Catherine Ebert credits her mother’s excellent taste and love of architecture as the inspiration for her design career. As the daughter of two diplomats, she was used to moving and setting up house wherever her family’s assignments took them. She has fond memories of this time. “In each country, we had fun incorporating local style with embassy furniture and our own pieces to create a home,” she recalls.

After studying art history and architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, Ebert worked as an architect for a few years before realizing that interior design was what appealed to her most. After receiving a master’s degree in Interior Design at Corcoran School of the Arts & Design, she opened her own firm in 2009.

Ebert describes CEI as a “boutique design studio that focuses on luxury residential projects in the DC area and beyond,” with an emphasis on renovations, new construction and bespoke decorating projects. “I strive for an unexpected mix of styles, but ground my designs with clean, modern furnishings and a well-edited selection of contemporary art and objects,” she explains.

She also loves to design millwork, which, she says, can really “multi-task—especially in today’s high-tech homes—while also enhancing the design.”

For Ebert, art is her go-to element for injecting personality into a home. “Some of my clients have wonderful art collections; others need help sourcing pieces for the first time,” she comments. “I enjoy all of it—from the quirky and personal to serious, blue-chip art.”