Imagine Design

Imagine Design I am an interior designer that works towards creating casual, elegant rooms that are visually intere and Northern Virginia area.

Although Imagine Design is a full-service design company, our specialty is working with renovation or new construction. I love the building aspect of design and believe getting scale, flow and function right from the beginning helps everything fall into place. Being able to assess these elements from a set of blueprints or floor plans is essential, and is one of my favorite parts of the process. F

or 10 years prior to launching Imagine Design, I was a top-ranking real estate agent in the Washington, D.C. This experience provided valuable exposure to what impacts home value, and an understanding of which improvement would ultimately provide the best return on a client’s investment. I work towards creating casual, elegant, rooms that are visually interesting but also comfortable and inviting. It is the subtle coordination of fabric, color, layering, and unique accessories that really brings a home to life. My approach is tailored to each client’s individual needs, lifestyle and budget, but the formula based on comfort and elegance is always the same. Imagine Design is available for service from project management for a full-scale renovation/new build project to simple consultations on how to work with existing furnishings.

I don’t typically begin sharing a new project with a bathroom. But then again, this isn’t a typical bathroom.This is the...
09/04/2026

I don’t typically begin sharing a new project with a bathroom. But then again, this isn’t a typical bathroom.

This is the first little glimpse of a Fifth Avenue apartment in New York City that we have been working on for nearly two years for longtime clients, a young, fun couple who wanted every surface of their home to be beautiful.

And they meant every surface.

We first worked with them on their Georgetown home, so being asked to join them for this next chapter was especially meaningful. We also had the very great pleasure of working alongside the extraordinary team at Douglas Wright Architects and a truly top-notch builder, Donadic. The result is one of those homes I can hardly wait to share.

This is one of three bathrooms in the apartment, and color was a priority throughout. Because this one is often used by guests, we gave it a little extra drama with fluted green tile, richly veined marble, unlacquered brass and those sculptural globe sconces. It feels fresh and unexpected, while still completely at home in a classic New York City apartment.

There is so much more to come. Just wait until you see the kitchen. For now, consider this bathroom the smallest of previews.

Design: Liz Mearns Interior Designer
Photos:
Architect: Douglas C. Wright
Build: S. Donadic, Inc.

A little look behind the scenes: this is the home of one of our team members, who is also a terrific artist.And who unde...
09/02/2026

A little look behind the scenes: this is the home of one of our team members, who is also a terrific artist.

And who understands what art can bring to a room better than an artist who works in interior design?

Her own paintings appear throughout the house alongside pieces collected over time, setting the mood in every room and connecting spaces that each have a distinct personality. The living room is bright and sun-filled, while the dark sitting room feels intimate and enveloping. The dining room and kitchen have moods of their own, but the art, vintage furniture, natural materials, and sculptural forms create a thread that runs through the entire home.

Much of the furniture is vintage, including the extra-long, low-profile sofa from the 1960s, which was fully restored and reupholstered in a fabric. Paired with the Barcelona chairs and large abstract painting, it gives the room an authentic midcentury foundation. A small dining table was cut down to become a side table, while the vintage coffee table was refinished with a hand-rubbed black finish.

I often talk about the character that older pieces bring to a home, but this house also shows just how much art adds. It does not simply fill a wall. It introduces color, emotion, scale, and personality in a way that very few other things can.

Design: Liz Mearns Interior Designer Imagine Design
Photography: John Cole
Art: Tiffany Steele McAvoy

interiordesign

For quite a while, I have been meaning to share more complete house tours here, so you can see not only the individual r...
08/30/2026

For quite a while, I have been meaning to share more complete house tours here, so you can see not only the individual rooms, but how they relate to one another in this completed project.

I thought I would begin with this beautiful 1920s stone house on a horse property in Middleburg, Virginia.

A Northern Virginia family purchased the house and had partially furnished it themselves, but it had never quite come together in the way they had hoped. We were brought in to help finish what they had started by adding the layers that would make it feel settled, comfortable, and truly theirs.

As the design developed, the house naturally took on a bit of an English country feeling that seemed especially suited to the old stone architecture and its setting in Virginia horse country. We mixed new upholstery with patterned fabrics, botanical wallpaper, deep colors, art, and quite a few antiques gathered from the many wonderful antique shops around Loudoun County.

