A THOROUGHLY MODERN VICTORIAN DECORATOR

                 PROFILE OF MARSHA FELPS NIHILL







                     Written by June Grayson






     You can have a Victorian home even if you don't have a  
 
Victorian house to put it in.  Many Victorian elements blend well  
 
into traditional and contemporary homes, according to Marsha  
 
Felps Nihill.      

     "Victorians delighted in their luxurious homes. We want  
 
that same warmth and opulence in our homes today.  We can adapt  
 
their styles to fit into our own hurried lives." 

     Marsha has spent the last three years launching her own  
 
company, Marsha Nihill Interiors, and decorating her new home. 
 
"I established my company first, but moving into a new  
 
house and doing the decorating myself left me no time for  
 
outside clients," she explains. 

 
     The Nihills wanted a new house that incorporated old house  
 
details.  They chose a builder's Georgian-style plan.  Before  
 
construction began, Marsha specified the variations she wanted:  
 
nine-foot ceilings, three-piece wood crown moldings with dentil  
 
detail, and a loft area overlooking the family room. 

     The local artists, crafters, and trades people she has  
 
met since moving to Wheaton, Illinois, seven years ago, she now  
 
relies on for her business.  "These gifted people take my visions  
 
and translate them into reality."  

     The referrals from these suppliers produced her first  
 
clients.  She became known as a decorator who could use antiques  
 
in a new house to create an elegant look.  She has never had to  
 
advertise.  "If you please people, they will ask you back and  
 
tell their friends about you," she says. 

   Although she will design in any style a client may want,      
 
Marsha likes to work with antiques.   "One huge antique, such as  
 
a secretary or armoire, can be absolutely stunning as a focal  
 
point in a modern room," she suggests.   "Add an Oriental rug.    
 
Use fabric-shirred curtain rods and let the fabric fall and  
 
puddle on the floor.   Use architectural plaster pillars to hold  
 
statues and ferns in empty spaces."      

     People are sometimes afraid to ask a decorator to come into  
 
their home.  "They think you will criticize them or impose your  
 
tastes on their lives," Marsha says.  "My only function is to  
 
understand what they want and help then attain it." 

 
     On the first visit to the clients' home, she asks them how  
 
they want to use the room, how much they want to spend, and if  
 
they have children or pets.  "I can bring out the individuality  
 
of my clients by studying what they have already accumulated in  
 
their homes.  What is important to them?  Do they appreciate good  
 
craftsmanship?  You can sense that some people have Victorian  
 
tastes.  They may already have ornate furniture or collect  
 
Victorian treasures."       

     Blue will always be the most popular color for decorating. 

It is for the Nihills.  She collects blue willow dishes and the  
 
blue and white Oriental "double happiness " jars displayed  
 
throughout their home.  "I use many shades of rose with blues,  
 
especially teal blues.  Sometimes I add navy and branch out into  
 
burgundy and hunter green.  Reds and yellows are becoming more  
 
popular. 

     "I may paint the woodwork ivory and accent the walls with  
 
touches of emerald green and deep red.   Sometimes I use sponge  
 
painting on the walls to pull the colors in a room together.   
 
Gold threads are appearing in both fabrics and wall coverings -  
 
ideas all borrowed from the Victorians.    

     "However, you should use the colors that make you the  
 
happiest, not what is the latest fashion," Marsha warns.  "I have  
 
a client who loves pumpkin - and it works for her." 

     New window treatments are the most effective way to change a  
 
room.  "We may coordinate the walls and the wallpaper to the  
 
window fabrics.  I will use chintz, moire, and lace fashioned  
 
into swags, jabots, and rosettes for a Victorian room." 

     Few people can afford to throw out everything and start 

from scratch.   Expensive upholstered pieces usually have to  
 
stay, but they can be recovered in fabrics that blend with the  
 
window treatments. 

     Botanical prints, silk lamp shades, wicker furniture, and  
 
Chinese porcelains provide additional Victorian accents.   
 
Pedestal sinks and claw-footed tubs have even returned to the  
 
bathrooms. 

     Marsha frequents antique shops, flea markets and estate  
 
sales.  She found the solid black walnut chairs for her own  
 
dining room at an estate sale.  She bought the black walnut  
 
dining room sideboard at a garage sale.  "If I see something that  
 
appeals to me, I buy it.  I know I will always be able to use it  
 
somewhere." 

     Marsha always wanted to be an interior designer, but she was  
 
practical enough to get a liberal arts degree and a teaching  
 
certificate.   She became knowledgeable about Oriental antiques  
 
as a display designer for the Officers' Store when her husband  
 
was stationed in Guam.  Now that her two children are in school  
 
she has time for her own business.  With her burnished gold hair  
 
and porcelain complexion, she fits right in to the Victorian  
 
settings she designs so well. 

     "If you want to decorate Victorian, don't forget the  
 
whimsies," Marsha advises.  "The Victorians had a sense of  
 
humor."  She has her own favorite whimsies.  She collects  
 
carvings of soaring song birds and snooty rabbits.  "Not just any  
 
bird or rabbit, though, " she says.  "They have to speak to me."   

     One rabbit now huddles in a straw nest under the dining room  
 
hutch that displays her collection of blue flow china.  Another  
 
rabbit serves as an end table for her husband's after dinner  
 
coffee cup. 

     And, of course, there are the key tassels.  "The Victorians  
 
locked everything - their secretaries and sideboards.  The color  
 
of the ropes and tassels they draped around those doors  
 
identified the color of the key that unlocked that piece of  
 
furniture." 

     For the perfect accent for an empty space, Marsha will  
 
design and "grow" the perfect artificial tree.   Interpreting her  
 
vision, the floral artist with whom she collaborates aligns and  
 
glues each branch and leaf in place.  Another artist and  
 
carpenter create the planting box for the plaster of paris which  
 
will permanently stabilize the tree trunk. 

     Elegant and eclectic, those are the attributes of a 

Victorian home and a Marsha Nihill Interior. 

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