Karen Helme Designs: Portfolio

Private Residence

Wilmington, DE

St Paul's Lutheran Church

Newark DE

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Bellevue Hall

Wilmington, DE

Grooms' Room

Bride's Room

Details are everything. Beautiful crystal beading on the window treatment in the Brides' room and faux marbled baseboard to match the new fireplace surround in the Grooms' Room,

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Fairytale Show House

Mendenhall, PA

Show houses are one of the most unconstrained projects a designer can take on. Left only to your imagination, budget and time, you are free to create your own little fantasy world. Asked to create a lady's sitting room, I turned to two of my favorite design influences, Chinoiserie and France. Happy little coolies march across the Thibaux fabric used for the window treatments, the black lacquered armoire features gilded scenes of the orient, the pagoda chandelier illuminates the pair of Louis XIV fauteuils that sit smartly on the needlepoint rug.

To read more about the Fairy Tale show house visit Delaware Today,

October 2004 Table of Contents - Delaware Today - October 2004 - Delaware

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Cauffield House

Wilmington, DE

Built in the 1930's as a summer retreat, just north of Wilmington, Cauffield House is owned by the state and functions as a venue for special events, conferences and overnight visitors. I've enjoyed working on the house over the span of a decade and couldn't have been more pleased when it was featured in an article in Delaware Today. Follow the link below to read the whole story.
An Example of Bygone Glory - Home and Garden - February 2010 - Delaware

One of the challenges of designing for non residential interiors is creating a mental image of the potential inhabitants and meeting their needs, while at the same time producing a beautiful environment.

Photo by Jared Castaldi

This upstairs sitting room, provides a place to relax for overnight guests and a retreat for members of wedding parties.

Photo by Jared Cataldi

Providing enough details while maintaining the flexibility necessary in the living room was important. This space has to be readily reconfigured to accommodate conferences, sit down dinners, wedding ceremonies and receptions.

Photo by Jared Cataldi

The dinning room also has to multi task at a minutes notice.

Photo by Jared Cataldi

One of the guest rooms.

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The Little House That Could

St. George, DE

"My contractors think she hung the moon. Karen is very bright, quick to respond, efficient, reliable, and fun to work with. I wholeheartedly recommend her.” KS Homeonwer March 21, 2011

One of my favorite projects has been the rehab of this small tenant house in St. George, DE. Nothing fancy and done on a shoestring budget and short time table, it stretched my creativity and proved that ingenuity, a great team and vision can carry the day.

Little House before

Built in the early 19th Century, it had seen better days. In fact, a family of snakes had taken up residency in the cellar! Little House was sad indeed.

It's sole saving grace was it amazing views of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. Looking to this as our inspirational starting point, we reconfigured space to maximize livability and reoriented the house to capture the view. The bathroom was gutted, closets installed and kitchen reworked. We even moved the laundry upstairs, just in case the snake family returned!

Work in progress

Kitchen before

New lighting, windows, reconfigured appliances and a coat of paint on the cabinet.

Neutral carpeting, fresh paint and a new view of the marsh.

No room should be without one.

I recommend this look to all my clients.

Walls removed, new windows and a reclaimed space becomes a breakfast room with a view to die for. Chalkboard paint turned the short wall on the left into a family message center and art gallery.

The access to the second bedroom was across this hatch.
(no kidding)

Reworking doorways and this ingenious removable banister,
(thank you Jimmy you're awesome!) allows safe passage and makes it possible to move furniture up these little period stairs.

Opening up the main floor, eliminated the dark cramped feel and provided a great view of the canal, pulling the eye through and providing visual space.

For more ideas on renovation, follow this link to an article in Delaware Today.

This Old Money Pit - Home and Garden - February 2010 - Delaware

Don't miss my two cents!

View from the new deck

Little House, Happy again.

You probably can't tell, but we had to mirror the window on the right, first floor. It now is in the much needed first floor closet. The best part of the project is knowing that it was rented to a young family. Their first home.