elegant coastal home exterior pink door HOME 2026
Photography by Dan Cutrona

When a Top Luxury Realtor Designs Her Own Naples Home

Dawn McKenna has seen it all—her market expertise comes through clearly in the forever home she designed for her family in Aqulane Shores.

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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.

Before work began, McKenna did a sun study to track how sunlight moved across the property. When she discovered that the back patio never caught harsh light for more than 15 minutes a day, she replaced the existing loggia and screened porch with about 875 square feet of new interior space and covered patio. “We kept the roof and the front and side walls, but everything else got reimagined,” McKenna says.

Elsewhere inside, walls came down to create open living areas, and ceilings dropped as much as 10 feet in the bar and kitchen. “The ceiling had about 50 angles to it,” she says. Anna Fleming of Naples-based AV Interiors reconfigured the floor plan, adding a bedroom and powder room while creating en-suite bathrooms for each space. “It was not easy, but she was great about making use of every inch of space,” Hurliman says.

With a refined floor plan, the team layered in architectural details to achieve a fresh, European-influenced aesthetic. Subtle molding, trimwork and wainscoting added dimension along walls and in entryways. Fifteen-foot doors were installed throughout, windows received traditional panes with black casings, and Riva Crystal chevron-patterned parquet oak floors were laid to provide texture underfoot. Marble covers most counters, adding permanence and a dose of traditional luxury to the scheme. “I know it will weather and get little stains, but that’s part of the appeal,” McKenna says.

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elegant kitchen with pink pastel accents HOME 2026

Photography by Dan Cutrona

elegant kitchen with pink pastel accents HOME 2026

Glass-encased Phillip Jeffries grasscloth wraps the hood above the La Cornue range, paired with a Calacatta Turquoise backsplash and a ledge displaying McKenna’s collected dinnerware.

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blush paneling marble vanity bathroom HOME 2026

Photography by Dan Cutrona

blush paneling marble vanity bathroom HOME 2026

The powder room showcases blush paneling behind a marble vanity.

The design philosophy centered on warmth without the sterility of many early 2020s interiors. “We’re moving out of the era where everything is gray or white and minimal. Now we’re more attached to our memories, we want things to have some history, some patina,” McKenna says, pointing to finishes like lacquered brass, Roman clay and Venetian plaster. The family room fireplace exemplifies this approach: Paris Ceramics stone covers the mantel, and a fluted wood surround extends to the ceiling.

While the family room is painted a soft Cloud White by Benjamin Moore, the home’s true anchor color is pink. The color threads through upholstery, accent walls, a guest bath with a blush-lacquered vanity and marble checkerboard tiles, and the home’s front door. “It’s the creamiest, dreamiest pink—the lightest of roses,” she says. “And there are also little threads of green throughout the house, because I love nature.” The palette sets a consistent tone that’s light, layered and feminine without feeling fussy.

The front room balances two competing needs: accommodating McKenna’s large family and creating impact at first sight. A seven-globe Cuff Studio chandelier wrapped in marine rope commands the space with a subtle nod to the waterfront location. Below it, a low-slung, vintage sofa, covered in Holly Hunt performance fabric, stretches 17 feet, preserving the view while making room for more than 20 people. 

Banquettes with cafe tables flank the blush-painted front door, creating semi-private zones within the open plan for morning coffee or laptop work. The room orbits a bar by Chicago’s O’Brien Harris, with Macchia Rose marble. The stone’s silvery veining plays off the sage velvet bar stools. “Pink and green go hand in hand, but I wanted them in a softer, more Parisian way than the more typical Lilly Pulitzer combo you see here,” McKenna says. 

Little details make the space feel collected and refined. The mantel is flanked by five-arm sconces from Julia B. Casa, an Italian designer McKenna encountered on a trip overseas. A record player, outfitted with vintage vinyl, invites guests to create the soundtrack for the room. “We’re really into music, so we keep it propped open so anyone can put an album on,” she says. Photographs by her husband, Stephen, are showcased throughout the house; a wall sculpture by Australian artist Clementine Maconachie adds interest above one of the banquettes. 

Furnishings mix custom pieces with vintage finds from Chairish and 1stDibs, alongside some more approachable picks from West Elm and Crate & Barrel and select local sources, including Judith Liegeois in Naples and Holden Luntz Gallery in Palm Beach.

