Island Life: Palm Beach's past, present equally glorious for interior designer McMakin

Editor's note: This is one in an occasional series of stories about life in Palm Beach.

Considering she’s known for, among other things, her impeccable taste and the charming residential and commercial interiors she designs, imagining Mimi Maddock McMakin wearing “snake boots” while racing across a lawn after a downpour seems out of sync.

But when you’re a fourth-generation Palm Beacher, as she is, dealing years ago as a child with snakes and other critters was once routine — especially on a post-rain walk to school.

For McMakin, it’s among treasured memories from growing up along what was once a jungle-ish North End, where her great-grandparents founded the family’s property in 1891 when they towed their Victorian pre-fab wooden house down inland waterways from the Northeast.

Since the 1970s, interior designer McMakin has lived steps away from that house in an 1890s shingle-style church — Old Bethesda-by-the-Sea — which became part of the family property after the congregation in the 1920s moved to a larger home (Bethesda-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church).

Memories, heirlooms and tasteful design mingle with the 21st century and sunlight entering though large windows in the one-of-a-kind home McMakin shares with her husband, Leigh, and “our two untrainable Jack Russells.”

These days, there’s no need for snake boots. Times have changed, but “you can still enjoy and appreciate the simpler way of life” in Palm beach, McMakin, whose grandfather built one of Palm Beach’s earliest hotels, told the Daily News.

McMakin helms the Palm Beach office of the design firm she founded 40 years ago: Kemble Interiors, which is acclaimed not only for its residential work, but for commercial projects — from numerous fine country clubs to boutique hotels.

With a staff of 32, the firm has additional offices in London and New York, where McMakin’s interior designer daughter, Celerie Kemble, leads the charge. Her other daughter, Phoebe, is a private chef in London.

This past season, McMakin and Kemble designers completed the redesign of guestrooms at The Colony after redoing social spaces at the hotel, including the Living Room with custom wallpaper depicting whimsical Florida flora and fauna.

More: Palm Beach Colony's renovation combines luxury with playfulness

Prior to that, the team’s design work at the Gasparilla Inn off Florida’s southwest coast drew praise.

Both projects evoke a singular classic Florida style with “a spirit of playfulness and welcome,” said McMakin, whose early career included working for years with the late renowned designer Polly Jessup.

McMakin, now a grandmother as well, spends part of each summer “near trout streams and with a view of mountains,” she said by phone from the Adirondacks as birds chirped in the background. “There’s a lot of outdoor activity here, but I love reading on the porch.”

The Daily News caught up further with the interior designer:

What three things should people know about you?

I love filling our house with flowers, either home-grown, purchased or cut from unsuspecting neighbors.

I have been an interior designer for over 50 years.

I am very sentimental (and) I love being asked to protect the memories of our town.

As a fourth-generation Palm Beacher, what are some of your earliest and most treasured memories in Palm Beach?

Having to wear snake boots to cross our yard after a big rainfall on our way to school.

Fishing off the lake wall and catching puffer fish with bacon.

Rolling my father’s car down our driveway until it was out of earshot and then sneaking off to The Hut (a West Palm Beach drive-in food stand and teen hangout) in my pajamas with my friend Ann Woodward.

Of all of the interior design projects you’ve completed in your career, which one in the past three years is a fine example of your work, your approach and breadth of experience?

The Colony Hotel lobby redesign was a great treat. We were able to create a whimsical Palm Beach jungle that everyone loves. I smile every time I enter this room (featuring custom de Gournay wallpaper and a custom pagoda over the fireplace, among other things).

The Colony embraces the whimsy of Palm Beach and not the seriousness or the efficient. It’s like a big and charming and wonderful house with all of the conveniences of a fine hotel.

In your historic Palm Beach home, what’s your favorite room and why?

I live in an old church. The nave is filled with fantastical objects — from full-height stuffed zebras to a 12-foot butterfly kite, Balinese umbrellas and more with a smattering of comfortable furniture. I love watching people’s expressions when we open the doors to this room.

What are three of your favorite restaurants in Palm Beach and your favorite dish at each?

Swifty’s (at The Colony) for the most delicious meatloaf; Pizza al Fresco for calamari; and Green’s (Pharmacy Luncheonette) for the perfect bacon cheeseburger. Yes, I do eat vegetables at home.

How do you most like to spend a quiet Sunday afternoon in Palm Beach?

Snoozing together with my divine husband and our snoring untrainable Jack Russells.

What would you like to see more of in Palm Beach and what would you like to see less of?

I would like to see less of high hedges, over-scaled houses, Bentleys, horns that honk impatiently, divots in the roads, mosquitoes…

I would like to see Worth Avenue closed to traffic at night with people dining and dancing on the street. More families having evening picnics on the beach. More people using bicycles for transportation. More local small businesses and stores.

What are Palm Beach’s enduring charms?

When my great-grandparents moved to Palm Beach, they were beckoned by the thought of a lovely winter climate, beautiful beaches and an abundance of flowers. To me, not much has changed from this original thinking.

Our children and now grandchildren still fish off the same seawall and sell lemonade to the pedestrians on the Lake Trail. They have grown up barefooted, adept at cracking coconuts and riding their bikes into town for warm croissants. They feel as safe here as I did as a child.

We all still appreciate the existing architecture — from small wooden houses of the Sunset streets to the grander ones on the south end of town. We still picnic on the beach on weekends and summer evenings.

If you ask what has changed for me, there is no vacant land and houses are close together but with exquisite landscaping. The scorpions and snakes of my childhood jungle have been replaced by foxes and iguanas, fancy cars outnumber the “whatever” we used to drive, and there are more restaurants.

But the places we visited as children remain — from the (Society of the) Four Arts garden to the Flagler Museum to the Lake Trail. The rivalry between the local Palm Beach Day School (now Palm Beach Day Academy) teams of the Flamingos and the Pelicans is still going strong.

Yes, our town is now more densely populated, but the residents and town officials are working fiercely to protect and keep the small-town atmosphere. In spite of all the changes, it’s still the same Palm Beach to me — and we are extremely fortunate to live here.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Memories of Palm Beach childhood cherished by interior designer