Continuing our celebration of fifteen years of rooms we love, we are revisiting the living room we designed for the 2016 Southern Living Show House. Inspired by an African safari Mark had taken around that time, the room is grounded in warm neutrals, natural materials, and layers of texture. It feels particularly fitting as we move into fall, when the landscape turns shades of tan, gold, and brown and we find ourselves wanting to settle in and get comfortable at home.

With a neutral palette, texture becomes everything. We wrapped the walls in raffia and layered leather, dark woods, woven materials, patterned textiles, and rugs to give the room depth and warmth. Mixing different finishes and patterns in varying scales keeps a neutral room interesting while still allowing it to feel calm and refined.

Our muse is Robert Redford in the 1985 film Out of Africa, whose portrayal of Denys Finch Hatton epitomizes classic safari style. Khaki, heavy linens, cotton, tweed, leather, and subtle shades of olive create a look that feels rugged yet incredibly elegant. Robert Redford’s personal style, both in his life and on screen, remains a forever source of inspiration for us.
 

When Mark went on safari in Africa, he stayed at Tswalu Kalahari Reserve. The reserve features low-impact, eco-sensitive architecture and interiors that blend organic textures with muted neutral tones inspired by the arid savannah of South Africa. Soft ivory and cream upholstery allows the natural landscape to remain the main focus.

The living room itself has two pairs of French doors opening onto the porch, reinforcing that connection between indoors and out. We placed a console in the center of the room with sofas facing in opposite directions, creating two distinct conversation areas rather than one large seating arrangement. A collection of bird prints in matching dark frames fills one wall, another favorite design trick of ours. Framing a collection consistently allows individual pieces to read as one larger, more impactful statement.
 

This room is a reminder that neutral does not have to mean boring. By layering textures, finishes, patterns, and materials, a restrained palette can have just as much depth and personality as a colorful one, and even the ability to transport you on safari. As fall settles in, that sense of warmth, comfort, and adventure feels especially right.

September brings with it golden light and a crispness in the air, signaling a return to routine and a renewed sense of focus. There is also a certain stillness to September—a time for reflection before the busy social calendar of the holidays begins. This month’s inspiration comes from Audrey Hepburn and Hubert de Givenchy, their enduring friendship and creative partnership, as well as Hubert’s apartment in Paris. Our Greystone Showhouse space, part of the 15 Rooms We Love series, was designed to feel both glamorous and comfortable. Mixing linen with velvet and wicker with gilt, and filled with layers of blue and white, the room celebrated so many of the things we love.

Another of-the-moment inspiration is Celine Dion in Paris. This month, Celine returned to the stage for her first full concert in six years, beginning a residency in Paris after a long hiatus. Her return has been marked by a stunning wardrobe styled by Annie Horth, featuring beautiful designs from Dior, Givenchy, and Schiaparelli. Around Paris, Céline has been seen entertaining onlookers and the press with her signature sense of theater and joy. Her return is a reminder that it is never too late to begin again. Her optimism and exuberance have been so inspiring to see.

Click here to explore my September Favorites, inspired by the elegance and glamour of Audrey and Hubert, as well as the optimism and joy of Celine Dion.

Dior – 30 Montaigne Black Bar Jacket // Saint Laurent – Lavallière-Cuff Mini Dress in Silk Lace // Carolina Herrera – Organza Shirt with Bow // Juju Vera – Deco Lighter Pendant in Gold // Carolina Herrera – Column Gown with Bows // Givenchy – Long Gloves with Bow // Ippolita – Small Crinkle Chandelier Earrings in 18K Gold // Dior – Off-The-Shoulder Jacket // Levi’s – 501 ’90s Women’s Jeans Dark Wash // Saint Laurent – Tea Slingback Pumps in Satin // Carolina Herrera – Taffeta Long Skirt // Carolina Herrera – Karlita Satin Clutch with Bow // Juju Vera – Gemma Cuff Bracelet // Celine – Triomphe 09 Sunglasses // Prada – Velvet Hair Clip // Ralph Lauren – Men’s Tailored Fit Velvet Suit Jacket // J.Crew – Men’s Slim-fit Ludlow Tuxedo Shirt // J.Crew – Crosby Classic-fit Tuxedo Jacket // Levi’s  – Men’s 507 Western Slim Bootcut Jeans // Todd Snyder – Men’s Cashmere Turtleneck // Celine – Metal Frame Sunglasses // Charvet – Black Cashmere Scarf // Cartier -Tank Louis Cartier watch // Belgian Shoes – Henri Evening // Gerald Bland – Regence Side Chairs // Josh Young x Williams Sonoma Home – Cambridge Hurricane // KRB – Drinks Table with Brass // Trudon – The Classic Candle Abd El Kader // Aerin – White Gardenia and Freya Small Vase // Ascher Paris – Brume de Verre Handblown Glasses Soleil

Continuing our celebration of fifteen years of rooms we loved, we are revisiting the Entry and Hall we designed for the 2015 Greystone Show House at the historic Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills. Inspired by the estate’s adjacent gardens, we brought the beauty of nature indoors.

