REFRESH IN BLUE AND WHITE

ASKED TO MOVE A HARBOR SPRINGS HOME FROM TRADITIONAL TO TRANSITIONAL STYLE, INTERIOR DESIGNER GEMMA PARKER BUILT ON THE FRESH, TIMELESS ALLURE OF BLUE AND WHITE.

- ELIZABETH EDWARDS

GEMMA PARKER HAS LIVED in places as varied and far-flung as Hong Kong, Switzerland, London and Michigan. Nowadays, she and her husband and their two children make their home in Chicago. After working for a high-end design firm in the Windy City for eight years as their director of interior design, Gemma branched out on her own. She describes her business, Gemma Parker Design, as a boutique firm—small enough so that she stays personally involved in all of the creative decisions and each project that the firm takes on.

Gemma’s family enjoys summers at their home on Walloon Lake in Petoskey—her familiarity with Up North has naturally opened the way for her to garner clients in the area. One such client recently asked Gemma to rejuvenate their Harbor Springs lake home, designed by renowned Northern Michigan architect Nick White. The home was originally built by Jeff Ford of Evening Star Joinery, and Gemma feels fortunate that Jeff and his crew were able to work on the renovation/refresh with her. “His attention to detail and his execution of projects is fabulous,” she says.

Here, Gemma walks us through her thoughts on the timeless refresh of this beautiful Harbor Springs home.