PORTRAIT: DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE SPACE YOU’VE DESIGNED?
McDonald: I cannot say just one, because I like so many different styles. Each project gives you the opportunity to design something completely different. I am partial to things that are fun and fancy oriented. I just finished a hot pink and white tent room with a 25’ high ceiling. It’s a huge child’s playroom for a family with lots of girls. The hot pink and white curtains open to hand-painted de Gornay wallpaper. The look is very clean and modern, with just the two colors. It was particularly fun for me, as my most recent project. I’ve done lots of different things, modern hotels, continental homes - French homes. Occasionally, I repeat certain design elements, because I tend to like them. I love a reference to chinoiserie, an overscaled full pattern, often on the floor, clean, linear and geometric - a Louis XVI chair somewhere. I always love the Chateau de Malmaison, the Josephine (de Beauharnais) Bonaparte home outside Paris. I love it. There’s nothing modern about it at all. I’m also inspired by the School of Decorative Arts (École des Arts Décoratifs) in Paris.
PORTRAIT: WHAT’S YOUR BIGGEST DESIGN ADDICTION?
McDonald: 18th century France! I go once a year to Paris, because I love French historic things. Even if I go there, I’m not going to necessarily see much 18th century things, but I can find them in other ways, whether through a book, surfing the internet, vintage fabric. Generally, I love design tenet and ideas from the 18th century. I like the marriage of the Louis XVI period with the earlier period of Louis XV. I love to pair that with something totally contemporary, clean modern, not always color. Magazines love colorful design, because it photographs so well. Everyone likes pretty and fun things to look at in color, but at the same time, you can keep things very clean, if you only use a couple of colors.
PORTRAIT: WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR INSPIRATION?
McDonald: There is so much inspiration everywhere! Where don’t you get inspiration today? Even if you can’t go someplace, you can go there online. I love to travel, so I enjoy seeing cultures that are completely different. Istanbul has a wealth of design ideas, India - its palaces, hand-painted work, and culturally rich places. I just came back from the Philippines, which has a beautiful Island feel. I’m always inspired by flowers, fauna, ocean life, through fabric, grotto furniture made of shells, etc. Travel opens your eyes to something you may not have thought about. Nature, for example, is different throughout the world. You can see completely different things wherever you go. Arizona has cave dwellings, red rock, striations in stone that can be captured in walls, a piece of furniture, or design. Go back in history in any single piece of time and you’ll find things different from the rest. Historical costumes are also very inspiring. Native American beading, feather work are all inspirational about how a decorative accessory might be creative. Or how the Wild West used leather. If you’re feeling stuck, get on the internet, search for top end images – it’s incredibly helpful. I buy myself any and every design book, from fashion to food to interiors. I have an extensive library, so if I feel like flipping through pages, I’ve got them on hand. For someone in LA who wants (the look of Parisian interior designers) - Jacques Garcia, Jacques Grange, or (the book) Hôtels Particuliers - all beautiful execution. The fun part about interior design is imagining it in your head, and it’s done. The hard part - what they don’t teach you in design school - is how to get people to agree, that’s where your challenge truly lies.
PORTRAIT: WHAT COLORS IN PARTICULAR DO YOU LOVE RIGHT NOW? ARE THERE ANY COLOR COMBOS YOU'RE TIRED OF?
McDonald: I’m super sick of brightly colored lacquered things. Not that I don’t like a good lacquered Chinese red coffee table. It’s those whacky, goofy green lacquered chairs or things that weren’t good to begin with that I’m tired of seeing. Acid green is really grossing me out right now. Color combos I love now are eggplant, paired with teal, putting rich jewel tones together. I’ve been having a love affair with soft pink for a while now. And shell pink. Actually, I love all colors. Or pairing black with natural colors like taupe, or black and putty. I have an all new Schumacher collection of wallpaper, fabric and trim with a South Pacific vibe - a Tahitian inspired collection that’s very summer house “islandy,” with natural beading, hardwood beads on some of the fabrics. There’s woven fabrics, long linen fringes that look like hula skirts, and raffia wallpapers. Think Lovey Howell on Gilligan’s Island and Trader Vics. My last Schumacher collection was chinoiserie based with a contemporary option. I also have rugs with Patterson, furniture with Chaddock, and lamps with Robert Abbey.
