Hannah Charlotte Interiors
photo by Robert Radifera
If you could have a second home anywhere, where would you live? Lagos, Portugal
What are three words to describe your style?
Curated
Timeless
Layered
Tell us about your childhood bedroom? I left for sleepaway camp (as any good jewish teenager does) and at the time I was obsessed with TLC’s Trading Spaces and While you Were Out. So my mom completely and totally remade my room ‘While I was Out’. She sponge painted the walls a bright teal, put in a teal cut & bound rug, hung gorgeous posters from my parent’s trip to Hawaii, strung paper lanterns from my exposed beams, and added beach themed accents like a beach scene duvet cover, like a glass dolphin to the bottom of my fan pull chain, and fun tie backs to all my curtains.
What’s the first investment piece you ever bought for your house? Early on, when my fiancé and I first moved in together, we were on a shoestring budget but with designer taste and I became a fiend for our local auction scene. My favorite piece (and auction fnd)to date – that has come with us from house to house is a GORGEOUS Thomas Pheasant for Baker Greek Key monumenta coffee table. My daughter learned to stand and cruise while holding on to this behemoth of a coffee table and I will always cherish it.
In the history of design, if you could hire any designer other than yourself, who would it be? I would hire Michael Taylor – his ethos of bringing the outdoors in by utilizing plants & layers of natural materials, mixing vintage & antique with contemporary pieces, and always leaving room for the client’s personality to shine is a true inspiration.
No room is complete without soul. It’s not just about furnishings or finishes—it’s about creating a space that reflects the people who live there. That ‘soul’ might be an heirloom piece, a collected object from travels, an unexpected artwork, or simply a thoughtful layering of textures and lighting that gives the room a lived-in, personal energy. Soul is what transforms a well-designed space into a meaningful one.
People think of me as an interior designer but I am really a therapist, a curator, a project manager, a financial strategist, a problem solver, a stylist, and a storyteller. Designer’s wear so so many hats.
Things you omit from:
A flower arrangement - Roses, too formal
An hors d’oeuvre platter – anything that crumbles excessively
A bar cabinet – Bailey’s – espresso martinis are so much better without it
A song for:
Dinner at home – East Coast Summers, Kaleb Cohen
Working at your desk – I Can’t Help But Feel - Surfaces
Going for a run – Maniac, Conan Gray
Biggest Vice? Extra filthy Martini with truffle fries
If you were on an Ambien high and internet shopping, what would you buy?
In no particular order of importance:
Another hand made ceramic vase - how many is too many? The limit does not exist
Custom monogrammed hand towels
A Werner Bronkhorst art piece – an art collection has to start somewhere
An antique Spanish curule style chair - they look so incredibly uncomfortable, but I can’t get enough of them for a corner or an entryway. Who knows where I’ll put it but I need it.
20 yards of discontinued Schumacher fabric - I absolutely must hoard for a future project that does not exist yet.
A custom pleated lampshade from a French Etsy seller that will cost more to ship than to buy.
Do your clothes reflect your design sensibility, if so, how? Ever since a DEEP clean out to as close as I can get to a ‘capsule’ wardrobe as a deeply sentimental person can get my clothes do deeply reflect my design sensibility: an affection for tradition paired with playful details and a lived-in ease. I opt for balancing comfort and aesthetic ALWAYS in clothing and interiors.
Who is your star crush? I’m with the entire internet on this – my crush of the moment is Pedro Pascale. My forever star crush is Robert Redford.
What is the thing you would never do on a project, but don’t detest when you see others do it? Perfect symmetry in a room – certain designers pull this off with fantastic results, it’s just not in me to do it in my spaces.
If there were a fire, and you could only keep one design book, what would it be? Color Standards and Color Nomenclature by Robert Ridgway. One of my most prized possessions I reference at the start of every project as I am pulling together inspiration and color palettes.
For posterity, what would you like your work to be known for? I would like my work to be known for being warm & refined with a collected soul. Blending classic design elements with a modern, livable sensibility—creating spaces that feel polished but never precious, curated and with a a deep respect for how our clients actually live in their homes.
photo by jenn Verrier
A Few Favorites:
Movie: While you Were Sleeping
Book: The Boys in the Boat
Scent: Jo Malone Wood Sage & Sea Salt
The fabric you always come back to: Paola Melendez Casa Amphora
Dream project: A ski in, ski out chalet
Meal: literally anything on the menu at Acamaya in New Orleans
Drink: Aviation
Hotel: Hotel Le Roch, 1st Arrondismont, Paris – designed by Maison Sarah Lavoine
Travel Destination: Lyon, France
Artist: Frances Featherstone
A cause near and dear to me: Mom’s First & Vote Mama Lobby – since balancing raising my daughter (now almost 2) all of the challenges and biases that face women and mothers in and out of the workforce is front and center. Mom’s First helps lobby for maternity leave and other amazing policies on the private sector side while Vote Mama Lobby helps to create a more balanced government by helping to elect mothers to office who will champion policies that will make society a better place for mother’s and children.
Thing to collect obsessively: Vintage Bordallo Pinheiro dishware
Era in the history of design: Arts & Crafts Movement – an emphasis on artisan production and natural materials and motifs in rebellion to mass-produced junk. I feel like we are in a bit of a modern Arts & Crafts movement now.
Museum: Victoria & Albert Museum
Paint Color that always looks great: Portola Paints Half Moon Bay
Favorite person to follow on Instagram: Ilona Maher
Dogs, Cats, or No Pets? Dogs, Cats, Chickens, Goats, Bunnies. If it was possible to have a farm in the center of a city I would.
