Ma Maison enhances Hampton Roads
By Lauren Wicks
Staff Writer
Olde Towne Portsmouth is home to many things; the Commodore Theatre, The Children´s Museum, the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame, the N Telos Pavilion and Ma Maison, a soon to be designing staple in the Hampton Roads area.
Opening the door to the interior decorating shop, located on High Street, releases a wave of colors, fabrics and beautifully crafted furniture and accents capable of transforming any room into a regal suite. Aside from having some of the highest quality materials for home décor, the store has earned fame in national publications and television shows for the decorating abilities of Vice President and CEO, Elaine Caplan.
Caplan´s career in interior decorating that spans more than two decades and two continents.
Born in London, England, Caplan was immersed in creativity throughout her childhood. From the age of 5 until 18, Caplan attended drama school in England and upon graduating went to explore a career in acting.
"I left to act," Caplan said. "Studying drama was my college." She would make guest spots in commercials, television and film, learning not just about the craft, but people as well.
"It really helped with my communication with people," she said. "I´ve dealt with so many kinds of people. When you study drama, you have to become different types of people... I am sensitive to them (and) you can relate to people."
In spite of her passion for acting, by the age of 23, two new roles would mark Caplan´s life journey: wife and mother.
She was married and had two children when she turned her professional interests from the stage to the home.
Her husband, a manager for rock and roll bands, provided Caplan the opportunity to transition her creativity into a new venue- interior design.
For Caplan, the transition was an easy one.
Caplan´s father and grandfather dealt in fabrics while her mother was a colorist for L´oreal products.
"It was just a natural fit for me," she said. "I received my father´s understanding of fabrics and my mother´s understanding of design and color. It was a natural fit."
After spending an apprenticeship with a design company in England, Caplan began honing her talents by working with friends and colleagues in her husband´s social network.
"They trusted me and saw I had the experience to do it," Caplan said. "I just saw art as being beautiful and I learned so much about art and the beauty of it... I was fortunate enough to be the one to purchase it for them."
Caplan continued designing while traveling the world and finally came stateside in 1973 when she moved to Beverly Hills, California.
As she moved across the globe, Caplan´s continued to work in interior design and worked throughout her divorce in the early 90´s.
However, her work would take a new path when she met and married Joseph Caplan, a widower of one Caplan´s friends from Beverly Hills.
Caplan´s children lived in Virginia Beach, and wanting to be closer to them, he and Elaine moved to Bay Colony in Virginia Beach in 1999. Yet, Elaine wanted something different.
"I wanted to live in an older house," she said. "We heard about Olde Towne Portsmouth and I just fell in love with it."
In 2001, the couple moved to Portsmouth, purchasing a home that was built in 1888. Caplan completely remodeled the house from head to toe and it estimated she more than tripled it´s value by doing so.
Yet, a complete overhaul of her new home was not the only new venture for the Caplans. Just two weeks after buying their home, they bought the retail space for Ma Maison on High Street.
"It hasn´t been boring that´s for sure," Elaine Caplan said. "I really didn´t now anybody as a designer. How on earth is anybody going to know about me? And I thought I have to open my own store."
In September of 2001, Ma Maison was opened, with Elaine handling the creative and Joseph handling the managerial.
"Without Joseph, I probably couldn´t do what I do, he is patient, giving," she said. "A business like this can´t be successful without a team of people."
Her "team of people" includes Ashley Douchette, the store manager, and "does all the things I need to do to let me create" as well as two "incredible" workrooms who manage all of the sewing and making of the draperies and a upholster in Norfolk who is "amazing."
"It´s changed and evolved (in the past six years), we all know each other and are comfortable with each other," she said.
And in that time, Caplan´s work has found its fame. Caplan has been featured on Home and Garden Television´s "Design on a Dime" and will be on "What You Get For The Money." The latter of the shows featured not only Caplan´s home, but houses she helped design in Norfolk, Smithfield, Chesapeake and Virginia Beach. Plus, Caplan has been featured in Better Homes and Gardens, the magazine.
Caplan credits the relationship with her clients as a key to her success.
"It´s a privilege. You´re going into somebody´s very personal space. It´s an emotional thing for people," she said. "It´s all about a relationship. If you don´t connect with the person you´re doing the work for, it´s not going to be right.I work with them to be able to create something they´ve always wanted to have."
Caplan says she wants her clients to enjoy a relaxed luxury adding that she does not "do houses with furniture people aren´t supposed to sit in, that´s not me."
For more information about Ma Maison, visit their Web site at www.mamaisonlc.com or call 397-5588.