It all started when I was perhaps 4 or maybe 5 years old, beginning with L.S. Ayres, the department store in Indianapolis, Indiana,  where my mother would take us for lunch. The “Tea Room” is where we dined.   

Now gone, it is an indelible memory for me of when “I KNEW” I was going to be involved in beauty and design for the rest of my life.   As one person said; “The store was magnificent to the very end. The beautiful main floor and display windows were preserved by the Parisian Dept. Store that took over the space when (Mr.) Ayres died. It became Carson, Pirie, Scott a couple of years ago”. 

She (like me) went on to say – “I will always remember the Tea Room where my mom and I would have lunch during our downtown excursions. There was always some kind of fashion show while we dined. I would get to pick out a gift from the “Treasure Chest” at the checkout counter. Pink gift for girls, Blue for boys.” 

This dining room was so popular, that the “Tea Room” has been re-opened as a functioning restaurant in the Indiana State Museum, complete with original chairs, cutlery and china–with original menu items. I think being there in those years with our mother, we would have had the famous Chicken Velvet Soup, with a Croque Monsieur or something equally continental for the times, as in 1960-61 this was all a big deal! Finely dressed women, some who were shopping, and some who were “Ladies who lunch”, looked like this, and the models wearing the finest dresses and suits that would parade the tea room while we all sat and dined.

I remember being at the table one specific day, I was looking upward from a base of one of the grand columns where I was seated. The view, the ceiling, the chandeliers and the window treatments are still kind of clear to me. I recall the colour of the sunlight coming in the room, and at once realizing that I was quite comfortable in this place. (How and why my mother would dare bring us hellions to lunch here, we were horrible at home!! But my parents took us out all the time, and we did behave pretty well I must say). Having been no older than 5 years old, these are less memories but indelible images – like in a dream. But, unmistakably, I recall the moment when I knew I would be part of this world. I felt it strongly. I was too young to articulate it, but I would likely have said it was not really about fashion – I came to understand it was about the built environment. Fashion show notwithstanding, later, when I was in upper grade school, I would be able to just look at a ballgown and know if it was Dior or Balenciaga. Thus, my love of fabrics, upholstery and window treatments!

So, when my friends and clients ask me when did I start interior design? The answer is right around the age of 4 or 5! The evolution of my knowledge from that room in 1960 to today, is a long learning curve that I hope will never end! Let me know some of your favourite rooms that you might like to share, or that you would like me to comment on – it’s always fun to share our design thoughts this way!