When one of her agents sent a listing for a Mediterranean home in Aqualane Shores, Dawn McKenna bought it sight unseen. As founder of the Dawn McKenna Group—a luxury real estate firm spanning Chicago, Naples and Park City, Utah—she knew and loved the neighborhood. For many, the 1990s relic would have been a prime candidate for teardown, but McKenna could see the bones were worth saving. “It’s not an era known for its architectural significance, but they did get a few things right,” she says.
Among them: a ‘bigger is better’ mentality that offered plenty of square footage, high ceilings and a workable floor plan. She enlisted Chicago-based interior designer Kelly Hurliman to help reimagine the home. “Kelly and I think similarly, we share this curiosity and sense of wonder and love for beautiful things; we’re storytellers,” McKenna says. “She’s very good at refining that last layer that makes a house a home.”
The goal was to create an inviting space for her growing family. She and her husband have four grown children and are expecting their first grandchild. “I wanted to create an experience where they couldn’t wait to get here and didn’t want to leave,” McKenna says. At about 4,000 square feet, the home is ample, but not huge by modern-day standards. “We’re all together, but we’ve also got privacy. It’s just enough,” she says.
