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The Best Interior Designers in Baltimore

16 Min Read
Photo for Emerald Hill Interiors

Last updated on August 12th, 2024 at 11:03 pm

Baltimore is a popular tourist destination, thanks to numerous attractions such as Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Mount Vernon, Fort McHenry, and Mr. Trash Wheel, as well as various museums. A population of more than 600,000 people resides within its 72 neighborhoods.

Baltimore homes reflect the city’s developing economic and cultural outputs. Residents are opting for more detailed and unique homes rather than the generic look and feel of homes designed in previous years. To achieve the desired outcome, interior designers are necessary for these projects. The highly skilled and trained professionals have expertise in both practical and aesthetical considerations for homes.

To give residents easy access to some of the best interior designers in Baltimore and surrounding areas, we have put together a list of reputable designers who have captured the loyal customership of the city for quite some time. The list is based on specific criteria including customer testimonials, professional awards, industry knowledge and expertise, and superior portfolios.


A’blige Interior Design

2654 Maryland Ave., Baltimore MD 21218

A’Blige Interior Designs Founder and Principal Designer Ajia Monet embodies a success story of following one’s passion and dreams. A long-time employee of the U.S. Postal Service, Monet resigned from her government job several years ago to become a real estate agent. It was then that she realized her true passion wasn’t selling houses, but rather, she was intrigued by the interiors of the homes and followed her desire to become an interior designer. In 2014, she brought her dream to life and established A’Blige Interior Designs.

Monet focuses on modern contemporary luxury, yet approachable, projects and services. In addition to providing consultation and design development, the boutique design firm offers remodeling, room makeovers, and staging for vacation rental homes. Monet’s success skyrocketed after being featured on Bravo TV and in BLACK ENTERPRISE Magazine, as well as several other publications. While the firm is located in Baltimore, its notoriety has earned it a worldwide client base.

As shown on Home and Garden Design Ideas, the firm’s portfolio is elegant and practical. A prime example is the Contee Residence. The bedroom features gorgeous shades of brown and gold that blends seamlessly with darker hues and off-white detailings. The firm did not shy away from using bold prints such as the patterned rug, which matches the seagull detailings on the wall. Timid photographs on both sides of the bedroom add a peaceful touch.


April Force Pardoe Interiors

Elkridge, MD 21075

April Force Pardoe Interiors has serviced the area for the last decade. The firm’s owner and principal designer is April Force Pardoe herself, an experienced interior design consultant who has been featured in an episode of The Chaise Lounge, a podcast dedicated to successful businesses in the industry. While Pardoe’s education started in graphic design, her knowledge in that field has only contributed to her interior design business. Pardoe Interiors has caught the attention of several publications, including Baltimore Magazine, Chesapeake Home + Living, Howard, the Baltimore Sun, and the Washington Post. She also writes the Her Decor column found in HerMind magazine. Pardoe Interiors clients espouse the principal’s creative problem solving and organizational skills.

Pardoe’s design for the Saddle Ridge Terrace in Ellicott City was completed for the family of a professional couple. Pardoe Interiors handled everything in styling the living and dining rooms, from the furniture and its layout to the lighting and the window treatments. Using teal and coral colors created a coastal cozy and casual aura in both rooms. Where the living room takes a repeating motif of circle shapes, the dining room is a much more linear affair. The Valley Hi Court in Lutherville was also completed for a couple, but its color scheme could not be further from the last, with more luxurious golds, purples, and some mocha. Pardoe Interiors began with a space plan to nail down the room’s layout and finished with an arrangement the client was more than happy with. Silk drapes, swivel chairs, down-filled toss pillows, and Savannah shades are just some of the highlights Pardoe Interiors used to transform the room.


Emerald Hill Interiors

2039 York Rd., Lutherville, MD 21093

Locally owned Emerald Hill Interiors offers full-service interior design expertise that serves Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. At the helm are Jackie Bayer and Sadie Johnson, who place their passion for interior design at the center of company operations. Their formal design training ensures that each Emerald Hill project has professional, systematic, and inspired characteristics. Chief Financial Officer Carla Snider manages business aspects and client relationships for the firm.

A member of the American Society of Interior Designers, Emerald Hills Interiors provides an array of services from smaller projects such as room designs and cosmetic updates to larger full-home renovations. Working with clients from conception through installation, the team guarantees its work is not only aesthetically pleasing, but it is custom made for clients’ unique needs and preferences.

