BUNNY WILLIAMS ON Livable Luxury
MIX STYLES, INVEST IN A GOOD SOFA, AND MAKE IT PERSONAL
B y A n a s t a s i a S t a n m e y e r // P h o t o b y J a m e s G i l l i s p i e
BUNNY WILLIAMS is all about creating a home that is lived in and functional, with each room inviting and comfortable— not precious and rarely used. And gardens require just as much planning and design, with added variables of adapting to the terrain and the amount of sunlight.
The interior designer, author, and entrepreneur will release her spring line through Bunny Williams Home on April 6, with an expanded outdoor collection of new teak and all-weather wicker styles, as well as planter boxes and pedestals.
“ I’ m always designing things that I need, and I love having pedestals because it gets plants at different heights, if you’ re trying to stage them,” says Bunny.“ If they’ re all down on the same plane, you can build it up. So, I often design things that I would like to have in my own garden, and usually I bring them to my garden.”
She also has a new book on the horizon, Decoration, which she is coauthoring with Elizabeth Lawrence, who began working with Bunny 16 years ago as an intern. In May 2023, Bunny Williams Interior Design was rebranded Williams Lawrence to reflect their partnership. The book, which will be released in the fall by
Rizzoli, illustrates work that each has done individually, as well as projects that they have done together.
“ It’ s not Decorating 101,” says Bunny.“ What I hope people will do is look at it and be inspired even by a color or a light fixture or a detail, because a lot of the work is very grand and fancy houses. Whether it’ s a garden or a home, you’ ve got to look at the best you can. I learned about gardening by going to Europe, going to Sissinghurst, going to Great Dixter, going to gardens I will never have like that, and I was inspired by them. It’ s always better to look at the best. You want to look at really good things. It helps to train your eye. From those things, you learn something. You pick up a detail or something that you know makes you feel good. And then you think,‘ Oh, I can try that.’”
Although she considers her exterior work truly for herself only and a hobby, Bunny is happy to offer advice based on her own experiences.
“ To me, great gardens are about design,” she says.“ If you just go buy some plants and stick them in a hole in the middle of the yard, that’ s not a garden. You’ ve got to start with the design, and that’ s why going to look at the great gardens around the world is a good idea. It’ s like a house. You have to get from one garden to another. What are your walkways? What are your paths? How does it flow? Whether it’ s a quarter of an acre or 500 acres, there has to be a plan. And then you can choose the proper plants to fill in for the scale of the house and the light sources.”
Bunny began gardening at her 15-acre 19th-century Greek Revival property, which she and her husband call“ The Manor,” in Falls Village, Connecticut, some 40 years ago. It is featured in Bunny Williams: Life in the Garden, whose photos appear on the following pages.
“ My property is hilly,” says Bunny.“ I started in the flattest area I could. Every weekend, I’ d come from New York, go out in the garden, and I had these two huge perennial borders on the flat lawn. Then I realized it was sort of boring, and I started traveling and looking at things.”
Her gardens continuously evolved. Every time she had a little bit of money, she would do something else. They now consists of a sunken garden with a fishpond; a formal boxwood parterre garden; a woodland garden with a waterfall; a cutting and vegetable garden; an orchard and barn that includes a chicken coop;
Spring 2026 BERKSHIRE MAGAZINE // 23