What designer Sam Cardella’s Chicago client needed for her winter place near Palm Springs was a rethought home that better reflected her own personality and a brand-new life.

A decade ago, Jackie Rudman, who’s a museum docent and retired teacher, as well as an avid art collector, built a retreat in Rancho Mirage, California, in which she and her husband could escape the harsh Chicago winters. The home, designed by Thomas Hickey & Associates in Chicago, was well suited to the setting: all low-slung volumes and muted earth tones, in a desert landscape by garden designer Marcello Villano. Sad to say, her husband passed away several years ago, and Rudman started looking at the house differently. “I woke up one morning and decided I didn’t like the way we had decorated the house. It felt too dark, too masculine,” recalls Rudman. “I like bright colors. My home has to be warm and cheerful, at least to me,” she says.

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