PORTRAIT: WHAT MATERIALS ARE YOU CURRENTLY LOVING?
McDonald: Materials I’ve always loved include oddly colored marbles, patinated bronze, and brass. I’m also liking copper a lot lately. You can do anything with copper - handles, cabinet door faces, inset cabinets, range hoods in kitchens. There are some great decorative metal tiles to make woven metal ceilings. Loving the metal tiling from Maya Romanoff. Always loving classic things, but those particular metals are little different.
PORTRAIT: WHAT IS THE BEST HOTEL YOU'VE EVER SPENT THE NIGHT IN?
McDonald: Umaid Bhawan Palace, Judphur, India – the Deco Suite. The public rooms are amazing, impossible to describe - a real palace. Places I love to stay at - L’Hôtel in Paris, even before Jacques Garcia redid it. I loved it before and after, especially the spiral leaning staircase. I loved it even when it was a little weird. Every room was decorated from a different era. Garcia decorated the rooms like a house with this kind of bedroom or that bedroom. I like them all, they are all different. It’s more fun like that. I also stay at Hotel La Scalinatella in Capri. I like hotels that are very idiosyncratic to the place where they are.
PORTRAIT: WHO'S YOUR ULTIMATE STYLE ICON?
McDonald: I don’t know if I can pick one - I always want to list 500 people. I can appreciate so many other people’s work. It’s nothing I do, and I wouldn’t mind doing it, I just don’t have enough time or jobs, or costumes I could dress up in to do them all! One style icon I love on all fronts in a well-rounded way - someone living whom I actually know - is Carolyne Roehm. Love both her personal and great design style. I also love Diana Vreeland and her personal style. Nancy Lancaster’s interior style; Carolina Herrera’s beautiful homes and personal style; Oscar de la Renta, who traversed all areas of style; Bill Blass’ interiors and classical clothing. And, of course, Josephine Bonaparte. She had a big hand in Chateau de Malmaison. I’m sure she wore the right Empire dress, but I have no way of knowing. If I was there, who knows what I might have thought! “Oh, Josephine! That dress!”
PORTRAIT: WHAT'S YOUR GO-TO HOSTESS GIFT?
McDonald: I like a good hand towel, everyone can use one – I like pretty, simple linen - Turkish, plain embroidery. When I find a good set, I buy a bunch of them and just have them on hand. The best hostess gift I’ve received is from my Greek artist friend, Konstanine Kakanias. Every time he comes to dinner, he makes me very gouachey watercolors of exotic turbaned odalisque men, all different - just their heads. Each one is amazing – very playful. I have 15-20. Sometimes he’ll say, “I couldn’t do one, darling!” I haven’t decided where to put them, because I’m still collecting them. I couldn’t love them more. He has a couple of books, including “Mrs. Tependris, The Contemporary Years.”
PORTRAIT: WHAT DOES EVERY ROOM NEED?
McDonald: I’m picturing a room with nothing in it! What’s the one thing that’s going to save this? “Ah! Good lighting.” Not necessarily a lot of light. It might need low moody lighting or bright lights. A room with just a light bulb in the corner is not good!
PORTRAIT: YOU'VE TRAVELLED THE GLOBE SOURCING ITEMS FOR YOUR CLIENTS. WHAT COUNTRY OR REGION INSPIRES YOU THE MOST? WHY?
McDonald: I think Istanbul is one of the most visually titillating places to visit. There’s a plethora of beautiful textiles there. I don’t actually take a lot of things home from there, but the intricate tile work, flooring, architecture, and all things Byzantine are very eyeopening, and get your creative juices flowing.
For buying things for people, I’d have to say Paris. It’s full of things from all over the world. It’s like one-stop-shopping with things from all over Europe and Asia to bring home for clients. Some are more eye-opening and exotic. I do all the markets. The markets have great things. Even the Parisian shopowners go to the markets and bring things back into the city. We call them flea markets, (Marché aux Puces), but there are open markets throughout Paris with 18th century things for sale. I’ll also look in the city. I love Deyrolle Taxidermy. It’s been there for 100 years; it’s not politically correct, but there is something so European about it. It’s pretty to look at, even though I don’t take things home.
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