In the kitchen, a giant island in Calacatta Turquoise marble features rounded corners and book-matched side panels that continue the stone’s sweeping veining from the countertop to the floor. A ledge along the matching marble backsplash holds dinnerware McKenna has collected from all over. Above the La Cornue range, Hurliman designed the hood with Phillip Jeffries grasscloth wallpaper protected behind glass. On the opposite wall, a bank of green fluted cabinets sits inside an alcove, below windows that open to the outdoor bar. “I liked the idea of having a pass-through, so we can hand out food like short-order cooks,” McKenna says. 

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breakfast nook pastel accents HOME 2026

Photography by Dan Cutrona

breakfast nook pastel accents HOME 2026

Walls came down, ceilings dropped up to 10 feet, and 875 square feet from the old loggia and porch were reclaimed as interior and patio space. An intimate breakfast nook replaces the formal dining room, while an alfresco table seats up to 22.

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elegant bar with pink and green accents HOME 2026.jpg

Photography by Dan Cutrona

At the bar, Macchia Rose marble and sage velvet stools echo McKenna’s rosy, layered palette. “Pink and green go hand-in-hand, but I wanted them in a softer, more Parisian way,” she says.

Every detail earns its place. Since there was no room for a full laundry, they tucked the washer and dryer behind grasscloth-wrapped doors in a petite utility alcove in the hallway leading to the bedrooms. “Kelly styled them so beautifully that we leave the doors open a lot of the time,” McKenna adds.

Inside, the formal dining table is replaced by an intimate breakfast nook. Outside, the mood shifts to expansive ease, with an alfresco dining table that seats up to 22. The yard extends toward a pool surrounded by Turkuoise Trading pavers outlined in turf. “I wanted to have layers leading up to the house,” she says. “When you’re on the canal, the back is as important as the front.” The sequence continues to an exercise deck and a cold plunge/sauna, amenities that reflect shifting priorities in luxury home design. Beside classic black-and-white furnishings and cabana-striped umbrellas, a pair of vintage stone swans hold court. 

Back inside, the bedrooms abandon the main floor’s tonal restraint for an immersive palette of color and pattern. “I wanted each room to feel curated, to add more layers so the home really feels like it has a soul,” she says. One room, decorated with her daughter in mind, used a Pierre Frey floral wallpaper (Le Jardin De Monsieur Malcles in Printemps) as a starting point for a feminine and vibrant space. “We needed the browns and mustards with the pinks so it wouldn’t feel like a little girl’s room,” Hurliman says. A daybed with a trundle built into the wall and custom wardrobes complement the king-size bed, expanding capacity. “My daughter always comes with a pack, so it’s great for sleepovers,” McKenna says.

One son’s room commits to Peter Dunham’s Fig Leaf, which envelops curtains, bed upholstery and stools in what designers call pattern saturation. “We wanted it to feel more bridal suite-y, with the repeating pattern,” McKenna says. Hurliman paneled the walls with grasscloth, trimmed with Benjamin Moore Herb Garden green. The en suite bathroom continues the green theme through painted cabinetry and cheeky Sasha Bikoff’s Uptown Toile. Fabric-wrapped cornices above the original windows create the illusion of taller proportions. “It’s a little trickery, a workaround to raise your eyelids,” Hurliman says. 

Pierre Frey’s Treillage wallpaper wraps a second son’s room in a yellow trellis pattern—another subtle nod to coastal Florida, this time channeling sunshine. For the final son’s space, the only upstairs bedroom, they used a Cole & Son Fornasetti Nuvolette cloud-print wallpaper on the walls and ceiling. “The pattern is soft and serene, but more masculine,” Hurliman says. A built-in desk with floating shelves made from leftover parquet flooring turns an awkward alcove into a workspace. The en suite bathroom repurposes a vintage chest as a vanity. 

The primary bedroom pulls back to near-monastic simplicity with ivory bedding, Vaughn reading sconces and soft drapery set against limewash walls in Portola Paints’ bluish-pink shade, Prayer.

Distilling everything McKenna has learned from a career spent inside beautiful spaces, the home is timeless and tailored to how the real estate agent and her family want to live now and in the future. “I have bought a lot of homes with an exit strategy in mind, but this is the first time I ever really bought one just for us,” she says. “Your home is your vessel, it’s where you grow intellectually, emotionally, physically—and we have so many things to look forward to.”