The walls were covered in a soft blue trellis wallpaper, while beautifully framed panels by Gracie Studio transformed the space into a garden. The mansion’s existing graphic black-and-white diamond-patterned floor provided the perfect foundation. We layered in wicker, baskets, and blue-and-white porcelain—all of our favorite things—to bring warmth, character, and life to the Entry Hall.

For this space, we have two muses: Audrey Hepburn and Hubert de Givenchy. If Hubert was the gardener, Audrey was his most beautiful flower. Givenchy designed her wardrobe for classic films including Funny Face, Charade, and Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and Audrey famously said that his clothes made her feel entirely herself. The pair shared a lifelong friendship, and Audrey remained his ultimate muse.

Greystone Mansion is a 46,000-square-foot Tudor Revival estate in Beverly Hills. Its architecture is quite grand for Los Angeles, so we softened the formality with an indoor-outdoor California-French feel. We incorporated wicker pieces from our collaboration with Soane Britain, bringing the outdoors in. Our Lily Collection with Soane Britain features a sculptural base that resembles rippled fabric.

The space represented a mix of high and low through texture, materials, and the juxtaposition of casual and formal elements. We layered wicker and linen with velvet and Rococo mirrors to create a space that felt collected over time. These layers gave the room a distinct point of view and a sense of history, balancing elegance with a welcoming sense of comfort.

Our Greystone Show House space was a celebration of Los Angeles and the beauty of its indoor-outdoor lifestyle. Drawing on the shared Mediterranean climate of Los Angeles and the South of France, with their warm, dry summers and mild winters, we created a space that blended California ease with French refinement. Inspired by our muses, Audrey Hepburn and Hubert de Givenchy, we wanted to capture a sense of timeless style rooted not only in grace and beauty, but also in their shared love of life and lifelong friendship.

Continuing our celebration of fifteen years of rooms we love, we are revisiting “Sleeping Beauty,” the bedroom we created for the 2018 Kips Bay Decorator Show House in New York.

The inspiration for this room begins with our muse, Pauline de Rothschild, an American fashion designer, writer, and legendary tastemaker who spent much of her adult life in Paris. Her Paris home reflected the same sense of individuality she brought to everything she touched: refined but unexpected, with beautiful French antiques, touches of chinoiserie, and an elegance that felt collected rather than composed.

For “Sleeping Beauty,” we enveloped the bedroom in a custom hand-painted celadon garden wallpaper by Gracie Studio, creating an immersive backdrop that wrapped the entire space. The garden continued through delicate porcelain flowers by the extraordinary artist Vladimir Kanevsky, which we displayed on brackets along the bedroom walls. Together, the wallpaper and porcelain flowers gave the room a romantic, almost dreamlike quality.

As beautiful as the decorative elements were, it was important that the room also felt personal and lived-in. We brought in a thirty-year archive of World of Interiors magazines, stacks of favorite design and fashion books, and even a vintage corded phone — a detail included in each of my showhouse rooms. These familiar objects gave the room a sense of history and personality, as though someone truly lived there. I believe the things you collect and love are often what bring a room to life. 

The concept for the room was also inspired by the idea of a bedsit, a bedroom conceived not simply as a place to sleep, but as a room to truly live in: somewhere to read a book, write a note, have a drink, or even eat a meal. It is an idea embraced by some of the chicest tastemakers—Annette de la Renta, Stephen Sills, Nicky Haslam, Sir John Richardson, and, of course, Pauline de Rothschild.

Our Kips Bay room was a wonderful example of how an interior can be entirely beautiful while remaining deeply comfortable: a velvet chair tucked into the corner, piles of books and magazines within reach, and a sense that everything was meant to be used and enjoyed. A great room should do more than look beautiful, it should inspire and energize the person who spends time there. Years later, “Sleeping Beauty” remains a reminder that the most memorable rooms balance beauty and imagination with comfort and a deeply personal point of view.

