Potter finished construction on the main section of the Clemenses Hartford home in 1875. But, it wasn’t until 1881 that the Clemenses started on the projects left aside for economic reasons during the 1874-75 construction. They expanded the kitchen wing of the house toward Farmington Avenue and redecorated the public spaces of the house, ensuring that the interiors were suitable for entertaining the many visitors that came to see the famous Mark Twain. The Clemenses first contacted Herbert M. Lawrence, a decorator who had done work for their friends, the Cheney silk magnates of Manchester, Connecticut. Lawrence was in Europe, but recommended a number of alternatives—including Mr. Louis Tiffany.

With help from Olivia’s mother, money earned from Samuel’s speaking tours, and the influx of funds provided by the publication of Adventures of Tom Sawyer in 1876, the Clemenses were able to hire Louis C. Tiffany’s interior design team, Associated Artists, to decorate the walls and ceilings of the first floor – the public spaces – of the house.

Associated Artists were members of the Aesthetic movement, and were known for their exotic interiors. The same year they decorated the Mark Twain House interior they were hired by U.S. President Chester Arthur to redecorate the state rooms of the White House. The company was made up of four designers: Louis C. Tiffany, Candace Wheeler, Lockwood DeForest, and Samuel Coleman. Each brought ideas from different parts of the world where they had traveled and studied, and each had a hand in the design of the Mark Twain House interior. As a result, the first floor of the house is filled with design motifs from Morocco‚ India, Japan‚ China, and Turkey.

The furnishing and decoration in the public spaces of the house were important signifiers of social class–and Samuel, who didn’t grow up with wealth, was new to this world and simultaneously afraid to make a wrong move and a little contemptuous of it all. Olivia was far more comfortable with the language of social class, although new to Hartford wealthy society. She took the lead in steering the family through the precarious world of high society, something they both understood to be necessary in building the career of Mark Twain as a public figure.