DALE BARATTINI MCLIN LOVES BEAUTIFUL THINGS.
It’s a fact that has driven her since childhood, when her parents enrolled her in art classes in hopes of finding an outlet that sparked her interest. While sports never held much appeal, art came naturally, and McLin embraced that talent, eventually graduating from the John McCrady Art School in New Orleans before embarking on a career in graphic design.
After starting a family, the Louisiana native put her career on hold to raise her children, returning to her passion only after she became an empty nester. Despite decades without a brush in her hand, she found her way back to the canvas and began showing her work in galleries. Over the next few years, she transitioned into working with interior designers, who commissioned her to paint one-of-a-kind murals and custom pieces for clients’ homes.
“Working in people’s homes and painting those spaces where they live their lives was a unique experience,” she says. “Some people truly enjoy their homes—you can see it in the way they occupy the rooms. So being given the task to create murals that someone had a specific vision for made me realize just how incredibly personal homes are. My work was unique because I was able to personalize the spaces to an even greater degree, to bring out the personality of the homeowners or whomever would be using those rooms. And each project, like each client, was unique. One client in her 80s would call me to paint quotes on the walls of her dining room before her bridge club came over. She still enjoyed ‘playing’ in her house. I love that!”
McLin’s work as a muralist saw great success over two decades, until her 60th birthday brought another shift in her journey as an artist. “My husband said it was probably time to climb down off the ladder and scaffolding,” she recalls with a laugh. “I was sometimes two or three stories in the air, painting these murals.”
Back down on solid ground, she focused on smaller-format painting, which led to hand-painted pillows for designers before she branched into painted textiles of every imaginable kind. Three years later, she found sources in the United States to manufacture pillows, tea towels, placemats, printed canvases and rugs—all with her original art. It was then that Hill & Dale Home was born.
It all started with talent, of course. But along with that talent came a desire to bring beauty to everyone’s home and to make art more accessible. “Any of the pieces offered by Hill & Dale Home are classic, timeless and approachable,” McLin says. “The designs are meant to bring beauty to any room, in any season. My greatest wish, in whatever someone chooses, is that they feel joy when they see my work in their home. Most people I meet at a show or market always comment on how happy everything looks. I’m a very optimistic person, and I think that comes through in my work.”
Indeed, it does, as McLin’s work has a whimsical, lyrical feel—much of which has been inspired by her years growing up in New Orleans, where she was exposed to a melting pot of vibrant cultures and unique landscapes, as well as by her new home in York, South Carolina. “I think there is so much beauty all around us—every day and in every season,” she says. “My whole life, I’ve always been drawn to nature: the grace of the egret and the heron—each so beautiful and unique—and the serenity of the mountain landscapes and the marshes. They’re each so very different but tranquil in their own way.”
Whatever inspiration has found its way to her brush, McLin captures her muse on the canvas, eventually turning those images into items of décor that will find their way into someone’s home. “My ideas come from everywhere—from all the things I see around me: a new design book, going to a new museum, walking around downtown. And I’m always poring over a new design magazine; they always end up dog-eared for a new idea. The magic happens when I can re-create it, with my own twist,” says the artist.
It’s a process that she loves, though, as a business owner, McLin must divide her time between creation and production. “I’d love to say that I paint every day, but business makes that impossible,” she admits. “I’m only at the easel a few days a week—the rest of my days are spent keeping things running, from manufacturing to packing and shipping and just living life.”
Offering all of her branded, hand-designed décor and gift items, the Hill & Dale Home website is like a peek into all the things that make McLin happy: beautiful art, fluffy throw pillows, vibrant rugs, whimsical table linens, fun totes and seasonal décor. In a way, it’s a welcome into her home. “I live in a 1920s cottage that is filled with blue and white décor,” she says. “My idea of luxury and success is clean sheets, good candles, fresh flowers and a full pantry. I also love to cook and entertain, so my ideal evening would be dinner at home with friends, sitting around the table for hours after the meal was over, talking and laughing.”
Recently, McLin’s line has branched out into wallpaper and fabric, using some of her existing designs and reimagining them into workable patterns. “It’s totally new to me and really exciting,” she says. “I love learning new things.”
Today, every Hill & Dale Home design reflects the same curiosity and love for beauty that first drew McLin to art as a child. Whether it appears on a pillow artfully placed on a bed, a tea towel hanging in a kitchen or a newly launched wallpaper pattern, her work is intended to bring a sense of joy and comfort to the most treasured spaces of a home. For McLin, there is no greater reward than knowing that something she created has become part of the backdrop to someone else’s life—a daily reminder that beauty is for everyone. *
Liesel Schmidt lives in Navarre, Florida, and works as a freelance writer for local and regional magazines. She is also a web content writer and book editor. Follow her on X at @laswrites or download her novels, Coming Home to You, The Secret of Us and Life Without You, at amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com.
