To Lindsay Key, every space is a living story. One shaped by those who dwell within it. It shifts with mood, function, and time. As principal of Key + Shade, founded in 2010, she draws on a formal art and design education and a deep love of organic, original, and tactile materials. The spaces she creates are warm, layered, and deeply personal.

Lindsay’s aesthetic is joyful and intuitive. It was shaped early on by life between two worlds. The West Village of New York City. And the Green Mountains of Southern Vermont. Raised by an esteemed landscape architect mother and a banker-woodsman father, she grew up surrounded by bohemian creativity, quiet forests, and long days spent hiking, skiing, and in maple sugar houses.

Today, Lindsay approaches each project as a collaboration. An opportunity to translate personality into place. Her work spans historic Brooklyn townhouses, SoHo lofts, and pieds-à-terre, as well as stately homes and country retreats. Her design touch is subtle, soulful, and quietly cherished by clients across the Northeast.

Before founding Key + Shade, Lindsay spent five years under the mentorship of New York designer Kenneth Brian Walker. She began her career as a visual artist, earning a BA in Installation and Sculpture from Oberlin College. She later received a BFA from the New York School of Interior Design.

Lindsay enjoys working closely with tradespeople, crafting custom interiors and considering every detail. She lives with her husband, David Shade, and their two children. Together, they split their time between New York City and the ongoing renovation of their 200-year-old converted barn in Winhall, Vermont.