My Design Hot Takes

I have a few opinions about design.

Some of them are probably not that controversial.

Some of them might be.

And some of them I feel very strongly about.

So, in no particular order, here are a few of my design hot takes.

Beige Isn’t Bad. It’s Just... Boring.

Before everyone gets upset, let me explain.

I don’t hate beige.

I don’t even hate a neutral room.

But I do think our homes should have a little more life in them.

There is a scene in The Wizard of Oz where Dorothy steps out of the black-and-white world and into Technicolor. Suddenly, everything feels bigger, brighter, and more alive.

That is how I feel about color.

Life is full of color. We wake up and see it outside our windows. We wear it. We eat it. We travel to places because of it. We surround ourselves with it in so many ways.

So why should our homes feel completely devoid of it?

Now, how much color someone wants is a completely different question.

Some people need a few quiet touches of blue or green. Some people want a soft, calming palette with just a little bit of contrast.

And some people *cough, cough, me* need bright pink.

There is no right amount of color.

The right amount is the amount that makes you happy.

What I do believe is that our homes should feel alive. They should have personality, warmth, and some indication that real people live there.

A home doesn’t need to be loud to be colorful. It just needs to feel like someone made intentional choices.

Your House Shouldn’t Look Like Everyone Else’s

I don’t want to walk into your house and immediately know exactly where everything came from.

I want to see you.

That is one of the reasons I love custom design so much.

Custom does not always mean starting from scratch or spending a fortune on every single piece. Sometimes, it is the small details that make the biggest difference.

I love working with custom pieces because they give you the opportunity to make choices that no one else would make in exactly the same way.

And those little choices add up.

Don’t Ask Me to Make Your House Look Like Someone Else’s

I never want a client to come to me and say:

“Please decorate my house to look exactly like so-and-so’s.”

I would much rather hear:

“Please make my house feel like so-and-so’s.”

That is a very different request.

Your home should reflect your family, your life, your interests, your history, and the way you want to live.

The goal is not to recreate someone else’s house.

The goal is to understand what you love about it and then translate that feeling into something that is completely your own.

The Details Are Never “Just Details”

I think people sometimes underestimate how much small decisions can change a room.

A trim.

A fabric.

A paint color.

The shape of a table.

The finish on a piece of furniture.

A piece of art that is just a little unexpected.

A lamp that is slightly more interesting than the obvious choice.

These things may seem small on their own, but together they are what create the feeling of a room.

I love a room that makes you look twice.

That is the magic.

More Is More... If It Is Intentional

I am a maximalist.

I like color. I like pattern. I like art. I like collections. I like a room with a lot going on.

But more is not automatically better.

The goal is not to fill a room with everything you like and hope it works.

The goal is to make a lot of things work together.

It takes knowing when one more pattern is exactly what the room needs, and when one more pattern is, in fact, one pattern too many.

The Best Design Is Personal

Ultimately, I think that is my biggest design hot take.

Your home should be yours.

Not a room designed to impress people you don’t even know.

It should reflect the way you live and the things you love.

And if you want a pink room, you should have a pink room.

If you want a neutral room with one incredible piece of art, do that.

If you want color everywhere, I am probably your person.

There is no one-size-fits-all answer to good design.

So those are a few of my design hot takes.

I am sure I will have more in the future 😉