Mary McDonald
photo by Miguel Flores-Vianna
If you could have a second home anywhere, where would you live? Amalfi Coast
Tell us about your childhood bedroom? First incarnation was all about apple green and white polka dots literally everywhere in a very Vera meets wicker way, then my mother went bonkers at the Harold Lloyd Estate auction ( which was so large it went on for 2 years!) And I graduate to a suite of antique lettuce green hand painted Italian furniture including an adorable upright piano… and no I never really played except scales!
What’s the first investment piece you ever bought for your house? An all bone inlay French bookcase and an important (or so they say) gilded 18th century Empire chair, I still love both to this day.
In the history of design, if you could hire any designer other than yourself, who would it be? Jacques Garcia
No room is complete without - a glam lighting fixture, be it modern or traditional
People think of me as strict, picky and possibly uptight, but I am really arty, informall and love a good laugh at the absurdity of it all.
Things you omit from:
• A flower arrangement: baby’s breath and sticks
• An hors d’oeuvre platter: in public.. ritz crackers… in private probably nothing .. I will eat anything..
• A bar cabinet: plastic cups and swizzle sticks…
A song for:
• Dinner at home: John Coltraine … any of his!
• Working at your desk: John Barry/ Movieola album or Ennio Morricone The Mission
• Going for a run: Eminem Lose Yourself….
If you were on an Ambien high and internet shopping, what would you buy?) Wait…. Is no one else on an Ambien high right now?
Do your clothes reflect your design sensibility, if so, how? Yes… I go from extremely white shirt ballet flat classic and conservative to dramatic and eccentric … in both.
Who is your star crush? Cate Blanchett
What is the thing you would never do on a project, but don’t detest when you see others do it? Strict minimalism
If there were a fire, and you could only keep one design book, what would it be? Well this is a lie because I would try to grab more than one but my heart lies with Colefax and Fowler’s The Best in English Interior Decoration
For posterity, what would you like your work to be known for? Original dramatic style and innovative textiles, trims, lightings rugs etc..
photo by Melanie Acevedo
A Few Favorites:
• Movie: Toss up: the English Patient and Gone with the Wind
• Book: Anna Karenina and David Sedaris’ Me Talk Pretty One Day… (a great laugh.)
• Scent: Chanel 5
• The fabric you always come back to: My Chinois Palais for Schumacher of course!
• Dream project: Something with history and provenance along the lines of Hotel Lambert
• Meal: Steak frites with Bearnaise
• Drink: Vodka soda with fresh lemon juice…
• Hotel: Umaid Bhawan palace in Jodpur
• Travel Destination: still gathering and searching
• Artist: Sargent
• Thing to collect obsessively: I mean this list is endless……shoes… vintage evening bags… new and vintage bracelets of interest.. out of production Hermes scarves, any small pale pink glass or ceramic object, any small jade green glass or ceramic objects, metal frogs of all size and kind
• Era in the history of design: 18th century France
• Museum: The V and A
• Paint color that always look great: Farrow and Ball’s Railings 31… it is charcoal cozy
• Favorite person to follow on Instagram: A few crazy hilarious people like Sara Blakeley, Whitney Cummings, Derek Blasberg and The Fat Jewish .. I love a good laugh. Ralph Rucci for fashion.. Tom Samet for happy quotes…and of course all of my design friends including Alexa Hampton who falls in multiple categories…
• Dogs, Cats, or No Pets? Dogs dogs and more dogs.
