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Text by Tony DiMartino •
Styling by Kathy Curotto
At first glance, she doesn’t strike you as the neurotic type. You’d never
suspect that this wryly witty, easygoing woman is driven by uncontrollable
forces.
But Mary Engelbreit, renowned artist and CEO of a
multi million-dollar business, is a proud victim of OCDD: obsessive-compulsive
decorating disorder. Symptoms include an irresistible attraction to flea markets
and garage sales, an addiction to paint chips, and an overpowering urge to
redecorate every house she enters, especially her own.
The syndrome appeared
early in life: “I was always moving furniture around when I was little, both in
my room and in the dollhouse my father built me,” she admits.
It’s only
gotten worse since then. Enter her suburban St. Louis home, where no nook is
safe from her estimating gaze, no tabletop or shelf immune to her restless
hands. She’s tinkered with the place endlessly over the past eight years. “This
time, I tried to make better use of space in the living room and brighten up
rooms that don’t get enough sunlight.”
(a) Phil, Mary, granddaughter Mikayla, and Skinny. (b) Mary added
instant sunshine with bold artwork and cheery fireplace tiles. Mismatched vases
strung along the whitewashed mantel and decorative fabric lanterns.
(c) Mary loves to shop and never met a flea market, antique mall, or
estate sale she didn’t like. “That’s why we keep moving—it’s a never-ending
search for more storage space for my stuff,” she jokes. But her style is less
“out with the old, in with the new” and more “make new friends, but keep the
old.” (d) Take, for example, the plates, cups, canisters, and assorted tchotchkes
displayed. “They’ve followed me from house to house. The plates and cups
are contemporary and so is the teapot, although they look old. The rest of the
stuff is vintage. I don’t care if something is old or new, as long as it looks
right.”
(e) “It’s no secret I’m not much of a cook, but here’s where I sit and read and
cheer Phil on while he either plays chef or unpacks the takeout.” Note the ME
trademarks: complete comfort, a nearby reading lamp, and a fearless jumble of
color, pattern, and texture.
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