The Emerald Hill portfolio is characterized by grand and finely detailed projects. As illustrated in the photo, the firm’s experts have a keen eye for both function and elegance. The result is this quaint and cozy interior reserved for intimate gatherings and relaxed encounters.


Fitzsimmons Design Associates Inc.

918 Bay Ridge Road, Annapolis, MD 21403

Serving Baltimore, Annapolis, and Washington, DC since 1991 is Gina Fitzsimmons, professional member of the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID). Fitzsimmons’ three-decade-long career began at the Maryland Institute of Art College in Baltimore and continues today with a stable of satisfied homeowners. The firm has made a name for itself through its appearances in Chesapeake Home, Annapolis Home, Annapolis Quarterly, Solutions at Home, Home & Design, Baltimore Magazine, and Capital Style. Fitzsimmons also has the honor of being a Capital Readers Choice finalist for her designs. The firm offers kitchen and bath design, space planning, lighting plans, project management, and wall treatments to clients.

Fitzsimmons Design was selected to participate in the 38th Baltimore Symphony Show House at Silo Point. The space they were assigned was a penthouse condo on the 23rd and 24th floors of a silo built in 1923, complete with a harbor view. Fitzsimmons decided the challenge was to humanize the room and make it more of an inviting living space. To that effect, great white sheets reminiscent of sails were floated over the main seating area, where they also added a custom-built cocktail table and wet bar. The oar-lined wall completes the coastal influence. Located in Queenstown is a project that Fitzsimmons considers one of her favorites: the Wye River Home. Across the 6,000-square-foot home, the clients and the Fitzsimmons team completely revamped and upgraded the existing features. They ended up with a comfortable home drenched in gold, and light streaming in from four floor-to-ceiling bay windows placed side by side.


Jenkins Baer Associates

24 West Chase Street, Baltimore, MD 21201

Jay Jenkins is the president of this Baltimore-based firm, leading a team of seven other associates, including Alexander Baer, who has 39 years of experience in the industry; Katherine Crosby, whose previous clients include Christie’s auction house and Sotheby’s real estate; and Leslie Rose, a former designer for Ralph Lauren’s corporate interiors. Between the members of the team, Jenkins Baer has appeared in the Scout Guide, the Baltimore Sun, Chesapeake Home & Living, and Home & Design. Prospective clients who want to keep up with the team can follow their blog or Instagram pages.

The following designs showcase the work of Jenkins Baer associate Elizabeth Reich, whose designs have graced the pages of Annapolis Home, Style, and Home & Design. Reich’s Gibson Island project was completed in 2016 for a sum between $150k and $200k. The metallic textures of her design combined with the dark wood choices in the furniture contribute to the seaside character of the space and give it an Old World feel. Meanwhile, the light walls and furniture pieces bring in the light from the bay view and suffuse it throughout the living room. Her Tree House in Baltimore looks out into woodlands, which is reflected by the space’s wooden furniture and decoration choices. It creates a harmonious effect between the outdoors and the interior. The property uses uniquely shaped light fixtures and reds and browns to create a home that is both rustic and modern.


Karen Renee Interior Design, Inc.

Address:
540 Baltimore Annapolis Blvd., Ste. C, Severna Park, MD 21146

Karen Osborne, President of this Maryland-based firm, possesses a decorated resume. She is a professional member of the ASID, the winner of an ASID Excellence in Design award and a Brava! 2015 award, as well as Entrepreneur Exchange’s 1995 Entrepreneur of the Year. The team at Karen Renee Interior Design, Inc. is likewise heavily recognized. They have won MAX Awards from the Home Builders Association of Maryland, recognized in the Best of Annapolis in What’s Up? Annapolis over several years, and featured in Annapolis Home. Karen Renee offers residential, model home, commercial, and sorority interior design. Outside of leading Karen Renee, Osborne looks to the future of the industry and that of Maryland. Besides mentoring interior design student interns, she has led a project called “Chesapeake Bay for Kids,” which allowed 200 impoverished school children to participate in Chesapeake Bay Foundation and Maryland Science Center programs.

One of the goals of Karen Renee designers is to make sure their work reflects the taste and personality of the client. As such, the only consistent feature between projects is the feeling of relaxation and comfortableness exuded by the final designs. In a project completed last year dubbed Casual Elegance, the Karen Renee team used abundant light, the occasional blue, and minimal furnishings to great effect. A large, globe-like light fixture hangs above the dining room table, creating a sacred space. Deep blue, upholstered chairs invite family members and guests to linger at the table a little longer.


