Contemporary wallpaper in a leaf pattern offsets a dining room’s original light fixture.
Designer Suzanne Manlove traveled a storied path before founding a boutique firm with a mission to create “fresh, livable interiors, respecting tradition while embracing the new.”
After earning a graphic design degree at the University of Maryland, she landed at a Baltimore agency, creating award-winning ad campaigns, and later became an art director at Time Life. But it was a stint selling real estate—which she pursued while raising two young children—that led Manlove to her ideal profession.
“When in real estate, I was drawn more to the houses, the architecture and the people—helping them prepare their homes for sale—than I was to the actual selling,” she explains.
During her real estate days, Manlove also remodeled her own home, gaining further in-depth, hands-on experience. In 2008, she finally founded her firm to help others navigate the home-design process.
“Graphic design gave me a great sense of color and balance, as well as spatial awareness,” says Manlove of her journey. “The real estate experience lit the switch and then it was all about learning the vendors, where to get things and making it happen.”
Interior Design: Suzanne Manlove, Arlington Home Interiors, Arlington, Virginia. Styling: Charlotte Safavi.