Beyond Rugs at Odegard

I went downtown the other day to have coffee with Ruth DeHart, the showroom manager at Odegard in the Washington Design Center. She brought a square piece of wood, carved like a screen in the middle, along with her to Starbucks. And there was more where that came from too:

I thought I was going to go look at rugs, but that wasn’t the case at all. Ruth was showing me the architectural surfaces and paneling that they do.

Odegard makes gorgeous screens from wood, stone, and marble that can act as room dividers or cabinet fronts — “to get more bang from your buck” in decorating, Ruth said. So you can buy a simple cabinet, for example, and dress it up with an Odegard panel to replace a drawer  or cabinet front.

The metal panels are as thin as a matchbook cover, and can be used to clad furniture, which I’m pretty sure is not exactly a budget way to decorate, considering that you can clad chairs, chests, tabletops — even entire walls — in sterling silver or copper (in addition to less precious metals, but you get the point):

A little goes a long way here, for sure — one of these pieces is enough to improve an entire room, but I think more than one might push it over the edge.

One of my favorite (and more subtle) pieces is this table, which is carved marble — the candlesticks on top also come in marble, which is so ethereal.

Odegard also sells textiles, such as these gorgeous blankets. How decadent would that be on your sofa?

I had the pleasure of meeting Stephanie Odegard at a reception at the CharityWorks GreenHouse last fall.

What an elegant and warm lady she is — and her sophisticated style is everywhere in this home collection.