Laura Hodges Studio, LLC

Catonsville, MD 21228

Laura Hodges, LEED AP started her career by earning degrees in both interior design and business, before moving on to work under established, New York-based designers, Jamie Drake and Thomas Jayne. Today, she is the owner of her own boutique interior design studio, working in both Baltimore and Washington, D.C.

Her LEED accreditation allows her to incorporate sustainable design choices into her work. Her goal is to provide her clients with sophisticated, welcoming homes, so it fits that the Catonsville interior designer welcomed The Baltimore Sun into her home as part of the publication’s feature on Laura Hodges Studio. Hodges offers her sustainable brand of design for every room in the house, as well as color consultation and home staging. Her hard work, passion, and dedication to her clients has earned her studio several prestigious awards including House Beautiful Next Wave Designer, Traditional Home New Trad, and Sotheby’s Home 20 Designers for 2020. The studio has also been featured in numerous magazines including House Beautiful, Home & Design, Traditional Home, The High End, and American Lifestyle.

The firm has completed major interior design projects that reflect proficiency in design and execution. One of the projects that stand out in the firm’s portfolio is the breakfast nook featured in the photo. The firm took inspiration from the local Chesapeake Bay and the black and white images of A. Aubrey Bodine, an American photographer and photojournalist. The firm took cues from boding in commissioning a muralist to paint a grisaille scene of skipjacks and a map of the bay area.


Michelle Miller Interiors

2654 Maryland Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21218

The former antique shop owner behind Michelle Miller Interiors has more than a decade of experience in home design. She has applied her style—described as clean and exquisite—throughout the Baltimore Metro region and beyond, from family homes in Washington D.C. and row homes in Baltimore, to apartments in Manhattan.

Miller advocates the use of natural materials in her designs and emphasizes clean lines and sophistication. She also believes in the role psychology plays in crafting the best possible interiors for her clients. Miller urges them not to clean their spaces before her first visit so she can get a sense of how they really live. Her designs have been featured on the covers of Home & Design and Chesapeake Home, as well as in The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore Magazine, and Style Magazine.

The chic home featured is a Contemporary home design in Hartford. Michelle Miller used clean design elements to channel a sophisticated atmosphere without overlooking the practicalities of daily living. The home’s prominent use of monochromatic tones and neutral colors give a look that is up with the times.


Millbrook Circle Interior Design

6015 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21212

Millbrook Circle’s designs can be described as fresh and functional. This reputation doesn’t keep the firm from displaying the luxury present in Charm City’s interior design scene. The Baltimore-based interior design firm is owned by Liz Dickson, who HGTV viewers might remember from House Hunters Renovation. Her projects have also been seen on the channel’s What’s My House Worth? and on Scripps’ The List. When her work isn’t in front of the camera, it can also be found in Baltimore Magazine, the Baltimore Sun, Chesapeake Home & Living, and the Huffington Post. Under her leadership, the Millbrook Circle team has been a winner of the Chesapeake Home Interior Design Competition for four years and named Home & Designs 100 Top Designers in 2016. Outside of residential interiors, Millbrook Circle has added private clubs, commercial spaces, renovations, and new homes to their resume.

Dickson’s portfolio shows that the team can work with any color and style, and not only be successful with the design but also win awards for it. To start, we’ll look at Dickson’s featured design in House Hunters Renovation. For the Bethesda couple, she planned an open kitchen and a master bedroom. Work included relocating a powder room to open up the kitchen, which led to structural issues that were skillfully resolved by the team. The final result was painted in a neutral, room-enlarging color palette.


Mona Hajj Interiors

13 East Eager Street, Baltimore, MD 21202

African-born Mona Hajj has been working in interior design for over 20 years. Having been named one of Architectural Digest’s 100 top designers and architects, Hajj is one of the most decorated professionals on this list. Hajj’s education in Europe, Lebanon, and the United States, coupled with her world travels, resulting in a distinct style driven by a goal of making people “feel their home is the only place in the world they want to be.” Her designs squeeze a whole world into a single space by using Persian rugs, Japanese screens, and Italian chandeliers. Across her two decades of designing, Hajj has been the subject of articles in Southern Home, House Beautiful, Luxe – Los Angeles, Architectural Digest, Southern Accents, Deco, Style, and Design Times. Hajj has also written and published a book through The Monacelli Press, titled Mona Hajj: Interior Visions, in which her exotic choice in fabrics and furnishings are in full display.

