As the McDermott's built their private collection over decades of conversations, exhibitions, and travel, they intended for the very best pieces purchased for their home ultimately to join the Dallas Museum of Art. Mrs. McDermott, as a member of the Building Committee for the 1984 museum by Edward Larrabee Barnes, made the case for natural light, small courtyards, generous gardens, and the inclusion of furniture, carpets, and flowers in the permanent collection galleries. Visitors who have been to the McDermott home find it fitting that the public home for their art has many of the qualities of their private one.