cleanness to the line that holds them all together. Even the more fanciful pieces still had a rigor to their curves.
Finding Cohesiveness
aspire: Despite the fact that there were so many designers involved, there is an inherent cohesiveness to the home. Did you all converse/collaborate? Or was this a completely individual process?
Melissa: I think in most show houses there is a lot more collaboration, but with COVID, the designers did not have as many natural chances to bounce ideas off one another. That said, there certainly must be some kind of designer ESP that was happening. All of the designers of the bedrooms on the second floor did a canopy bed, but they were all very different.
aspire: Is your preference for a showhouse a small space or a large space? Does one or the other provide a better opportunity to stretch your creativity?
Melissa: I think both types of spaces can provide opportunities for creativity! If you have a larger space, you need to get creative with budget as well as how to make a room feel, perhaps, more cozy. With a smaller space, like mine, you need to get creative in how to tell a story in much less square footage.
aspire: Describe the town of McLean in one word.
Melissa: Verdant.
“This or That?” with Melissa Colgan
“This or That?” with Melissa Colganaspire: Paint or wallpaper?
Melissa: Gahh this is so hard. But going to say wallpaper.
aspire: Hardwood or rug?
Melissa: Also hard! I honestly would say rug layered on hardwood.
aspire: Beach or Mountains?
Melissa: GAHHHHHH. Mountain Beach? Is that an option? Thinking Big Sur, or Crete, or Kuai. Both mountain and beach.
aspire: Saturated color or black and white?
Melissa: I actually like somewhat desaturated color …. the muddy, in-between colors of dying flowers is my absolute favorite.
aspire: Brunch or dinner?
Melissa: Brunch!
aspire: Mid-century or 18th Century?
Melissa: 18th Century.
aspire: Draperies, shades, or nothing?
Melissa: Draperies.
aspire: 2001: A Space Odyssey or The English Patient?
Melissa: The English Patient.
aspire: Week at the spa or Week of Broadway shows?
Melissa: Spa!
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Photography by Stacy Zarin Goldberg.
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