Newport Beach native returns with new studio, all by design
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Her married name was Molly Proul. Her maiden name was Molly O’Neil.
To her good friends, though, she is simply known as “Molly O.”
“We’ve called her Molly O her whole life,” said O’Neil’s lifelong friend, Celeste Gilles. “Her license plate when she was 16 was Molly O. She’s in my phone as Molly O. I’ve never called her by her married name, she’s always just been Molly O.”
Now, the Newport Beach native has come full circle, just like the final letter in her moniker.
Molly O’Neil recently opened Molly O Architectural Interior Design in the industrial area in west-side Costa Mesa. A grand-opening celebration was held last week.
O’Neil, a 1989 Newport Harbor High School graduate, has moved back home and is living on the Newport Peninsula after years working in corporate design in San Diego and San Francisco. She also opened her own design studio in Del Mar in 2013.
But O’Neil moved back to Newport Beach after her only child, Lucille, graduated from the Bishop’s School of La Jolla a couple of years ago.
“I wanted to do something that was different,” said O’Neil, 53, who has done design work for companies like Taco Bell, Gap and Jack in the Box. “Something that people could come in here and be inspired, people could really see this space in their own home. I wanted this space to capture a lot of people’s personalities and style.”
Her father was Dennis O’Neil, who served as city attorney before two terms on the Newport Beach City Council. He was mayor in 1999 and contributed to the community in myriad ways.
Dennis died in 2017. Now his daughter helps take care of her mother, Thais, who visits her studio often.
“My mom comes here every day and she waters the plants and she checks in,” O’Neil said. “We both feel like we still feel my dad here.”
O’Neil maintains a sense of community with many of her childhood friends. The kitchen space in her studio features a working range and Sub-Zero refrigerator. She hosted a Christmas dinner featuring chicken marbella serving it up to several of her longtime friends, including Gilles.
“I haven’t seen a store like hers where she has all of the vignettes of different rooms set up, and I think that’s a really cool concept. said Gilles, a Realtor based in Laguna Beach. “She’s got such a big space, so she’s able to create this feeling of home when you walk into it, which I think is awesome.”
O’Neil said customers drop into her studio quite often. She feels it’s in a good location, between a popular bakery and frame store.
She loves showing off details like all walnut cabinets and a wallpaper that features blowfish. A master bedroom area is displayed on one side of the studio, and near some bunk beds hangs her “Molly O” burgee flag from the days she sailed a yellow sabot boat as a child.
The space behind the storefront is where the designers work. There’s a library featuring wall coverings, fabrics and tiles.
O’Neil said she currently has just two employees, but she’s looking to expand that number to as many as eight. Still, other friends have helped her in the studio, which also features items like rugs, furniture and other accessories for sale in addition to architectural planning and specialty interiors.
She said that though her father is deceased, she believes his spirit has helped her meet the right people and line up her business back in the Newport-Mesa area. O’Neil added that she’s made mistakes in the business over the years and continues to learn.
Her new studio is a bright space for her, and she hopes her customers will feel the same way.
“I feel happy and joyful when I come here, and that’s what I’m trying to achieve,” O’Neil said. “We’re not here to solve our world’s problems, we’re here to enhance our lifestyle ... There’s so much in design that we can do. We imagine it, we can create it.”
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