The Cultivated Home

Erin Kilmartin

  • 1983 – Born on a stormy fall night in Providence, Rhode Island to an Irish father and Lithuanian mother.
  • 1985 – Started her lifelong love affair with Nantucket Island hunting for seashells and spying on beautiful houses in a stroller with her mom.
  • 1987 – As a young child grows fascinated with watching her father create the latest and greatest jewelry packaging, begins transforming his discarded boxes into small homes for her Barbies.
  • 1992 – Parents enroll her in after school classes at the RISD museum where she would frequently stray from the group, only to be found sitting in front of a new impressionist painting each time.
  • 1997 – As a young teen she is pried from her friends and forced on a plane to Florence for a family vacation where her father drags her on a weeks-long tour of each and every Renaissance church . She leaves with a strong interest in Brunelleschi and an insatiable desire to learn more.
  • 1999 – A studio ceramics class sparks what will turn into a life-long obsession with vases, bowls and home accessories.  As a final project she submits a collection of smashed pieces to give the look of a prehistoric home.
  • 2002 – Leaves New England and heads down to Rollins College to soak up the sun and cultivate her love for design and art history.
  • 2004 – With a burning desire to travel she heads to Paris for the summer spending most days in the Louvre or walking the streets admiring the city’s ancient and beautiful buildings. She falls especially in love with Centre Pompidou and it’s bizarrely wacky art and architecture. Returns to Florida content to never see another gothic church, but with a fresh fascination with modern expressionism.
  • 2005 – Recalling the joys of her first childhood trip, she returrns to Florence for the summer to study and marvel at its architectural gems.
  • 2006 – Leaves sunny Florida for New York where she accepts a job at Donna Karan Home outfitting beds, marketing towels, honing her asthetic, and realizing her innate desire to beautify the home.
  • 2008 – Makes her largest step yet towards commiting to a career in home design by enrolling in the New York School of Interior Design.  She meets Nina and begins lending a hand at Haus Interior.
  • 2009 – Begins contributing to the Cultivated Home, spreading her passion for all things beautiful!