Lilse McKenna
photo by Read McKendree/JBSA
If you could have a second home anywhere, where would you live? Harbour Island
What are three words to describe your style?
1. Layered
2. Comfortable
3. Timeless
Tell us about your childhood bedroom? I picked lime green for the walls and my parents kindly obliged. I propped a salvaged frameless mirror on my dresser and stuck collected bumper stickers to it, and hung a poster from a Matisse cut out exhibit above my mantel. I give my parents a lot of credit for letting me run wild with my interiors. I rearranged the furniture in my room practically once and month and asked for lamps for Christmas regularly.
What’s the first investment piece you ever bought for your house? When we moved into our house in Brooklyn I bought a Victorian refectory table for the kitchen that was shipped from England. It really felt like a grownup antique, and wound up fitting perfectly in our breakfast room when we moved to Connecticut.
In the history of design, if you could hire any designer other than yourself, who would it be? I’d love to ask Renzo Mongiardino and Albert Hadley to weigh in!
No room is complete without some contrasting element whether it is a color, shape, texture, or piece of art.
People think of me as very traditional and feminine, but I am really drawn to more modern, simpler, and masculine spaces as well.
Things you omit from:
A flower arrangement: The color blue
An hors d’oeuvre platter: Smoked salmon
A bar cabinet: The bottle that is getting dusty
A song for:
Dinner at home: Ella Fitzgerald
Working at your desk: Pink Martini
Going for a run: The Surfaces
Biggest Vice? Online shopping and chocolate.
If you were on an Ambien high and internet shopping, what would you buy? A fixer upper in Harbour Island and a Jean Dufy painting.
Do your clothes reflect your design sensibility, if so, how? I have a fairly simple daily “uniform” which reflects the more practical side of my work and personality. Said uniform usually includes a scarf and flats. I really love a beautiful cashmere or silk scarf and am a sucker for a really well made pair of shoes, which I think speaks to my aforementioned online shopping problem love of textiles and custom pieces.
Who is your star crush? Matt Damon or Paul Newman.
What is the thing you would never do on a project, but don’t detest when you see others do it?
Fabrics that are mostly polyester. They often look great in photos, but in person I need natural fibers.
If there were a fire, and you could only keep one design book, what would it be?
A Colefax and Fowler book my late grandmother gave me that has her handwritten notes in it.
For posterity, what would you like your work to be known for? I hope my clients and their families will remember my work as an ideal backdrop to their lives that reflected their taste and aged well with them.
photo by Read McKendree/JBSA
A Few Favorites:
Movie: Anything with Katherine Hepburn feels like an indulgence.
Book: Currently really enjoying Nancy Mitford novels before bed.
Scent: Right now, a hint of orange blossom.
The fabric you always come back to: Don’t think I’ll ever tire of Plumettes by Le Manach (Pierre Frey).
Dream project: The recipe is fairly simple for me and is all about the client: a home for someone who knows what they like, has a sense of humor, and trusts in my team and our understanding of their taste and their life. We are lucky to get to work on dream projects every day!
Meal: Brunch at Buvette or dinner at Via Carota. Anything from either menu will do!
Drink: It’s February so I’m thinking of a hot toddy in front of the fire at the Marlton.
Hotel: We loved La Mamounia
Travel Destination: Always Paris
Artist: Jean Dufy
A cause near and dear to me: Ronald McDonald House
Thing to collect obsessively: China, design books, auction catalogs, antique textiles
Era in the history of design: My first thought was 18th century, but I’m inspired by all of them.
Museum: Sir John Soane’s (but really any house museum will do!)
Paint Color that always looks great: Never say “always” with paint colors. But Benjamin Moore Capitol White often does the trick.
Favorite person to follow on Instagram: @juliaberolzheimer and @nan.philip because I get a little peek at how my clients are living in their spaces day to day, which is such a treat for a designer.
