A certain fearlessness is required to commit to a sectional sofa fashioned from 50 yards of Lee Jofa’s bold Hollyhock Handblock print, the granniest grandma-chic fabric. But under the direction of interior designer Heidi Caillier, the iconic floral was stretched over an expanse of down in a Los Angeles workroom, shipped to a top secret mountain location, and deposited in Kendall Jenner’s new living room.
A less expected match made in heaven has never existed. “I’m beyond happy with that couch,” says Jenner. “There has never been a doubt in my mind about the fabric. From the moment I saw it when Heidi and I started working on this project, I never wavered.”
In a way, this singular piece—in Jenner’s first ground-up build, designed with Bay Area architect Kirby Lee—represents everything Jenner wanted out of her “getaway home.” Jenner was craving a rural escape to spend homey summer weekends with friends that felt well-loved and lived in, as if had been there for a while.
Adopt the supermodel’s playful, pattern-rich mountain aesthetic with our editor-curated selection of furniture and decor inspired by her home.
“I had a vision. It was a house full of people squeezed onto a couch for game night,” she says. “On one of my first trips there, it happened. I had friends who were staying nearby who came over kind of spontaneously. It made me damn near emotional. I had this dream, and it happened in a home that I built. It was very fulfilling.”
Jenner fell in love with the “energy” of the area during a visit and bought the property on a whim, around five years ago. A self-described “horse girl,” she spent childhood summers in Wyoming, and lives for active days outdoors. At the time, there was a neglected home on-site that she considered restoring. After a walk-through with a builder, it was determined unsalvageable, and the hunt for a design team began. “When doing any home, I love making things collaborative, and my choice in designer is extremely intentional,” she says. “I know that I’m going to be highly involved and extremely picky.”
In addition to a well-researched Pinterest board, she had a folder full of images of cabins and hideaways clipped from magazines. “The fireplace in the kitchen was a Kris Jenner idea,” the supermodel says, referencing her famous mother. “She sent me a photo and it was perfect.”
Another source of color inspiration was the showrooms for the fashion brand Bode, and its use of slightly washed-out primary red, deep navy, and muted green. “I’m not a bare-bones type of girl. I love color, and I love pattern,” Jenner declares. “I felt like there was a lot less pressure because it’s a secondary home. It was really fun for my creative side to just be like, you know what? I’m just gonna go for it and do things differently here.”
She appreciated the back and forth of collaboration, and relished the process. Of Lee, she says, “I’ve never worked with an architect like that before, so it was really cool and interesting to see how detailed it is. I learned a lot through her.”
Jenner discovered the San Francisco–based Caillier while scrolling through AD’s Instagram feed. The designer’s 2023 book, Heidi Caillier: Memories of Home (Rizzoli), showcases her skill with pattern and print, and her ability to coax character from newly constructed houses. She balances midcentury Italian light fixtures with English bathroom fittings, or vintage Indian rugs and ditsy floral wallpaper, with an assured hand. Jenner was drawn to her timeless, somewhat whimsical aesthetic.
The email about working with Jenner came out of the blue, a very pleasant surprise. Caillier jumped into the process. “At that point Kendall had worked up the plans with the architect, and she came to me with plenty of inspiration.”
Their first priority was to add elements that would help introduce personal character to the rooms. “For me it’s about bringing out a lot of texture on the walls and then adding interesting ceiling details to bring it down and balance those oversized windows,” Caillier says.
Board and batten paneled walls, ceiling beams, and the strategic addition of windows—a circular one in the entryway and smaller-scale paned windows for each of the four upholstered nooks in the bunk room—added the “quirk” Jenner was looking for.
“Kendall likes the process and has a strong point of view,” says Caillier, who appreciates her client’s “outdoorsy, tomboyish” style. “She really wanted something that felt a bit playful—tons of color, like orange and cobalt blue.”
Caillier took that note and delivered painted walls in Farrow & Ball’s Brinjal, a rich aubergine; custom chartreuse Zia tile; a blue Lacanche range; and a yellow sink and toilet, which caused a brief stir when Jenner posted a glimpse of it on her Instagram. “I can confirm there is a yellow toilet,” says Caillier, who chose the fixtures from The Water Monopoly before that buttery shade surged in popularity.
The creative dialogue led to some surprising results. Jenner’s confidence with intense color nudged Caillier outside of her comfort zone, and Caillier helped Jenner see print in a new way. “The bones of the house are classic enough so that the color doesn’t look outrageous,” says Jenner. “But Heidi pushed me in so many ways, too. Especially with wallpaper.”
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
Recalling her first glimpse at the rolls of tiny flowers for the primary bedroom, Jenner had a “minor panic attack”—“I was like, ‘Oh God, is this too crazy?” she recalls. “And she’d say, ‘I think you should trust me on this one.’ ”
Once that trust was cemented, Jenner towed in the finishing touch: A 2020 Airstream Bambi. “It was a very special birthday gift and very sentimental,” she says. “It was here in LA with me and I didn’t have much use for it. Then I thought, wait a minute, how cute would that be as a guest room?”
The tiny capsule has become a grown-up playhouse with a zinc tub, wood veneer walls, vintage Welsh blankets, and a petite kitchenette. “It’s the cute spot where you put that one friend who booked the trip super last minute,” Jenner says with a laugh.
She spent her first summer in the three-bedroom house this past year, exploring the surroundings in her Polaris ATV, biking, hiking, and coming home to make dinner and settle in for the night. “I love to get dirty in the mountains and come back for a barbecue,” she says. “It’s a very slow life. Sometimes I think if I’m there for too many days I will get bored, but I never do. There’s nothing boring about this house.”
This story appears in the AD100 issue. Never miss a story when you subscribe to AD.