Nowhere else can Hajj’s worldly influences be seen than in the exquisite design of family room. The colors seem as aged as the furniture, the decorations are plucked from Japan, America, Africa, and China, and it all contrasts with the modern rug. Hajj’s work creates a sense of wandering in space and time in one’s own home. This aesthetic is apparent again in a dining room arrangement. The eye starts at the European-style lanterns hanging above and flanking the classic American dinner table, and lands on the Eastern-looking painted, clay vase with delicate flowers. Even when the décor in the room is at its most varied, as seen in one of Hajj’s library treatments, all of the items collaborate together to draw a unified whole, even with otherwise disparate items, like the classic European portrait next to the Australian print. The tapestry echoes the colors of the seating, and the fireplace tiling complements the porcelain on the mantle.


Patrick Sutton Interior Design

1000 Light Street, Baltimore, MD 21230

Patrick Sutton was raised by a travel journalist and a fashion model in New York. As the future architect puts it, he has “travel in his blood.” His childhood travels would later inform the designs of Sutton Interior. There is elegance, romance, and luxury to be found in the designer’s work, and his particular aesthetic has resonated with those who view his work. Sutton has been featured in Elle Decor, In Style, the Baltimore Business Journal, Architectural Digest, the Baltimore Sun, Baltimore Style, and the Washingtonian. Sutton also has a John Russell Pop Award for Interior Design and five Design Awards from AIA under his belt. He has designed Baltimore’s restaurants, distilleries, hotels, and luxury homes. He’s seen the city rise from its ashes and take flight into the resurgence it’s undergoing today. Put simply, he knows the direction Baltimore is steering towards.

In designing the interiors of the Sagamore Pendry hotel in Baltimore, Sutton discovered a quality of the hotel that he calls “gritty luxury.” Meaning, beneath the opulence of Sutton’s design, Baltimore’s industrial history is alive and breathing. The central rooms are glitzy and chic, and yet wrought iron hides at the edges. There is green vegetation, but there is also unfeeling concrete. The bar tops seem to glow from within, and the bar stools sit side by side as if in a factory line. The hotel would go on to earn rave reviews from the Baltimore Sun and the New York Times.


Rita St. Clair Associates

1009 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21201

Located just down the street from Millbrook Circle is the firm at the top of the “city of neighborhood’s” interior designers. Rita St. Clair’s design philosophy is summarized in three verbs: personalize, provide, and perfect. The Baltimore design firm is an establishment of the city, having been founded in 1968 by Rita St. Clair. She was educated at the University of Iowa, with a BFA in Art History, and her graduate studies would later take her to the Parsons School of Design in New York and Paris, and then the Museum des Arts Decoratif in Paris. St. Clair, a lover of the Art Nouveau and Art Deco styles, also acted as the president of the ASID. She has been recognized by multiple AIA chapters, multiple ASID chapters, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Hardwood Institute, and the Washington Design Center. She’s been written about in the Baltimore Sun, Chesapeake Home, and Style. She held an auction of her working collection earlier this year, which featured items from around the globe.

Over the course of her 50-year career, St. Clair has found success taking on both residential and commercial projects from companies that are household names to us today. One of the many designs St. Clair has completed was for Baltimore City Hall. The Neo-Baroque structure was erected in 1875 by the architect George Aloysius Frederick. Over a hundred years later, it would be renovated by Rita St. Clair. She worked alongside other big architects in the city, and it took them two years to complete. The project’s costs came to total $10.5M. Another extravagant project included in St. Clair’s portfolio is the Palmer House Hilton. With its light-lined walls, golden accents, painted murals, and glowing chandeliers, the design almost looks otherworldly. Here, St. Clair works with shapes and patterns to create magnificent, large spaces that follow eye-catching patterns when looked at from afar, and provide intricate detailing when viewed up close.


Author

  • Alex Mericle

    Alex Mericle is the Chief Editor at Baltimore Architect with five years of experience in the construction space. Alex has always had a strong interest in residential and commercial construction and architecture, and he has built up technical experience with building permit data, subcontractor operations, and materials procurement over the years. On top of his experience at Baltimore Architect, he has prior experience at BuildZoom. His analytical skillset, honed through a degree in Business Analytics from Creighton University and from his work experience, allows him to transform complex construction data into actionable insights and useful, captivating content. Expertise: Residential and Commercial Construction, Building Permit Data, Home Design and Build, Architecture, Subcontractor Operations, Material Procurement Key Highlights: Over 5 years of experience writing and editing in the construction space, Chief Editor at Baltimore Architect, Previous experience at BuildZoom Education: Creighton University, Degree in Business Analytics