Continuing our celebration of fifteen years of rooms we love, we are revisiting a space that celebrates the art of transportive interiors: the Tangier Tent, created for the 2025 FLOWER Magazine Showhouse in Nashville, Tennessee.
 

The inspiration for this room begins with Villa Mabrouka, the legendary Tangier home of Yves Saint Laurent. Following a visit to Villa Mabrouka in the summer of 2025, I wanted to capture that same sense of romance and escape in my showhouse space.

Our muse is Yves Saint Laurent himself, whose love of Morocco forever changed his creative perspective. He understood that color, pattern, and craftsmanship could transport us, and that the most memorable interiors evoke both a sense of place and a sense of imagination.

The entire room is enveloped in a custom Brunschwig & Fils stripe, with the fabric extending across the walls and ceiling to create the feeling of a tent. By wrapping the room in one continuous textile and adding draped openings, the architecture itself seems to disappear, leaving behind an immersive environment that feels intimate, layered, and wonderfully unexpected.

Every piece of furniture was selected from our collection with Chaddock, whose craftsmanship and timeless forms provided the perfect foundation for the room. Floor lamps from from our collection with Hudson Valley Lighting punctuated the space, bringing both form and function. 

One of my favorite aspects of this project is that we were actually assigned two rooms. In addition to the salon, we transformed the adjoining bar into a natural extension of the space by lacquering it in the same emerald green as the tented stripes. Decorative painter Joseph Steiert completed the room with hand-painted Mughal-inspired motifs drawn directly from Villa Mabrouka, allowing the two spaces to flow together as one immersive experience.
 

The Tangier Tent is a reminder that great design has the power to transport us. With the right combination of color, pattern, craftsmanship, and imagination, a room can become more than a destination — it can become an experience.

This summer has been an especially meaningful one with the launch of our Monogram Collection with J. McLaughlin. The collection was inspired by my love of timeless American style, bringing together classic tailoring, crisp stripes, cheerful florals, and an enduring palette of navy, white, and a punchy red.
 

This collaboration is particularly special because it reunited me with Greg Unis, CEO of J. McLaughlin. Greg and I first worked together during the exciting early years of Banana Republic, when the brand was part of the rapidly growing Gap family. It was an incredibly creative time, and to come together again all these years later has felt both nostalgic and special.
 

Among my favorite pieces are the Mark Blazer, a timeless double-breasted jacket with gold buttons that instantly elevates everything from denim to tailored trousers, and the Audrey Dress, which captures the effortless sophistication and classic femininity that are at the heart of the collection.
 

One of the greatest joys has been celebrating the collection with so many of you across the country. From Atlanta and Dallas to Southampton, Nantucket, and Greenwich, each event has been a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with old friends, meet new ones, and share the story behind the collection. I have been so touched by the enthusiasm and support, and I am deeply grateful to Greg, the entire J. McLaughlin team, and all of you for making this launch such a memorable summer.
 

Click here to shop the collection. 💙

Continuing our celebration of fifteen years of rooms we love, we are revisiting a dining room that celebrates pattern and the beauty of collected interiors: the dining room created for a home in the Pacific Palisades.

The inspiration for this space begins with our muse Marella Agnelli and her Marrakech retreat, Aïn Kassimou, a home that beautifully blended European refinement with Moroccan flare. Surrounded by gardens, palm trees, and the vibrant energy of Marrakech, the retreat reflected Marella’s incredible eye for color, pattern, and the art of layering cultures and traditions.

Marella’s interiors were always elegant yet deeply personal. She had a remarkable ability to combine antiques and textiles from around the world, creating spaces that felt both sophisticated and bohemian.

In the Pacific Palisades dining room, we embraced that same spirit through a palette of blue and white fabrics, layering Brunschwig & Fils block prints, batiks, and paisleys across the walls, draperies, and portieres. The effect is immersive and transportive, turning the room into a jewel box filled with pattern and texture.

A key design technique in this room was the use of coordinating fabrics from Brunschwig & Fils, patched together to create borders and panels on the walls. We used different patterns in conversation with one another, creating depth, dimension, and a sense of bespoke craftsmanship. The room is anchored by a dramatic bronze chandelier from Formations, whose sculptural presence adds warmth and contrast to the sea of blues and whites. 

The result is a dining room that feels worldly, welcoming, and full of stories. It is a reminder that the most memorable rooms are often those that embrace pattern, history, and the beauty of bringing different influences together.

