The Perfectly Imperfect Sister Parish

Sister Parish was born in New Jersey as Dorothy May Kinnicutt. Her name comes from a nickname her brother gave her that stuck over the years. Early on, she was cultured on arts and antiques, as her parents had places in New York and Paris. After finishing school, Parish got married at 19. Parish and her husband moved to Far Hills, New Jersey, where they settled into a small farmhouse.

Parish never had any formal training in interior design. Her small white farmhouse is where she first started honing her interior design skills. She applied white striped paper to the walls, used mattress ticking for the drapes, and painted the bedroom floor a cherry red with white diamonds. Her sense of style was rather innate, as she is said to have “felt” her way along in designing rooms. Several years later the Depression came about. Times were hard so she set up her own interior design business. Through friends and friends of friends, Parish gained popularity for her style and design. Her one-woman interior design business turned into Parish Hadley Associates. Over the years, her client list grew and included some big names such as the Vanderbilt, Rockefeller, and Kennedy.

Her style has been known as whimsical, lived in, and warm. Decorating with painted floors, rugs, chintz, Anglo-Franco furniture, and needlepoint pillows, her style has a feeling of comfort. Her furniture was often arranged offhand, giving her spaces a feeling of whimsy and depth. Another key feature in her designs were quilts, adding to the lived-in feel of her spaces. Parish loved to go bold with color and innovate by making old styles like chintz fresh again. She is often credited with originating the term American country style. Parish died in 1994, but her spirit was revived in 2000 where her granddaughter brought back to life the bold prints and wallpapers that Parish had created.

Parish once said "to be perfect the perfect must be imperfect." From this quote resonates the daring and whimsical style of Sister Parish. Her sense of innate style and bold use of color and offhand placement of furniture give me inspiration to not hold back and try new things. I love bold colors and prints, so to see it happening in interiors designed by a woman this long ago inspires me even more. It is especially inspiring that she started her own business as a woman during those times. I find it particularly interesting that she had no formal training, rather she just felt what was needed in a room. Her innateness is almost like a special touch in her interiors. This inspires me to hopefully someday leave my own special touch in interiors. In a way Parish mixes comfort with luxury, giving her spaces a special sense of depth and curiosity. It is this lived-in look of her interiors that inspires me because they feel and look like an inviting home. Her interiors are a place where you want to sit down and get comfortable in style.