Inside Anne McDonald’s Mid-Century Split Level, Where Trust Shaped the Design

While the world spun out in Covid’s chaos, Anne McDonald found herself strangely steadier. The pace slowed just enough for her to think clearly, to sharpen her confidence. Work had leveled, and when a mid-century split-level with a weird floor plan and daring clients landed in her lap, it felt less like another curveball and more like the right challenge at the right time.

Anne had been designing old, historic homes when the Mid-Century Split Level came along. At first glance, it was just another 1960s suburban house, the kind you drive past without a second look. But vaulted ceilings, twin fireplaces, and a plaster flourish on the living room ceiling gave it a surprising sense of drama, and Anne was intrigued.

The house required a gut renovation. The floor plan, the finishes, everything had to be reimagined. With no architect on board, Anne leaned on the skills she’d absorbed growing up with a builder father. Construction never felt foreign to her, so stepping into multiple roles came naturally.

She sketched new layouts, partnered closely with a trusted contractor friend, and ran her vision through engineering as needed. “The shell is always the shell, and it informs everything,” Anne says. For her, the thrill was in shaping that shell first, dreaming up the architecture, before layering in the paints, hardware, and furnishings that would make the house a home. It’s a reminder that even in smaller projects, paying attention to the architecture—the proportions, the bones—before you obsess over color swatches will always lead to better results.

By the time presentation day arrived, Anne had pulled together the full vision: floor plan to furnishings, every detail in place. Most clients blink, hesitate, request edits. These clients did the opposite. They signed off on everything, no questions, no revisions. “It was the first time someone really let me go for it,” Anne says. That unflinching trust gave her license to design with more color, more texture, more boldness than she had ever leaned into before.

This project demanded open-minded clients, and Anne couldn’t have asked for better. They were game for anything, excited about every idea she brought to the table. With their trust, she leaned into bolder moves: richer textures, brighter hits of color, a higher vibration running through the house. It’s proof that saying yes to color and texture—especially the ones you’re drawn to instinctively—can give a space more energy than playing it safe ever will.

At the heart of the project were two fireplaces, the anchors around which Anne built the design. They grounded the space and gave her an entry point into mid-century style. From there, she drew inspiration from a plaster detail on the formal living room ceiling, shaping a softer version of mid-century: less sharp-edged, more inviting.

Michael P.H. Clifford

For Anne, the real work of design isn’t translating a family into objects or color schemes, it’s chasing a feeling. “If we limit ourselves to just objects or textures, it never lands,” she says. For the split-level, that meant finding warmth in a style that can often feel cold. She wanted it grounded, not wacky; inviting, not a museum piece.

Michael P.H. Clifford

The balance came through mixing eras: vintage with contemporary, postmodern with century-old. For Anne, it always starts with feeling. Grounded, cozy, vibrant—name the mood first, and the design will follow.

Michael P.H. Clifford

Looking back, Anne calls the Mid-Century Split Level a turning point. These clients didn’t just give her freedom to design, they gave her trust, and that shifted everything. “They set the bar so high for what a client relationship can be,” she says. That kind of faith, at the exact right moment, gave her deeper confidence in her own instincts.

But the project also reminded her that design is never a solo act. It takes the right team—tradespeople, contractors, collaborators—and the right clients to bring a vision to life. For Anne, this house became proof of that balance: bold ideas met with open minds, trust matched with delivery.

Michael P.H. Clifford

The finished home is vibrant and grounded, but its real beauty is in what it represents: a partnership that made space for her to go all in, and a moment in her career when confidence finally caught up with vision. Not bad for a so-called “basic” split-level.