Interview with Mary Jo Long

Learn more about Mary Jo in this candid interview

Have you always had the design bug?

Oh yes! As a young girl, my brother and I would play in the nearby woods. My brother would build a fort and I would search until I found it. He was never happy with me as I hung dish towels on the windows and would move on to build another fort. But I always found him! Later on, I was always the one my sisters and friends called to get advice on paint colors or to decorate a room.

Tell us about your design career

I started my work career in corporate America in customer service working toward management positions and ultimately ending in medical staffing sales. I’ve definitely benefited from the experience but one day I decided that it was time to put my passion for interior design to work. I walked into a design center fifteen years ago and persuaded them to employ me to design and sell custom window treatments. A few years later I saw the opportunity to purchase my Decorating Den Interiors franchise and I’ve never looked back.

What are your favorite styles?

I love all design. I can look at a contemporary home and love the simple clean lines; I can also enjoy a transitional home or the rustic farmhouse that is so popular right now. The homes in Chester County encompass all areas of style so I have the opportunity to work with my favorite traditional style, but also the others too. I am very lucky.

What can a client expect from you?

They can expect that I will listen very carefully to what they say, and make the design about them. After all, it is their home and I want them to love the final project.

Do you do a “final reveal” with your projects?

Definitely. I feel it is best to store the products as they arrive at our receiver. Once everything has arrived we can deliver and set up the space in readiness for the reveal. If clients see items trickling in item by item, it is unsatisfying and does not meet my client’s expectations. I explain from the beginning how the process works so they know what to expect. If you’ve ever watched an HGTV show and seen a reveal — there is a definite Wow Factor!

What do clients like about working with you?

I’m a friendly, easy going person which makes a project run smoothly. My passion for design comes over to clients, and my desire to give them and their family the perfect space is key.

Tell us about one of your favorite projects.

It’s hard to pick a favorite but I clearly remember a very surprising project. An existing client referred me to  someone who had loved my work, and I was asked to work on her dining room. She had painted the walls a dark, moody charcoal and didn’t know where to go from there. She had inherited a beautiful cherry dining room set that was in great condition so I just needed to work on the rest.

We had discussed a budget and kept it in mind. But while I chose chandeliers and drapery fabrics I realized that we were going to go over with the one fabric that I thought was perfect for the dining room. I showed her several others which she didn’t warm to so I explained that I had one more in the car but it would take us over her budget. It was a black and white Toile de Jouy from Thibaut; a Toile is a fabric with a complex, repeated pattern depicting a pastoral scene. This particular Toile pattern was a man fishing off a bridge, and a man farming a field. She fell in love with the fabric and decided to move forward. We had cornice boards made with the Toile and drapery panels of white silk. The result was gorgeous.

The surprise came when we started discussing artwork to go between two windows. The client showed me a print that had been hidden, rolled up in the back of the buffet she and her husband had inherited. It was a picture sketched on silk and depicted a man fishing off a bridge — almost the same as the fabric we’d used for the cornice boards. I took it for framing and we placed it between the windows where it was obviously supposed to be.

Because we had gone over the budget with the fabric we kept her existing chandelier and polished it up with some fresh crystals so we actually did keep to her budget!

She hosted Thanksgiving and Christmas in her new dining room that she was so proud to show off.

What do you like doing when you’re not working on a client project?

I enjoy running and join the ABC² endurance event Race for Hope held twice a year, in D.C. and Philadelphia, to raise funds for important brain cancer research. I also arrange the seasonal flowers at my church.

Mary Jo is an interior designer in Chester County, Pennsylvania and in Newcastle County, Delaware. She’s looking forward to hearing from you so please contact Mary Jo or call (610) 873-4735 to discuss your next interior design project.