Photographs by Kim Cornelison and Cory Aldinger
Thomas Hill sitting infront of fireplace
“Sometimes you just have to be daring and make a statement,” Hill says. He makes good on that with his sharp fashion—he’s wearing glass-beaded shoes and a signature hat—and with the leopard-print carpet in his 1970s split-level home in Edina. The wool carpet’s tight print helps it read like a neutral so it doesn’t compete with other patterns and colors, he says.
For Thomas Hill, fashion and interior design have always been intertwined. As a boy, he scavenged his family’s attic for old clothes to cut up to create his own look. By 16, he had saved enough money to buy his own sewing machine and began turning out vests and jumpsuits from Butterick patterns. At the same time, he was whipping up draperies and redecorating rooms—once getting his mom to agree to move the TV out of the family room so he could turn it into a sitting room. The Minneapolis native later graduated from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and became an award-winning fashion designer before shifting to interior design. We chatted with the dapper designer and owner of Thomas I. Hill Interiors about style and the design of his Edina home.
“I don’t gravitate to one artist or one style. If it speaks to me, I’ll buy it.”
Thomas Hill, designer
Since you’re both a fashion and interior designer, how do the two intersect? Fashion trends and color trends always lead the way for what’s going to happen in the home industry. And personal style can be found in the closet and then expressed in a home. If someone tends to wear neutrals and more tailored clothing, they’ll probably like a cleaner, more tailored look for their home.
How would you describe your style? It’s definitely eclectic. Classic eclecticism. My previous house was a 1920s Craftsman that was traditional with a contemporary twist. I flipped that in this home—it’s contemporary with a twist of traditional. It has interest. It makes you stop and think.
Art is obviously a passion of yours—your walls are filled with it. What does artwork do for you? It makes me happy. It gives me energy. Each piece of art has its own soul. You can walk by a piece and enjoy the interpretation of what the artist is trying to get across. I don’t buy art for a certain spot in my home. I buy the art because I love the art. I have so many different types. Each piece holds its own even when I collage them all together.
You have quite the impressive gallery walls in your dining room. How do you even start something that massive? I actually asked a designer friend to help me. When he got here and saw everything, he looked at me and said, ‘I don’t even know where to begin. I’ll just dust them off and hand them to you.’ But I love art so much I’ve never been frightened. It’s more about me getting it all up so I can enjoy it. I start with a large piece in the middle of the wall and build out from it. It’s almost like a puzzle, trying to fit different shapes and sizes together. Some people cut paper templates and lay it out on the floor or are very controlled with the spacing. That’s almost overthinking it to me. Just be brave and go for it.
What’s the biggest mistake people make with art? Hanging it too high seems to be common. For me, it’s more about the buying. The biggest mistake is someone buying a piece of art because the color matches their sofa. They should be buying a piece of art because they love it.
What’s the best compliment someone could give you about your home? That it has soul. I wanted my home to have a soul, and how I created that soul was with the artwork and photos of friends and relatives. I wanted it to be very warm and inviting. I want everyone who comes in to feel like they belong there.
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Cabinet with stack of hats and asian needlepoint
Signature style—A stack of hats is a constant on the cabinet in the foyer. Designer Thomas Hill rarely goes about the cities without donning one of his favorites. “I like them all— a straw hat for a more casual look, berets—everything,” Hill says. “I switch them out for the season. People always wonder what hat I’ll have on.” The Asian art is a needlepoint his mother did several decades ago.
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Dining room from above with walls covered in art
Art show—The dining area’s floor-to-ceiling gallery walls are instant conversation starters. Hill likes to ask dinner guests to pick an art piece, and he’ll tell what it means to him. “It creates really wonderful conversations that lead into connections with other people’s lives,” he says. He freely mixes styles. Hill painted the colorful nude when he was 16, and he used it as starting point for building out the arrangement. The childlike clown painting on the other wall was done by an insurance agent who offered to throw it in if Hill bought car insurance from him.
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Andy Warhol's Marilyn Monroe on a red wall
Glammed Up—Hill counts Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe among the 200 pieces in his art collection. He flanked the iconic pop art piece with sconces (from H&B Gallery) that he calls Marilyn’s earrings. “A glamour girl has got to have some glamour,” he adds. Hill bought the silk screen about 20 years ago from a friend. Against the den’s burnt-red walls (Benjamin Moore’s Red Oxide), the graphic painting blends in.
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Desk with work on it
Desk duty—A Thomas O’Brien secretary with a larger-than-usual dropdown work surface is an in-a-nutshell representation of Hill’s style. The painted exterior has a modern look; the mahogany interior is traditional. “It’s mixing new with the old, which fits in with my house,” he says.
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two portraits and lots of other art
Friends often gift Hill with art. One friend rendered Hill—and his warm smile—in an acrylic portrait that’s propped on a curio cabinet. It sits below a painting of his late mother, who inspired Hill’s love of fashion; a friend commissioned the painting based on a cell phone photo Thomas had taken at her birthday party.
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bedroom side table
Bedside manners—“I want bedrooms to be calming, not stimulating,” Hill says. Grass cloth provides a textural backdrop for furnishings and a vintage starburst in his bedroom. “Wallpaper makes a room look bigger,” Hill says. “It has depth. Your eye is drawn in because of the interest in the texture or pattern.” The campaign-style nightstand (one of a pair) serves as an overflow dresser for the self-proclaimed clotheshorse. The piece also earns style points with Hill for its upholstered doors with nailhead trim.
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modern bathroom vanity
Modern spin—The bathroom was the last room Hill completed—and the most contemporary. He designed the room around the lacquered cobalt-blue vanity. Walls mix textures: porcelain tiles with striated lines and grass cloth that has an ombré effect. Hill says it’s worth putting thought into the look and feel of a bathroom. “When you get up in the morning, it should make you feel good so your day starts out on a happy note and only gets better from there,” he says.
Interior design: Thomas I. Hill Interiors, 612-644-4423
