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Landscape designer Marcia Fryer, who runs Marcia Fryer Landscape Designs from her 1940 Tudor-style home, reviews plans at a cozy eating area between the kitchen and French doors to her patio and backyard.
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When the Fryers bought their home in 2015, they painted the living room white, adding color through art and furnishings.
Don’t expect a “signature look” from Marcia Fryer Landscape Designs. Marcia Fryer, the outdoor-space creative genius behind the company, believes exterior revamps should complement existing architecture and look as if they’ve always been part of the original landscape — whatever that landscape may be.
Creative flexibility is a part of her design aesthetic, at work and in her home. Though she generally prefers a neutral palette with pops of more vibrant color in the artwork, Fryer will tell you that she’s constantly shifting items to keep things interesting. “I love changes, so I move stuff a lot,” says Fryer. “I’m very spatial.”
Fryer and her husband, Dan, bought their 1940 Tudor-style home in 2015. After raising three boys, they had decided to downsize from their Glenbrooke Hills home and, like many empty nesters craving walkability and fun, moved to the city, on Park Avenue, in 2012 — only to discover that home felt too small for their family as it expanded with grandchildren. So, they right-sized themselves into a nearby Tudor, a little closer in on Hanover Avenue. “We really love this area of town and the convenience to Carytown and Libbie and Grove, as well as all of Richmond; it’s really only 20 minutes to most any area,” says Fryer.
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The family room in the Fryer home features a mix of comfortable furnishings and contemporary and antique paintings. Enlarged windows let in even more light. With many spaces for sitting, dining and relaxing throughout the first floor, Fryer says she doesn’t have a favorite area; she enjoys them all for different reasons.
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The Fryers bought their home in 2015 and love it for its convenience to Carytown and the Libbie and Grove areas. Though the home was nearly turnkey, they made a several structural updates, with the goal of bringing in more light.
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Fryer’s fenced-in backyard is an oasis of calm. She designed the landscape around the existing fountain and has plans to update the detached garage with details like a new door and cupola. Viburnum is espaliered on either side of the door.
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Another dining area in the kitchen features a Robert Abbey Bling chandelier, slipcovered chairs from Restoration Hardware and a colorful rug from designer Janie Molster.
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Patti Ryan helped Fryer choose Thibaut ikat wallpaper to line the staircase and foyer area, providing a neutral backdrop for an ever-evolving collection of art.
The home was nearly turnkey; any structural changes Fryer made were relatively small and centered around bringing in more light. For example, the foyer that was once a dark entry with a small closet is now a roomy space flooded with light, thanks to a new window.
A 2008 renovation by the previous owner resulted in a classic white kitchen that Fryer updated with statement light fixtures, a polished white subway-tile backsplash and enlarged windows on either side of the sink. In the family room, what were previously small windows surrounded by built-in shelving on either side of the fireplace are now generously proportioned, and there is more wall space for art.
In addition to these changes, Fryer made other updates throughout with the help of designer and friend Patti Ryan through Williams & Sherrill, where Ryan worked at the time. (In 2017, Ryan launched Patti Ryan Interior Design.) Perhaps the most dramatic transformation is the living room, where dark paneling characteristic of a Tudor was painted white, the ceiling tinted with just a hint of lilac.
In furnishings, Fryer says, “I’m drawn to black, I’m drawn to white. I like my color to come in through artwork.” And there’s artwork everywhere — mostly the work of local artists, including Sarah Price, Laura Loe, Tenley Beazley and Janie Pinney. “I have found that when I insert color [in furnishings], it doesn’t wear as long. It’s not as peaceful,” she says. Case in point: A hot-pink velvet couch is off to be reupholstered in a dark charcoal.
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The chaise by Lee Industries fits in a nook that overlooks the back garden.
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Though the kitchen was remodeled by previous owners, Fryer updated it with a new backsplash, light fixtures and enlarged windows on either side of the stove. Stools by Four Hands provide seating at the island.
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What was once dark space is now a light-filled foyer, thanks to the removal of a small closet and the addition of a window.
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Groundworks wallpaper is another neutral background providing interest and a backdrop for work by local artist Gordon Gibson.
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The bar was painted with Farrow & Ball paint by H.J. Holtz & Son. A painting by Chris Shands hangs above.
Whether she’s sketching out a landscape plan or designing a new swimming pool, Fryer believes that the magic happens when pencil meets paper. She draws her designs in an office upstairs, in what would have been a small bedroom typical of a house of this era. Fryer’s career was born out of a lifelong love of gardening but officially launched 15 years ago. The former family home in Glenbrooke Hills sat on over an acre of land, which allowed Fryer to cultivate to her heart’s content. She then formally trained at the George Washington University Landscape Design Program in association with Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, where she learned horticulture, site engineering and more.
Fryer designs a lot of pools, she says, and feels her particular strength is in hardscape design. Her goal is to connect new exterior spaces to the origins of the home “so it looks as if it always existed,” while simultaneously reflecting clients’ needs and wants. Getting to know clients’ true desires and how they live is an intimate process. Fryer loves the collaborative aspect, and clients often become friends.
Particularly because she works from home, Fryer believes wholeheartedly in the importance of a thoughtfully designed space, taking to heart how space can affect one’s whole outlook. “I need eye candy; visually, I need to be stimulated. I decorate not so much for people coming over but for myself,” she says. “If I’m upstairs drawing all day, I need my environment to be decorated, designed.”
As someone accustomed to taking in scenes and reimagining them, it makes sense that Fryer views her home in this way. “I like all of the spaces in my home,” she says. “I like vistas — I like to sit in that chair and look from the kitchen to the dining room. We eat breakfast in one area and dinner in the other. We use every bit of it.”
