Celebrity Homes: Tommy Hilfiger’s Palm Beach Abode

Tommy and Dee Hilfiger are no strangers to waterfront living. For years the designer couple took respite at a Golden Beach, Florida, home with 100 feet of ocean frontage, and they continue to retreat to a vacation home on Mustique, where the estate’s swimming pool laps up against the sands of the Caribbean.

Still, when the duo decided to decamp from their residence in Greenwich, Connecticut and make a full-time move to Palm Beach, Florida, last year, they pondered a new kind of frontier. “We fell in love with this home and the fact that it was on the lake and on the lake trail,” says Dee, referencing the west side of Palm Beach overlooking the Intracoastal Waterway, Lake Worth Lagoon.

“We definitely wanted to experience something different.” Adds Tommy, “We always liked being on the water, but this was a pleasant surprise because it’s not quite as windy, and it’s beautiful to look at morning, noon, and night.”

“We’re still figuring out what we like and don’t like,” explains Dee, who mentions that while they have made this residence their home, the family can also contemplate potentially living at two other nearby houses they also happen to own. “We had never lived in Palm Beach, so this is a fun transition.”

A clean sweep

The couple’s chief Palm Beach residence—how many people can say that?—is a 5,000-square-foot three-bedroom Mediterranean-style house built in 2006. There are columns and arched ceilings everywhere you look, along with plenty of courtyard nooks and verdant gardens. “We have a much more active lifestyle here,” says Tommy, who sold the Connecticut residence in addition to the family’s Miami and New York City places. “Exercising, tennis. In the Northeast, living in Greenwich, we were commuting in and out of the city. And we didn’t have the weather to be able to be outdoors a lot.” Adds Dee, “Palm Beach is so green and so lush year-round. Every time someone gives us an orchid plant, they’re never thrown out; they’re attached to a tree.”

In fact, the Hilfigers were immediately captivated by their new home’s indoor-outdoor design. It has an inside courtyard and is based on several of Palm Beach‘s older houses. “But the lighting and brightening was the first thing we wanted to accomplish”, explains Tommy Hilfiger. He notes that the previous owners used dark and somber colours throughout their home. “The wood was mahogany and cherry. All the windows had blinds on them, blocking the light. There was a lot of art, patterned drapes, patterned wallpaper, patterned furniture. Paisleys, florals, Oriental carpets. We did a clean sweep.”

To open up and redesign the space, the couple relied on designer Martyn Lawrence Bullard. Dee Hilfiger says, “We built the look around the location”. “Something fresh and easy. The palette: coral stone ivory. And it’s a beautiful Spanish/Mediterranean-style home, so Martyn brought in some Moorish accents, and we’ve also got splashes of blue and white”, adds Dee Hilfiger.

Ironically, Bullard says he wanted to open up the interior by “stripping the house back, bleaching the wood, and expanding the patio.” “We then decided to bring in the foliage—the enormous palm trees—to dismantle the walls and calm the atmosphere overall.”

When questioned about his extraordinary ability to communicate in shorthand with his clients, Bullard mentions that this is the fourth home the trio has done together, in addition to a big hotel project. “So I know them very well”, Bullard states. “Because they are both fashion designers, I am familiar with how they both choose. They cherish ongoing progress, just like I do, and they like a variety of design elements as well as the concept of how to live within them.”

“Tommy in particular has very set ideas and parameters, and Martyn knows that,” says Dee. Tommy Hilfiger definitely appreciates order and a touch of pattern. “Working together is quite simple for us”. Although believing they have distinct needs, they are certainly not clients who say, “Oh, do anything you want.”, affirms Dee.

They all agreed that the structure of the house would be ideal for them and their family’s needs, even though the decor needed to be completely updated. “We didn’t do much structurally,” states Dee. “There were these unnecessary decorative columns in the bedroom that we took out.” Of the refresh, Bullard simply says that “the house has a wonderful soul. We just had to take away the formality and make it feel a bit younger, sexier, looser.”