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Landscape and interior designer Kathryn Prideaux will show off her work at the upcoming ASID home tour. Here, she shares some of her favorite things – among them, yoga and tin foil (although not at the same time.)
Photo by Balfour Walker
Are you an early bird or a night owl? “I have been forced into being an early bird ever since I had kids. Now I get up at 5.20am to make school lunches, so I’m not very productive in the early morning. And I’m lucky if I make it past tucking the kids into bed at night. I’m productive between 9am and 2pm, when the girls [aged 7 and 10] are in school, and the hours between 2 and 8pm are just like a vacuum.”
Favorite accessory? “When I was in France this summer, my cousin was wearing a bracelet with a gold charm with her children’s names engraved on it. It came from Paris. They ordered one for me and I haven’t taken it off since. I’m attracted to trendy jewelry and shiny things, but in the end the things I wear I usually wear constantly. They’re more classy and simple – and always gold.”
Favorite faux pas? “It wasn’t so much a faux pas as a major blonde moment. I used to design the interiors of jet planes for Learjet. One time I was flying in a client’s private airplane into Tucson. We were getting ready to land and I started calling out Tucson landmarks. I said ‘There’s the Dave Matthews Air Base!’ I knew it didn’t sound right and there was this silence and one of my clients said ‘Isn’t Dave Matthews a band?’ It was mortifying.”
This backyard by Kathryn will be featured on the upcoming ASID home tour. Photo by Balfour Walker
Dream client? “I think of things as dream projects. I like mid century modern design, so one dream project would be to take a mid century modern house that’s got great bones and I get to remodel the heck out of it, both inside and outside. It’s a challenge to figure out what stays and what goes. Another would be somewhere in the south of France. I’m in love with those rustic French country looks with modern accents. And of course the client would be paying for me to travel back and forth.”
If I weren’t a designer I would... “I just can’t imagine myself doing anything else. I would turn anything into a design job. When I wasn’t working and staying home with the girls, their birthday parties were extreme. One year for my eldest daughter’s birthday I did a Hershey’s chocolate theme. The invitations were hand-made, with a Hershey’s font and wrapped in tin foil. We had a scavenger hunt to find faux Hershey’s kisses I made out of styrofoam. I was probably staying up late preparing for that one…”
If I could change one thing I would… “Change the schedule at my yoga studio. I want to do yoga every day but their morning class isn’t until 10am. I’ve tried to fit my schedule around it and I just can’t. Then I get busy and of course that’s when I need it. If everyone did yoga the world would be a much nicer place to live in.”
Kathryn is principal at Prideaux Design, located in Tucson’s Metal Arts Village. See more photos of her work, and a preview of the ASID tour, in our Et Cetera section.
[Note from the editors to Arizona Power Yoga: Please introduce an 8am class so Kathryn will be happy. We think she’s worth it. And we happen to agree with her that yoga makes the world a nicer place.]
