Designer Crush: PRAIRIE Home Styling
Author:Michelle KonstantinovskyAfter several years working as a celebrity stylist, Shannon McClaren Wilkins changed course, pursuing her lifelong passion for architecture and design. In 2013, Wilkins founded PRAIRIE Home Styling, a staging company that has now blossomed into a full service interior design company based in Newport Beach. Learn more in our Q+A below.
How did you get your start in design?
After taking a pause in celebrity styling when I was pregnant with my first child, my husband and I bought a fixer upper home and I totally became enamored by the process and declared a switch in careers at that moment!
Tell us about the development and evolution of PRAIRIE.
We started out as a staging business- which felt like “Interior Design Lite”, and then through working with spec builders and home owners over the years it became what it is today – a full scale residential interior design firm.
How do you define “California style”?
Easy, casual, timeless. A bit of glam from Hollywood, and a little bit Rock and Roll. I will always gravitate towards the beachy ’70s vibe.
Who is your biggest professional role model and why?
Petra Flannery, a celebrity stylist I worked under — she has such a good work ethic and taught me how to be organized, strong and believe in my convictions. She’s pretty amazing.
Where do you draw inspiration from when you’re feeling stuck?
I can easily get image overload — between Instagram, Pinterest, magazines, etc. When this happens, I decide to relax and not think about a certain project. Then I put on an old movie or go shopping and Ill find inspiration from something I see — and it then clicks. Sometimes it happens later, like when I’m sleeping.
Describe your ideal Sunday from a.m. to p.m.
My husband’s scrambled eggs (he uses a TON of butter), a walk with the kids, and a movie at home. I work a lot during the week, so I cherish the day my phone is away and I’m wearing sweatpants.
Lightning round!
Favorite pizza toppings?
Spinach and runny egg.
First concert?
Dave Matthews Band at the Gorge Amphitheater when I was 16!
Current celebrity crush?
Forever and always Jude Law.
Go-to Netflix binge show?
The Handmaid’s Tale.