In the foyer, an antique rug and center table gave the generous space a sense of purpose and created a proper welcome. From there, the mix continues throughout the house. The living room is lighter and quieter, while the family room is grounded by a pair of deep blue sofas and plum-colored club chairs.

The greatest transformation was the back sunroom. The stone wall had originally been part of the exterior of the 1920s house before it was expanded decades later. We replaced the flooring with slate, paneled the ceiling, and painted the entire space a deep hunter green. The new color ties the room much more closely to the old stone and makes the later addition feel like a natural part of the original house.

In the room beyond, botanical wallpaper adds another layer of English country-house charm (a nod to the homeowners roots) and provides a softer counterpoint to the stone and dark green next door.

I hope you enjoy walking through this one with me. Let me know if you would like to see more complete house tours here.

Design: Liz Mearns Interior Designer
Photos: Molly Smith Watson

Twenty years can be an awkward age for a house. It isn’t old enough to have the inherent character of a historic home, ...
08/27/2026

Twenty years can be an awkward age for a house. It isn’t old enough to have the inherent character of a historic home, but it is old enough to begin showing its age, especially when the builder leaned heavily into the design trends of the time.

That was exactly the case in this Arlington, Virginia family room. The floor-to-ceiling stacked stone, oversized raised hearth, low soffits, floating shelves, and blue cabinets all felt very specific to the early 2000s. There was a lot happening on this wall, but none of it felt especially connected or architectural.

So we redesigned the entire fireplace wall.

We raised the soffits and replaced the blue cabinets and floating shelves with true custom white oak cabinetry and bookcases. They added warmth and character, but also an enormous amount of storage, which is always a good thing in a family room.

We removed all of the busy stone veneer and simplified the fireplace with a plaster surround and stone hearth. By reshaping the chimney breast above the mantel, we gave the whole wall better proportions and finally created a natural place for art.

Once that architectural foundation was right, the rest of the family room came together fairly easily. We reused and reupholstered several pieces the clients already owned, added new ones, and layered in lighting, textiles, books, and collected objects.

I think the room now feels as though it belongs to the house, only warmer, more settled, and with the kind of character that will carry it through its next twenty or more years.

Design: Liz Mearns Interior Designer
Cabinets: Master Design Cabinetry
Build: LG RENOVATIONS INC
Photography: John Cole

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FamilyRoomRemodel CustomCabinetry WhiteOakCabinetry FireplaceRenovation FireplaceDesign BeforeAndAfter InteriorRenovation n VirginiaInteriorDesigner

I find that in every project, there is one room that sets the tone for the rest of the home. In this house, it was the d...
08/25/2026

I find that in every project, there is one room that sets the tone for the rest of the home. In this house, it was the dining room.

It sits at the center of a 25-year-old builder-grade home that we shepherded through a full remodel. The goal was to give the house the character it had always been missing while greatly improving its flow and functionality along the way.

The dining room connects a color-drenched music room, where the custom cabinetry, trim, and ceiling are all painted a deep mossy green, with a newly renovated kitchen filled with natural wood and stone. We wanted it to bridge the two, carrying the depth and color of the music room into the warmer, more natural palette of the kitchen.

We had the table custom made so our clients could gather as many family and friends around it as possible. The moody landscape mural wraps the room in an almost otherworldly calm, while the cloud-like chandelier brings in just the right amount of lightness and contrast.

It is immersive and inviting, and it became both the physical and visual center of the home we set out to create.

Design: Liz Mearns Interior Designer Imagine Design
Photography: John Cole
Build: Golden Rule Builders

I’ve decorated this Arlington family room three times, for two different owners. That’s probably the best argument I can...
08/22/2026

I’ve decorated this Arlington family room three times, for two different owners. That’s probably the best argument I can make for choosing your neutrals carefully.

We toss that word around a lot in interior design. But when I say neutral, I don’t necessarily mean white, beige or even particularly light.

When I walk into a home for the first time, the problem is often that everything has been kept a little too safe. Every surface is a similar tone and everything carries the same visual weight. The room may be quiet, but it’s also a little anonymous. There’s nowhere for your eye to land and not much warmth or depth.

