Palm Springs, California, has a quintessential style that’s unlike any other city in the U.S.—it’s bright, bold, iconic, and immediately recognizable.
Palm Springs, California, has a quintessential style that’s unlike any other city in the U.S.—it’s bright, bold, iconic, and immediately recognizable. When you see a Palm Springs home, you know it. So how does a homeowner enter that atmosphere and embrace the best aspects of the ethos while making the home feel personal and unique, simultaneously avoiding looking like a mid-century modern time capsule? They turn to the best of the best… interior designer, Christopher Kennedy.
Kennedy has been living and working in Palm Springs for more than two decades and has become one of the most sought-after interior designers in southern California. “I believe in humanity. I believe in beauty. I believe that our physical environments have power,” he says with his characteristic positive attitude that has helped him rise to the top. “Creating rooms that inspire people, that elevate them, that help them live in the moment, to have meaningful conversations with their loved ones, to get a good night’s sleep…that is what inspires me… impacting people’s lives for the better.”
When a young couple from Nashville purchased a home in the Las Palmas neighborhood, they knew Kennedy was the right person to distill their design desires into a finished product. Kennedy explains, “I always ask my clients for three key words, short phrases, or adjectives to describe how they want their home to look and feel when we’re all done. We use those three key words to create a brand DNA for the house and every aesthetic decision.”
For these clients, their response was a bit more than three words. They wanted esoteric, ranging from rock and roll to Star Wars, Rainbow Brite and mermaids to Greek philosophers and the Garden of Eden. Kennedy expertly executed a design that hit all of those points and blended it seamlessly into a mid-century modern shell.
Starting in the foyer, the home begins to tell the family’s story. The couple was on a cross-country motorcycle trip and entered the Palm Springs area through the Mojave Desert and Joshua Tree National Park, falling in love with the beauty of the high desert. Kennedy chose the mural wallpaper and the tumbleweed-esque light fixture to serve as an homage to the high desert. “It feels a bit edgy and sets the scene with an unexpected look right when you walk in the door,” shares Kennedy. The jagged edges of the console table further the rugged and relentless beauty of the desert, with life still springing forth from the cacti and succulents. To create a meaningful first impression in your own home, follow Kennedy’s advice: “You always want the entrance of a home to be an amuse-bouche, an appetizer of what’s going to unfold in the rest of the home.”
In the adjacent open-concept living room and dining room, the telltale slanted ceiling with wood paneling and beams in white is iconically mid-modern while allowing the vibrant colors and patterns below to sing. On one side of the room, a teal-hued faux-bois wallpaper feels reminiscent of the Emerald Palace in The Wizard of Oz, a correlation the owner made and loved, much to the delight and relief of Kennedy, who had to meet with the clients exclusively online thanks to the pandemic. A pair of mustard wingback chairs pop against the emerald paper and the collection of artwork and vintage glassware behind. In the center of the room, a vintage Italian coffee table rests below the Milano Kinetic chandelier by Jonathan Adler. The curves of the boucle-clad rounded sofa play nicely with the curves of the table and soften the sight lines from the dining room.
The dining area is another study in scale. The oversized 1960s Danish lamp by Inge-Lise Koefoed is balanced by an oversized hand sculpture. The circular motif on the lamp repeats in the gold console and the draperies beyond. The colorful orbs of the Sputnik chandelier tie in the rust of the velvet chairs and the blues in the table and artwork. This mixing of colors, textures, patterns, and scale takes bravery. Try it for yourself! Visit your favorite local antique store and allow yourself to take a second look at something quirky that catches your eye. Trust your instincts and incorporate unique things you love into your home. To keep things from going overboard, restrained flooring like the large-format porcelain tiles Kennedy used here are perfect. Choose a soft gray or warm taupe with some variance.
Going back to the design brief, Kennedy leaned into the client’s Garden of Eden directive in the primary bedroom. The result is a captivating retreat layered with supple textures. On the largest wall, Kennedy applied the large-format botanical wallpaper not only to the wall but to the two doors on either side of the bed, camouflaging them almost completely. On the remaining walls, he used a seamless green linen by Phillip Jeffries. “When you install grasscloth, you will always have a paneled effect where you see the seams, and in this room we wanted it to be completely seamless,” says Kennedy.
In front of the palm fronds sits the brass and acrylic bed by designer Thom Felicia (from the original Queer Eye). Kennedy chose a deep jungle green for the upholstery on the headboard and side rails. Murano glass sconces, hung above the contemporary brass nightstands, illuminate the room at night. For light control and sound absorption, dramatic draperies run floor to ceiling, wall to wall. “But these aren’t your grandmother’s pinch pleat draperies,” laughs Kennedy. “We do them in a modern fabric on a really nice contemporary track.”
If you’re ready for an iconic look in your own home, start with the architecture. What were the design trends the year your home was built? Search through reference materials like interior design history books and architectural websites for inspiration. If you live in a Victorian, maybe wallpaper is beckoning you. For a more minimalist aesthetic, lean into the ornate detailing and textures of the 1900s, but keep a strictly neutral color palette. For a split-level ranch, what elements of this 1970s style resonate with you? Find bits and pieces authentic to the history of your home and incorporate modern versions of those elements. And if you want this Palm Springs vibe regardless of where you live...visit our Get the Look Shopping Guide.
— We shared this House Tour: Palm Springs Perfection story with you in the Winter 2024 issue of NEST Magazine.
