Peek inside a Fox News host and author’s summer dream home

Soon after Dana Perino joined the Fox News Channel in July 2011 as one of the five hosts on the talk show “The Five,” her boss asked about her off-camera summer plans.

“And I remember thinking, ‘I don’t think I can afford a summer plan in New York,’” said Perino, who was the White House press secretary for the last 16 months of George W. Bush’s administration.

But in 2017, thanks to a sufficiently bulked-up bank account, she and her husband, Peter McMahon, the founder and CEO of a startup that manufactures medical devices, had not just a summer plan, but a summer place — a newly acquired house in Bay Head, New Jersey. Without traffic, it was one hour and six minutes from the couple’s primary residence on the West Side of Manhattan.

Then in December 2020, they moved to a larger house, also in Bay Head but close to the beach, with four bedrooms and an apartment over the garage.

“Because of the pandemic we were both working from home, and we knew we were going to need much more space than we’d had in the other house or there was going to be a divorce,” said Perino, 53, who in addition to her co-hosting duties on “The Five” is a co-anchor of Fox News Channel’s “America’s Newsroom.”

They have since redone the kitchen, enlarged the deck off the first floor and added decks to the second and third floors. “I had a pretty modest upbringing in Wyoming and Colorado,” Perino said. “I never thought in my life I would be able to live on beachfront property.”

The house came furnished. Initially, this was convenient because McMahon, 71, and Perino had sold their former Bay Head home furnished. But little by little, they jettisoned items and replaced them. Among the few survivors are the four oversize easy chairs in the sunroom, Perino’s favorite place to read in the morning.

The couple’s previous dog, a vizsla named Jasper, a frequent visitor to “The Five” and “America’s Newsroom,” died in 2021. His successor, Percy, was photographed during his first visit to the set at Fox News Channel and also captured on canvas by George W. Bush.

“When vizslas are born they have blue eyes,” said Perino, who sent the former president a picture of Percy as a puppy to paint from. “And he sent me a note while he was working on the picture, and he said, ‘Are you sure this dog has blue eyes?’” Yes, she was sure.

The pool table, another piece inherited from the former owners, separates the sun room from the family room.

Dog art in this room includes a painting of Jasper by a local artist, Alison Junda, and a photo of Percy on the beach.

Nearby is a picture of Perino celebrating the end of election-night coverage in 2020 at Fox News Channel with her colleagues Bret Baier, Jay Wallace, Martha MacCallum and Bill Hemmer.

Behind the table hangs a portrait of Jasper wearing a crown. Wanting to return a favor, Perino’s friend Aimée Mayo, a country music singer and songwriter, commissioned her uncle, Kelly Harwood, an artist and Nashville gallery owner, to paint a portrait of Jasper. “He hung the painting in his gallery before he sent it to me,” Perino said. “And one day Kathie Lee Gifford walked in, saw it and said, ‘You know Jasper?’”

The living room is where Perino reads in the afternoon. She also recommends it as a place to take a nap. There are two large sofas for that purpose.

One of the sofas has a monogrammed pillow, a present to Perino from her interior designer and close friend Barbara Fritts. “It was meant to be for my 50th birthday, but I got it on my 53rd birthday,” she said. “It took a little time to get the initials on it.”

The white built-in wall unit next to the fireplace stores numerous mementos and displays a collection of vintage campaign buttons.

A photo of Perino and McMahon with Bush at the White House figures prominently.

Her copy of “Children’s Stories of the Bible from the Old and New Testaments” holds more spiritual significance.

“One time on ‘The Five’ we were talking about our favorite childhood mementos, and I said, ‘In my mind’s eye I see this children’s Bible,’” Perino recalled. “I lost track of it because my parents divorced and I moved so many times, but I had great affection for that book.” A viewer sent her his copy. “I will never forget that.”

There is a single room on the third floor: Perino’s office, otherwise known as “the perch.” “I do a lot of my writing and exercise up here,” said Perino, indicating the Peloton bike and some Pilates equipment. The leaf-printed wallpaper gives the space the feel of a greenhouse.

“I first said I wanted flamingoes on the wallpaper, because my dermatologist has that and I think his office is so cool, but my decorator surprised me with leaves.”

“I’m a dream client,” she added. “I outsource and always say ‘yes.’”

A mirror frame near the couple’s dining area was handmade by Perino’s close friend Lauren Fritts, the daughter of her decorator. “She collected all these shells and made the mirror for me,” Perino said.

A porch swing was a must for Perino. So were the cushions imprinted with blue frogs (she’d seen the same cushions in green at the home of a friend). When the weather’s fine, the deck is where dinner is served. And there’s frequently a crowd.

“My husband has children from a previous marriage, but we don’t have children together,” Perino said. “He has a sister, but she lives in the United Kingdom, and my sister lives in Denver, so our friends have become our family.

“We bring them with us when we come in the winter, and most weekends from Memorial Day to Labor Day there’s someone staying with us here.”