To me, a neutral is simply a color that provides a good foundation and works easily with everything around it, without dictating what the rest of the room has to be.

In this room, the deep blue sofas do exactly that. They have plenty of color and presence, but blue is remarkably flexible. It works with the existing ivory drapery from an earlier version of the room, the warm wood, the plaster fireplace and the smaller notes of rust, blush and green in the art and accessories.

That flexibility is why the room has been able to evolve through three different versions without requiring us to start over each time.

So, if you’re choosing an investment piece like a sofa, don’t assume the safest choice is beige. Instead, ask what else the color can live with. Could you change the rug, pillows, art or even the wall color without having to replace it?

A room doesn’t have to be loud to have a point of view. And sometimes the most useful neutral in the room doesn’t look neutral at all.

Design: Liz Mearns Interior Designer Imagine Design
Photo: Molly Smith Watson

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This room has always felt like summer to me.Maybe it’s the large windows filling the room with natural light, the pale w...
08/21/2026

This room has always felt like summer to me.

Maybe it’s the large windows filling the room with natural light, the pale wood and white linen sofas, or the way the orange flowers seem to wake up all those quiet neutrals. Whatever it is, it has that easy feeling I always want a family room to have: comfortable, unfussy, and still pulled together.

The architecture does a lot of the work here. The exposed beams bring warmth overhead, the plaster fireplace adds texture without heaviness, and the long wall of windows keeps everything feeling open and bright.

Then we layered in pieces that could actually handle family life: generous upholstered seating, a substantial wood coffee table, woven textures, and just enough contrast to keep all the softness from feeling flat.

I’m always drawn to rooms that feel calm without feeling precious. This one still does.

Design: Liz Mearns Interior Designer Imagine Design
Builder: Romeros Custom Builders
Photo: Molly Smith Watson

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I’ve written many posts about my love of banquettes and why I think they’re such a great way to add seating in a kitchen...
08/17/2026

I’ve written many posts about my love of banquettes and why I think they’re such a great way to add seating in a kitchen or breakfast room.

In this case, a new-construction townhouse in Old Town, there isn’t a formal dining room because of the open floor plan. But this long wall across from the kitchen gave us plenty of room for a table and chairs, while still needing to keep the path between the living room and patio open. So rather than trying to force a traditional dining room into the space, we built the banquette wall to wall.

I especially love extending a banquette beyond the table. It makes the whole area feel a little more relaxed and useful. You can have a proper dinner here, but you can also sit at the far end with a glass of w**e, talk to someone in the kitchen, or have people hang out there while the doors are open to the patio.

We wanted it to feel comfortable enough for everyday life, but still have a bit of formality for special occasions and dinner parties. The chocolate velvet upholstery gives the space some richness, while the lighter chairs and pedestal dining table with its pale stone top keep it from feeling too formal.

We added a textured Phillip Jeffries wallpaper to warm up the new construction, along with the picture light and abstract art at the end of the banquette. It’s a relatively simple space, but I think those layers are what make it feel like its own room.

And honestly, I might prefer this to a formal dining room.

Design: Liz Mearns Interior Designer Imagine Design
Photos: John Cole

When a house is more than 150 years old, it’s safe to say it’s been through some things. And I think that kind of histor...
08/14/2026

When a house is more than 150 years old, it’s safe to say it’s been through some things. And I think that kind of history gives you permission to mix pieces from different periods that probably shouldn’t work together, and yet somehow do.

In this historic Georgetown entry, an antique chest and rug live alongside a black and gilt mirror, a very modern vase, and one of my favorite details in the house, the sculptural ceiling light from Gong in London.

Then there’s the staircase. The beautiful old wood newel post, the original floors, the millwork. It really is the embodiment of “they don’t make them like they used to.”

And as with so many things in design, I think it’s the contrast that makes the room interesting: warm old wood against crisp white millwork, traditional pieces next to cleaner modern shapes, and that almost-black front door framing the view outside.

An entry should tell you something about the house right away. Not everything, but enough to make you curious about what comes next.

I’m curious, in a space like this are you more drawn to the old pieces or the modern ones?

Design: Liz Mearns Interior Designer Imagine Design
Architect: BarnesVanze Architects
Build:
Photo: Molly Smith Watson

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