MA Allen
Owner, MA Allen Interiors
MA Allen is making Raleigh more beautiful one room – and one block – at a time. She is an awardwinning designer who has been acclaimed by the national press. But when you come right down to it, she is a North Carolina native who believes everyone should have a special space. “My design style is, at its base, classic. It’s timeless. I think it’s all about promoting collecting antiques and combining them with pieces that might be midcentury modern, along with cute pieces that are new. Color choices and patterns with fabrics and materials may be unexpected combinations, and we create balance through old and new, traditional and modern. The end result is pleasing, but it is a pretty good mishmash.” MA Allen Interiors is housed in a downtown Raleigh building circa 1922. Once upon a time it was a corner grocery. MA worked within good design and historical specifications to create a one-of-a-kind office that is the centerpiece of the block. Her personal office has no windows, so she brightened it with magenta pink paint on the walls with black trim. “My biggest goal of my remodel was to replace the gable roof with a flat roof and restore it to its original look. I was traveling in Italy shortly before closing, and I was inspired by planter boxes in Florence and Rome. I came back from that trip with a design to add big planter boxers to soften the front facade.” And she urges everyone to be inspired by the travels and events of their own lives as they create meaningful spaces. “Add art and fabrics picked up from traveling; enjoy your grandmother’s sideboard or your greatgrandmother’s china. Surround yourself with the things that bring you joy and tell your story.”
94 | midtownmag.com