When we asked designer Chloe Ball to answer a few questions for us this month, she said, “I’m one of two who make a team.” So we talked to Chloe and her partner, Kathleen Conroy, and they enlightened us about the Medici family’s Pitti Palace, tinsel on Christmas trees, and Sister Parish.
Have you ever had a change of heart about an object or style?
Chloe: Every day!
Kathleen: Yes, but it was a long time ago. Age and experience widens your perception and appreciation.
Does your home look like the one you grew up in?
Chloe: Not at all.
Kathleen: Not physically. I grew up in a Cape Code white clapboard.
What is your first design memory?
Chloe: Picking out wallpaper with my mother and of course antiquing with my father [Kenny Ball].
Kathleen: Being sent to my room for throwing a tantrum about putting tinsel on the Christmas tree, which is still a deal-breaker for me.
What’s your favorite room in your house?
Chloe: The living room.
Kathleen: My living room because it’s a room that’s lived in and surrounds me with colors and objects that I love.
Your most treasured possessions?
Chloe: A pair of salmon-colored lacquered end tables my uncle designed, and a recamier I grew up lounging on.
Kathleen: My antique country Italian chest of drawers.
What can you not live without?
Chloe: My dogs, Disco and Yahtzee.
Kathleen: My three children—and then red wine, college football, and Christmas.
What are your preferred materials or textures?
Chloe: Linen or silk velvet.
Kathleen: It’s impossible for me to say because textures and materials all have to play in concert together.
Go-to colors?
Chloe: Any shade of pink. On projects, I let my clients tell me what their go-to colors are.
Kathleen: My personal go-to colors are caramels, oranges, terracottas, and greens.
Chloe: It’s a four-letter word.
Kathleen: Comfort.
Favorite designer?
Chloe: Dorothy Draper
Kathleen: The late Sister Parish, who’s responsible for creating interiors that were a tremendous blend of objects: quilts and baskets next to fine French and English antiques.
What’s a design rule you like to break?
Chloe: I didn’t know there were any!
Kathleen: Are there any rules?
Is there anything you’re afraid to DIY?
Chloe: Sewing.
Kathleen: Painting.
Name some things that can really transform a room.
Chloe: Wallpaper or paint, with paint being less expensive and easiest.
Kathleen: Flowers and a great lamp shade.
What should a homeowner never scrimp on?
Chloe: Great lighting, inside and out.
Kathleen: A classic sofa frame and at least one club chair.
Is there a design blog, website, TV show, or magazine that you look at all the time?
Chloe: I just got hooked on Houzz.
Kathleen: Houzz, House Beautiful, and Elle Decor.
Antique or modern?
Chloe: Why can’t I have both?
Kathleen: Both.
City or country?
Chloe: City.
Kathleen: Both. Poor suburbia; it never gets mentioned.
If you could live in one historical figure’s house, whose would it be?
Chloe: The Medici family’s Pitti Palace, surrounded by the Boboli Gardens in Florence.
Kathleen: I’ll share the Pitti Palace with Chloe.
On what film set would you like to live?
Chloe: The Birdcage.
Kathleen: “Mad Men,” specifically in Don Draper’s Manhattan apartment.
If you were reborn as a piece of furniture or an object, what would it be?
Chloe: A fabulous chandelier.
Kathleen: A big old farm table.
Want to know more? Visit Kenny Ball Design at kennyballdesign.com, or call 293-1361 to get in touch.