Letters from Friends
Presidential Designs
Alumna Marisa Vallo designs Ohio State president's home interior
Marisa Vallo tests paint colors with fabric for a client's interior design project.
My name is Marisa Vallo, and I am a 2001 graduate in Interiors Merchandising in the Textiles and Clothing program, Department of Consumer Sciences. Upon graduation, I was hired by Columbus business owner Sally McDonald of Interiorworks.
Work has been keeping me extremely busy. A couple of the houses I've worked on were written up in magazines in January 2008. One house that we designed in Upper Arlington appeared in Columbus Monthly. It was a large job for us as the homeowner added wings to each side of the house. I was involved from the very beginning, and Sally was kind enough to include my name in the article. The house turned out very well. I think my favorite room is the study, which looks even better live than in the pictures.
The other house, located in New Albany, was in the January issue of Ohio Magazine. Although most of the design work was done shortly before I started with Sally, I was recently put in charge of adding a few features. In the living room, I helped design arched top yellow-and-cream silk striped window treatments, which finish off the room beautifully.
Currently, we are working on Ohio State President Gee's house in Bexley. It is quite an extensive project. Dr. Gee is lovely to work with. He always loves everything we show him and tells us what a great job we're doing. I am excited to see it all coming together. Right now, I expect installation to be done by the end of April.
Now that I've been in the field for seven years, as I look back, one of the most valuable classes I took was an independent study on AutoCAD. We use AutoCAD every day at the office to create floor plans and furniture arrangements for our clients, and being proficient on AutoCAD makes my job that much easier.
Marisa Vallo
Marisa Vallo (BS '05, Interiors Merchandising) is an interior designer with Interiorworks in Columbus, Ohio. While at Ohio State, Marisa received a Human Ecology Undergraduate Research Scholarship and conducted honors research under advisor Associate Professor Susan Zavotka. As a senior, she received the College of Human Ecology Professionalism Award and the Kappa Omicron Nu Fashion and Interiors Merchandising Senior Scholar for highest GPA.
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Send us a letter! We welcome news from our alumni. Feel free to update us on your latest work, both professional and personal. Send letters to Sean Thompson, Director of Alumni Relations, College of Education and Human Ecology, 185 Arps Hall, 1945 N. High St., Columbus, OH 43210.
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