If working for a perfectionist is tough, what's it like working for Bree Van de Kamp, the Desperate Housewives character who makes Martha Stewart look like a slacker? Baltimore's Mary Bauer says no sweat.

Bauer, who with her husband owns the chi-chi children's furniture store Bratt Decor, just helped actress Marcia Cross do up the nursery for her twin girls. The pretty lilac-and-white results were featured in this week's People.

Bauer flew out to Cross' Brentwood home, but except for the transcontinental travel, it was an ordinary job. Ordinary, anyway, for anyone with $20,000 to splurge on a nursery. While her character never has a hair out of place, Cross greeted Bauer at the door "in sweats, oversized shirt, and hair in a ponytail and no makeup on."

"You're so used to seeing her on television in that role. She's really not Bree Van de Kamp," Bauer said. "She's got a wonderful home, but it's not a McMansion by any standards. No gates. It's not a gated mansion community. ... Kind of like what you'd see in Roland Park. I was pleasantly surprised by how low-key it was.

Written by: Laura Vozzella