June feels unmistakably American. Blue skies, white hydrangeas, striped clothing and beach towels, and long days spent outdoors set the tone for the season. This month’s inspiration comes from Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and the enduring style of East Hampton, where summers were defined by simplicity, elegance, and a palette of navy, white, and sun-washed blues. That same spirit inspired our East Hampton living room, part of our 15 Rooms We Love series, a space designed to feel fresh, timeless, and deeply rooted in summer traditions by the sea.

I am drawn to those same colors and textures this season, especially with the launch of our Monogram Collection with J. McLaughlin. Navy, white, and a happy garden floral form the foundation of our collaboration, which I have been celebrating with launch events across the country. We have been so flattered by the enthusiasm and support the collection has received. Alongside these pieces, I am always drawn to wicker, the quintessential texture of summer, whether in a favorite handbag or a beautifully crafted chair.

Click here to explore my June Favorites, inspired by the easy elegance of summer and the pieces I reach for year after year.

J.McLaughlin – Stephanie Dress // J.McLaughlin – Ali Sweater in Mariner Stripe // J.McLaughlin – Aileen Cardigan // J.McLaughlin – Betina Pants in Mariner Stripe // J.McLaughlin – Alyson Sweater Tee // J.McLaughlin – Ashley Dress in Mega Mariner Stripe // J.McLaughlin – Alexandra Dress // J.McLaughlin – Xani Silk Scarf // J.McLaughlin – Caroline Wicker Handbag // Ray Ban – Aviator Classic // Aerin – T-Strap Leather Sandal // J.McLaughlin – Mark Tailoring // J.McLaughlin – Anderson Cotton Shirt in White // J.McLaughlin – Anderson Cotton Shirt in Navy // J.McLaughlin – Chatham Shorts in Mariner Stripe // J.McLaughlin – Ryan Polo in Navy // Ray Ban – Original Wayfarer Classic // Belgian Shoes – Mr. Casual Linen Navy // Casa Gusto – Tole Potted Geranium // Carolina Irving & Daughters – Cobalt Squiggle Dinner Plate // Chairish – Vintage Pictures by David Hockney Art Book // AERIN x Williams Sonoma Home –  East Hampton Club Chair // Josh Young x Williams Sonoma Home – Cadorna Hurricane Candle Holder // Schumacher – Birdie Ticking Stripe Pillow

We are so excited to share that our Virginia project is featured in the latest issue of Veranda, celebrating Icons of American Style.

This project is a reflection of everything I love about American design. From the very beginning, the goal was to honor the home’s existing spirit and the work that came before it—preserving meaningful elements while thoughtfully layering in new ones. Every decision was rooted in purpose, storytelling, and a deep appreciation for the home’s history.

This project was made all the more special because the home belongs to a longtime client with whom we have had the pleasure of working on multiple homes over the years. Together, we traveled and sourced antiques from around the world, carefully curating each piece to create a home that feels both collected and personal.

We would like to thank our incredible Mark D. Sikes team, whose dedication and talent made this vision possible, as well as the many artisans and vendors who helped bring the project to life. Special thanks to Gracie Studio for the beautiful custom butter-yellow wallpaper and hand-painted tablecloth created to complement it, Jamb for their meticulously crafted English lanterns, Victoria & Son for the Cole Porter étagères and side tables, Joseph Steiert for his extraordinary decorative painting, Knightsbridge Interiors for the drapery and upholstery, and Peacock Alley for the bedding.

We would also like to acknowledge everyone who made this publication possible. A sincere thank you to Steele Marcoux, writer Alisa Carroll, photographer Victor Stonem for the stunning photography, and Carolyn Englefield for her joyful styling. We are truly grateful to everyone who contributed.

We hope you’ll pick up the July/August issue of Veranda to see more of this home, along with the many other incredible projects featured within its pages.

We are honored to share that we have been included in the ELLE Decor A-List 2026! This recognition continues to mean so much to us, especially coming from a publication that has been such an enduring supporter of our work. It is so special to be considered alongside such an inspiring group of designers whose work we admire. I am deeply grateful to our wonderful clients, our talented vendors and collaborators, and my incredible team, whose dedication and creativity make everything we do possible. A heartfelt congratulations to all of this year’s recipients — it is a privilege to be in such good company!

In honor of this year’s A-List, we are revisiting two of our favorite projects featured by Elle Decor over the last few years: a Vail mountain home and a Palm Beach villa.

Click here to read more about the 2026 Elle Decor A-List.