While furnishing and decorating the rooms of a Wisconsin lake house, interior designer Tommy Clements was grateful not to have to be working with, or for, someone. “I loved not having a client,” he says, referencing the fact that this five-bedroom, circa-1900 carriage house situated just a breaking wave away from Lake Geneva, is his own secondary residence, albeit one that he shares with his longtime partner, the designer Waldo Fernandez.

“This has been the easiest thing for me to do because everything I’ve chosen for the house is an instinctual, gut reaction. I bought things that I love. I didn’t know where they would go or be placed, but on every trip to Europe, especially the Cotswolds, if I saw something I wanted, I just snatched it up.”

For the Los Angeles–based Clements, who shares a thriving design partnership with his mother, Kathleen Clements, and both of whom are known for their collaborative approach with clients, the old Queen Anne–style residence he purchased on the scenic lake, some 80 miles north of Chicago, differs from all other projects he undertakes. “My mom often talks about how hard it is to put together her own home, but for me it’s completely the opposite.”

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INTERIOR DESIGN BY TOMMY CLEMENTS

PHOTOGRAPHY BY WILLIAM ABRANOWICZ

WRITTEN BY DAVID MASELLO

This story appeared in the Fall 2025 issue of MILIEU.