Mary McDonald Interiors Book Review

Interior Designer Mary McDonald attended Parsons School of Design, starting with career as a milliner. Her new, and first, book Mary McDonald Interiors: The Allure of Style is a coffee-table design book filled with colourful high-quality pictures of interiors designed by McDonald.

Is this book one that might appeal to you?

Well, it depends on how you look at home décor, generally, and what you’re hoping to achieve in your own home. Mary McDonald’s designed spaces imbue a certain type of ultra-feminism that may or may not appeal to you.

“I have a fetish for chinoiserie: I can’t resist anything with a pagoda or an umbrella, such as these porcelain

candlesticks with the gilt tops.” – Mary McDonald

These ‘glamourous’ interiors work well for the high-quality photo shoots for the book, and I am sure they will appeal to some readers who like to flip through these types of coffee-table books.

These designs appeal to me on some level – like, I think I’d enjoy walking through these rooms in a museum.

McDonald’s decorating philosophy:

• SEDUCTION – feminine touches which transform rooms into inviting retreats for both work and play.
• CURATED – using beloved and collected objects to highlight the home as well as the pieces themselves.
• GLAMOUR – a je ne sais quoi that can only come from scale and placement.
• GRAND TOUR – a global appraoch which incorporates a state of mind, from the exotic to the bohemian.
• THEATRE – the bold use of patterns and graphics make a room memorable.

Mary McDonald likes ‘fancy’ things – and wants you to know it! Growing up near Hollywood California, McDonald was brought up going to glamourous mansions regularly, and believes everyone should feel glamour in their own home. If you think this looks like a book you’d enjoy reading, you can buy it online here.