Imagine inviting a group of prominent interior and exterior designers to come in and completely makeover every inch of your house, inside and out.

Add to this fantasy that your home is a sprawling 13,000 square foot English country manor surrounded by lush gardens and woods. Now imagine that you are not imagining all this, the house and the designers are real.

Ok, so it's not your house, but this dream house does exist! It is the 1999 Pasadena Showcase House of Design. Every year since 1964, the Pasadena Showcase House of Design has been channeling the talents of designers into the renovation of a selected historical home to benefit the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The result? A gorgeous yearly display of design collaboration at its best.

This year the Pasadena Showcase House opened on April 18 and concluded on May 16. In keeping with Showcase tradition all rooms were disassembled after the closing date.

With all this great designing going on, it's a given that The Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising would play a major role! In fact, FIDM's own Interior Design Department Chairperson, Dina Morgan, served on the Interior Liaison Committee that oversaw all of the interior decor for the Showcase House.

FIDM alumni made up a large part of the group of designers chosen to participate in this year's event. FIDM alumni designed nine areas of the huge manor, including: the Entry, Living Room, Gentleman's Sitting Room, Kitchen & Butler's Pantry, Dining Room, Covered Terrace & Lower Garden, and Gallery.

A lucky group of current FIDM students had a great opportunity to get in on the design action this year. They were given the most "tasteful" area to design--Fitzpatrick's, a small Irish-themed pub and grill.

A unique design concept for each room of the Tudor-style house was brought to life by the designers. For example, FIDM alumna Caroline Baker used the popular theme of butterflies, dragonflies, and flowers in her design of the Young Teen Girl's Bedroom. From the "Traveler's Repose" to the "Conversation Garden," the manor offered a plethora of design possibilities.