Decor For A Good Cause

If you're interested in the latest interior design trends, touring a decorator show house is a great way to see a lot in a small amount of time. On Friday morning, The Early Show wrapped its "Inside Style" series with a visit to one magnificent show house near Washington, D.C.

"It's interesting because you start with a house that's totally empty," says Lynni Megginson, one of 24 interior designers who are each decorating one room in the mansion. "Everyone's doing a totally different space. Every single designer has contractors and painters and wallpaper guys and furniture deliveries.

"Hectic is not the word," she adds. "There's a lot of drama going on."

As Megginson explains it, "Primarily, decorator show houses are a great way to show talent from local designers, and, generally, they're done as a fund raiser. This particular show house, the NSO, benefits the National Symphony Orchestra.

Megginson's assignment was to design a boy's bedroom.

"We've called our room 'Snips And Snails And Puppy Dog Tails,' and it was inspired by this wonderful wallpaper with line drawings of the dogs," she explains, "I saw that, and it all just flowed from there."

David Mitchell designed the home's living room. He says furnishings should no longer be all one style.

"Design these days is all about the mix," Mitchell says. "It's all about this beautiful eclecticism. Its almost like design has gone global. There's pieces in this room that are from France, from Sweden, from China. There's lots of African pieces in this room. It's all about how it forms a cohesive kind of feeling for the space.

"There's no such thing as traditional or modern any more," he concludes. "It's just more about reflecting you in the space."

Each year for 34 years, a different house has been redecorated, making this one of the nation's oldest show house events.

Mitchell says there are "wonderful rooms in the house. The great thing about a show house is that you get to go through, and in this case, you get to see 20 or so designers. You get to see different points of view. You get to see different trends that designers think are happening right at the moment."

In this show house, you'll see a kitchen that features not just one but two chandeliers, as well as a piece of art that rolls up to reveal a wide-screen TV hidden beneath.

Interior decorator Annette Hannon designed an elegant master bedroom.

She says, "I wanted to create a room that was ethereal, a place that's very tranquil, but also wanted to have a sense of luxury. And so we started out with a corona over the bed. The pattern on the fabric, which you see on the draperies and one of the upholstered pieces, is then repeated onto the walls by a hand-painted process."

This year, nearly 18,000 people are expected to tour the house, and if they see a piece of furniture or object of art they like, there's a good chance they can own it.

Says Mitchell, "Most of the things in a show house are for sale, and a certain percentage of that goes to the charity. The charity makes money off a show house, which is a great way to contribute to a charity and the community at the same time."

The designers hope visitors will enjoy what they have created — and that they'll be inspired.

"People just want to see what the next hot things are going to be," notes Megginson, "and what better opportunity than to see it firsthand in a show house?"

Mitchell offers this view: "I think show houses are a little fantasy, but know that you can take that fantasy home with you."

In case you are in the Washington, D.C., area, the show house will be open for the next month. Organizers say they expect it to raise more than $300,000 for the National Symphony Orchestra.

For more about the show house, click here.