By Madoline Markham
Photos by Morgan Hunt
Take a little bit of rustic style and add in some farmhouse elements plus some industrial ones. Oh, and make sure you have some vintage pieces, altered somehow, and plenty of books. That’s how you land on the style you’ll find throughout Mary Beasley’s Mt Laurel home as well as her decorating clients’.
Mary and her husband, Mark, were drawn to the brick, wood beams, open concept and custom lights in the new build home by Scott Masters when they came across its open house one day. It came complete with cool colors on walls and cabinets, and to it Mary added plenty of warm pieces. To woods, she mixed in metals. To polished chrome, she added in golds.
Throughout the home you’ll find antlers along with vintage books—including four copies of Mary’s favorite title, The Great Gatsby. In her own spaces she practices what she preaches to her decorating clients about adding plenty of textures in a space and finding looks for less online, like velvet blackout curtains she recommends from Amazon. Locally she also shops at The White House Interiors and Urban Home Market, as well as Stock & Trade, Restoration Hardware, Arhaus and Pottery Barn. She paints her own artwork for clients as well, often in ombre, sometimes on top of existing artwork she no longer wants.
After 16 years working in sales, Mary decided to turn her decorating hobby into a business and started Let’s Be Frank—named for her dachshund Frank—in 2019 with tagline promising “honest home decorating.” Not many months later came COVID-19, and Let’s Be Frank blew up as many people were at home thinking about the spaces they wanted to change all day every day for a season. And it certainly didn’t hurt that she had her own home to showcase her style as a sort of portfolio too.
Living Room
Mary likes to find a good deal on home décor items online, but for staples like this couch from The White House Interiors she likes to splurge. Mary likes to mix up textures everywhere including in her pillows. As an English major and former English teacher, Mary decorates shelves with books she’s read, sometimes with their spines facing the wall.
Dining Room
At this base of this light-filled, two-story space with a vaulted ceiling sit leather Gabby chairs from The White House Interiors around a farmhouse-style table from Wayfair. The home’s builder had this custom Industrial light fixture custom made with pipes and Edison bulbs.
Kitchen
Natural light fills this hardworking kitchen and its silver stone cabinets. Mary stores her copper pot collection behind the glass in the upper cabinets and found the upholstered counter stools at Target.
Man Cave
Mary’s vision for this space above their garage was for it to have a cigar lounge vibe. To start with, her husband, Mark, laid pine, hickory and birch floors made from restored barn wood, and then they added a faux brick wallpaper and plenty of Mark’s guitars.
Master Bathroom
Mary added a painting with warm tones to the silver and chrome coolness already in this spacious bathroom.
Office
While most of the house is painted in cool tones, Mary painted her office a dark peppercorn in the same color family as the grey doors throughout the home. You can see dachshund figures on her desk since she named her decorating business Let’s Be Frank Designs after her own dachshund, Frank.
