A Designer Show House is often part fantasy and part reality. Designers typically pull out all the stops for the homeowner – a person who exists only in our imagination. 
That’s precisely why taking part in a Designer Show House can be a wonderfully creative endeavor, as well as a marvelous way for the public to gather fresh ideas for their own homes.
Some years ago, I participated in a local American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) Show House, featuring the historic Moore Mansion on Seattle’s Capital Hill.
This project was a classic example of how an interior design concept might evolve, and how designers come up with their inspiration.
The home, built in 1901by James Moore, was located, in a tree-lined street close to Volunteer Park, home of the Seattle Asian Art Museum (SAAM).
As it happened, I was assigned the Master Bedroom of this stately old house. It was a large, attractive room with generous proportions. However, it was dominated by a bold, geometrically patterned carpet in shades of chocolate brown and white.
It was the kind of pattern that makes your vision go blurry after a minute or two of looking at it. However, the owner of the house had made it clear that replacing the carpet with something a bit more subtle was not an option.
What do designers do in such a situation?
