CAREFULLY CHOSEN SMALL DETAILS AND CREATIVE flourishes often say as much about a home and its personality as do larger and more imposing pieces. Just as often, they can give it personality, not simply enhancing a space but transforming it.
Dale Barattini McLin shares that vision both as an artist and a businesswoman.
“Small details can make a huge difference in a home,” she says. “The perfect lamp with a hand-painted shade, for instance. These things become the ‘jewelry’ of the room. They tell people who lives there.”
In times past, visitors may have learned at least as much about their host or hostess from their collection of books and art as their choice of furniture. Today, interior décor can communicate so much more.
The straightforward motto of McLin’s company, Hill & Dale Home—Details for a Beautiful Life—speaks volumes.
“It’s the details of a room … the perfect pillow, the art, the dining room table perfectly dressed for the dinner party. That’s what we hope to add to your life,” she says.
Born and raised in New Orleans and currently a resident of York, South Carolina, McLin was drawn to art from an early age, eventually graduating from the John McCrady Art School in the Big Easy’s storied French Quarter. She quickly hit the ground running, first in graphic design. Years later, after her children had fled the nest, she resumed painting and exhibiting her work in galleries. That was followed by 20 years of collaborating with interior designers, creating original murals and other custom artwork.
It’s been quite a creative journey from graphic design to murals to small-format paintings, hand-painted pillows and painted textiles. McLin says it was an evolutionary process: “When my children were small, I painted while they napped or were at school. If I saw something that I loved for my home back then, but couldn’t afford it, I’d figure out a way to reproduce it. That evolved into the larger picture of murals and then rolled into producing my designs for home décor.”
At the tender age of 65, she took a flying leap into full-time production. Hers has been a soft, pillowy, adroit landing, with challenges she savors. “Age is just a number to me,” she says. “My mom is 90 and still traveling the world. She’s my example of what aging is and my inspiration. I don’t set an expiration date on creativity or new ventures. This time in my life, and for so many women, offers fewer limitations and more opportunities. Plus, less fear of the unknown.”
What began as an Etsy shop selling placemats bloomed into a diverse line of home décor accents, showcasing a vivid array of paintings, pillow covers, lampshades, placemats and even substantially sized rugs. Her “custom” line, called the Bespoke Collection, is but one of her artistic signatures. It’s composed of one-of-a-kind works available in limited editions. She says it’s also a useful testing ground before sending designs off for reproduction at the U.S. manufacturing firms with which she contracts. Of late, McLin has added wallpaper and fabric to her repertoire, employing earlier designs and reimagining them into functional patterns. It’s an exciting new arc for a woman invigorated by tackling new things.
If only she could spend all her work time in the body of art. Business matters dictate otherwise, demanding an ever-greater portion of her busy day: keeping all the balls spinning, from manufacturing to packing and shipping. She’s at the easel only a few days a week, on average, but those days generally are highly productive. “I’d love to say that I paint every day, but business makes that impossible,” she notes.
Throughout her collections, it’s the color palette that first beguiles the eye. It pops. “Elegance and beauty should be timeless, but the use of color punches it up a notch,” McLin says. “It can make the work timelier and more updated.”
But the vibrancy it exhibits is also informed by a sense of tranquility and repose. Her inspiration: Nature. “I draw endless inspiration from nature’s palette—the vibrant colors of blooming flowers, the serenity of lush landscapes and the intricate details found all around us,” says McLin in an artist’s statement. “As a self-proclaimed ‘décor magazine junkie,’ I believe beautiful home décor should be accessible to all; it’s not just for the elite but for anyone who longs to infuse their space with character and warmth.”
Her ideas emerge not only from observation of nature but also from other, disparate places: viewing works in a museum, walking a city street, scanning a new design book or wading through her stack of design magazines, invariably dog-eared. Re-creating an idea with her own twist is the magic element.
McLin characterizes her typical client as someone who simply loves beautiful, feminine things wed to a touch of whimsy. She says she can be at a show, notice a group of people and spy a Hill & Dale Home customer right away. “You just know,” she says.
If a home is one’s sanctuary, and we all hope that it is, how might one best approach creating their haven in a way that reflects what they most value in an environment? No mystery. McLin says buy what you love: “Let your home reflect you! You should be able to walk into someone’s home and know some of the story of who lives there.”
Her home and studio in York are just such a refuge, as well as a workspace. She dwells in a 1920s cottage festooned with blue and white décor. Her concept of the luxury that comes with success means “clean sheets, good candles, fresh flowers and a full pantry.” The latter serves her love of culinary adventure and entertaining.
Small town life remains a source of contentment. “My ex-husband and I were transferred here 30 years ago, and I never left,” she says. ”I love the slower pace. I live in a small town in the Historic District with a pretty strong arts community. It’s a good life. My current husband and I enjoy our vegetable garden and entertaining. I often say we live a rich life that has nothing to do with money.”
And she has not abandoned her first love of murals. While no longer her principal focus, she keeps her hand in and relishes every minute of it. “I love doing them,” she says. “I can now pick and choose which ones that I really want to do. I still work for certain designers with whom I’ve had long-standing relationships. I just finished a beautiful mural last month on St. Simons Island, and I have another one scheduled. I love the collaboration of working with the designer and the client.” *
Bill Thompson covers the arts, design, film, and books.
