When Maryland Fairgrounds hosts the Maryland Home & Garden Show this weekend, special guest Lee Snijders of HGTV?s popular “Design on a Dime” program will be a featured guest speaker. The visit is in conjunction with his latest traveling project, “The Illusion of Design Tour.” The California-based Snijders who calls himself “anything but your stereotypical designer”:
Q: When did you first know you wanted to be an interior designer?
A: As a kid, I used to go to Disneyland a lot. When I came home, I would create Disneyland on the floor with my toys. I knew then I wanted to work for Disney Imagineering.
Q: In what capacity?
A: As an ‘Imagineer’, I would work from architectural blueprints and artist renderings to create three-dimensional, quarter-inch models of rides and attractions in order to see from all angles what the guests would experience.
Q: What tricks did you learn there that carries over in the way you design and decorate today?
A: I learned to throw rules out the door. Be ready to adapt and to rely on the illusion of color. For example, use dark color on walls, not white. [Dark paint] can actually make a room look larger because medium to dark tones absorb light and give more dimension and depth to a room. Also, decorate with plants to provide warmth and motion in a room. Mix high-end silk plants with the real thing and place the silk plants high on a shelf where you don’t have to climb up to water. People will assume all the plants are real. Also, use accessories like area rugs, vases and picture frames for an inexpensive change.
Q: What makes you an atypical designer?
A: I listen and ask clients what illusion they want to create [based on] where the really like to be. For example, what is their favorite restaurant, their favorite hotel destination? What do they like about these places? Is it a waterfall? Are there particular colors and scents that appeal to them? I say, write them down and we’ll create them.
Q: What do you like best about touring with the Home & Garden Shows?
A: I’m not selling anything. I bring passion and energy to my speaking. In 45 minutes to an hour, I give people an explosion of information.
