Tommy and Dee Hilfiger are no strangers to waterfront living. For years the designer couple took respite at a Golden Beach, Florida, home with 100 feet of ocean frontage, and they continue to retreat to a vacation home on Mustique, in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, where the estate’s swimming pool laps up against the sands of the Caribbean.
Tommy and Dee in the house’s interior courtyard. The Boomerang wicker sofa is from Design Mix Furniture.
Douglas Friedman
棕榈树、榕树树篱和栀子花灌木the swimming pool. Serena & Lily chaises longues, with cushions in Vincent Van Duysen for perennials fabrics, take shade under a Serena & Lily umbrella.
Douglas Friedman
Still, when the duo decided to decamp from their residence in Greenwich, Connecticut, and make a full-time move to Palm Beach, Florida, last year, they pondered a new kind of frontier. “We fell in love with this home and the fact that it was on the lake and on the lake trail,” says Dee, referencing the west side of Palm Beach overlooking the Intracoastal Waterway, Lake Worth Lagoon.
“We definitely wanted to experience something different.” Adds Tommy, “We always liked being on the water, but this was a pleasant surprise because it’s not quite as windy, and it’s beautiful to look at morning, noon, and night.”
The living room features Martyn Lawrence Bullard for The Shade Store curtains. Sofa and slipper chairs (in Kravet textiles) and cocktail table all by Martyn Lawrence Bullard Atelier; ottoman from Mecox; rug by Stark.
“We’re still figuring out what we like and don’t like,” explains Dee, who mentions that while they have made this residence theirhome, the family can also contemplate potentially living at two other nearby houses they also happen to own. “We had never lived in Palm Beach, so this is a fun transition.”
The couple’schiefPalm Beach residence—how many people can say that?—is a 5,000-square-foot three-bedroom Mediterranean-style house built in 2006. There are columns and arched ceilings everywhere you look, along with plenty of courtyard nooks and verdant gardens. “We have a much more active lifestyle here,” says Tommy, who sold the Connecticut residence in addition to the family’s Miami and New York City places. “Exercising, tennis. In the Northeast, living in Greenwich, we were commuting in and out of the city. And we didn’t have the weather to be able to be outdoors a lot.” Adds Dee, “Palm Beach is so green and so lush year-round. Every time someone gives us an orchid plant, they’re never thrown out; they’re attached to a tree.”
Two Andy Warhol Flowers paintings enliven a corner of the living room, which also features a vintage bronze-and-plaster chandelier from 1stDibs; a lacquered table and swivel chairs, all by Martyn Lawrence Bullard Atelier; and a custom surfboard.
In fact, the Hilfigers were immediately drawn to the indoor-outdoor architecture of their new home, which, modelled after many of Palm Beach’s older estates, features an interior courtyard. “The first thing we wanted to do, though, was lighten and brighten,” says Tommy. He explains that the previous owners had decorated in heavy and dark tones. “The wood was mahogany and cherry. All the windows had blinds on them, blocking the light. There was a lot of art, patterned drapes, patterned wallpaper, patterned furniture. Paisleys, florals, Oriental carpets. We did a clean sweep.”
A white plaster chandelier from circa lighting hangs above a custom white oak dining table by Martyn Lawrence Bullard Atelier and vintage Frances Elkins dining chairs, covered in Westbury textiles fabric. The vase—an antique Chinese water urn—and 1970s vintage bamboo mirror are from Mecox.
Douglas Friedman
The couple turned to AD100 designer Martyn Lawrence Bullard to help open up and re-envision the space. “We built the look around the location,” notes Dee. “Something fresh and easy. The palette: coral stone ivory. And it’s a beautiful Spanish-Mediterranean-style home, so Martyn brought in some Moorish accents, and we’ve also got splashes of blue and white.”
Ironically, Bullard aimed to bring the outdoorsinside“by stripping the house back, bleaching the wood, and adding more patio space”, he says. “We then chose to bring in the foliage—the giant palm trees—to break down the barriers and ease the feeling throughout.”
Asked about his uncanny ability to shorthand with his clients, Bullard points out that this is the fourth home the trio have done together, as well as a big hotel project. “So I know them very well,” he declares. “I know the way both of them pick because they’re both fashion designers. Like me, they love continuous evolution. And they love many different facets of design and the ideal of how to live within that. Plus, it’s also helped that I’ve travelled with them, been on vacation with them, been on their yacht. We’ve seen a bunch of things together that have been inspiring, that have become part of our shared vocabulary.”
The primary bedroom includes an iron bed by Kathryn M. Ireland, curtains and window treatments by Martyn Lawrence Bullard for The Shade Store; and Syrian mother-of-pearl nightstands from Berbere Imports.
Douglas Friedman
A selection of handbags by Dee Ocleppo Hilfiger for Judith Leiber sits atop a desk turned dressing table from Mecox.
Douglas Friedman
“Tommy in particular has very set ideas and parameters, and Martyn knows that,” remarks Dee. “Tommy likes things clean, and he likes hints of pattern. Like, maybe on a pillow. It’s very easy for us to work together. I think we’re different clients, but still, we’re definitely not clients who say, oh, do whatever you want.”
They all agreed that while the decor needed a complete refashioning, the bones of the house would suit them and their family’s needs just fine. “We didn’t do much structurally,” says Dee. “There were these unnecessary decorative columns in the bedroom that we took out.” Of the refresh, Bullard simply says that “the house has a wonderful soul. We just had to take away the formality and make it feel a bit younger, sexier, looser.”
There was, however, one room that got extra attention. “Dee did insist on changing the kitchen because it had heavy caramel-coloured countertops and just this heavy marble,” Tommy confides. Good thing, too, because, as it turns out, the kitchen is where the family seems to gravitate most often. Says Dee, who, as mother to three and stepmother to four, is often hosting a crowd of family members, “The kitchen is the soul of all our homes. We do alotof gathering here.”
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