Susan Sorensen

It came as no surprise when Alice Marshall, co-owner of The Second Yard, a purveyor of decorator fabrics and home furnishings, told us that her first design memory was re-arranging dollhouse furniture. “I was born loving to decorate,” she said. “I didn’t care much about the dolls,” only about creating beautiful spaces for them to […]

Landscape architect Pete O’Shea spent his youth playing in the fields, orchards, and woods of his Central Massachusetts neighborhood, where “we didn’t really know that what we were exploring daily was this incredibly dynamic landscape of glacial topography, dwindling agriculture, and second growth forests laced with old stone walls, boulders, ponds, and streams,” he said. […]

Sheilah Michaels credits her father, a builder who made her a toolbox when she was 4 years old and often took her to job sites, with planting the design seed early. Over the years, Michaels’ passion never wavered, and she’s spent more than 20 years working as an interior designer, buyer, and visual merchandising manager. […]

When Sheilah Michaels was asked to create a child’s bedroom for last spring’s Shelter for Help in Emergency’s Design House, she turned to the pages of some of her favorite children’s books for inspiration. “I wanted to capture the enchanting images from The Wind in the Willows, Charlotte’s Web, and The Lion, the Witch and […]

As a University of Virginia undergraduate, Jeff Bushman majored briefly in science, thinking he’d one day attend medical school. An architecture class put the brakes on that plan, though, and the future Bushman Dreyfus Architects principal’s course was set. He recently spoke to us about influential teachers at UVA, why consilience inspires him, and the […]

When we asked designer Chloe Ball to answer a few questions for us this month, she said, “I’m one of two who make a team.” So we talked to Chloe and her partner, Kathleen Conroy, and they enlightened us about the Medici family’s Pitti Palace, tinsel on Christmas trees, and Sister Parish. Have you ever […]