REFINED IN RICHMOND

Beneath the dated moiré wallpaper, the navy blue wall-to-wall carpet, and the loudly contrasting peach paint, Susan Jamieson recognized a 1924 classic home. Not for a minute did she doubt that she could mute the visual cacophony lingering from the '80s to produce the kind of serene spaces she and her husband, John, could proudly call home.

"As soon as we walked into the foyer, we knew this was the house for them. It had all the right features-Greek Revival-style architectural details with the kind of rich, well-crafted character that you can best find in an older home," Susan says.

John, a software consultant, was happy to defer to his wife's judgment. As an ASID member who studied design in Florence and holds a BFA in art history and a masters degree in interior design, Susan was the better qualified to make the call. And as she saw it, all the house needed was a good molting to bring out the natural beauty of the home, which she would then enhance with her own special feathering-an impeccable selection of fine antiques and art plus new and custom home furnishings and a grand finale of her own signature window treatments.

"I couldn't wait for the work crews to arrive," she recalls. "The day of the closing, I was removing the moiré wallpaper and ripping up the carpet." Ridding the kitchen of its yellow laminate and linoleum came later.