Decorating & Design
9 Decorating Lessons From The Rooms Of Great Designers
Published on November 30, 2022
The new book Inside, At Home with Great Designers takes you on a grand tour through the homes of top interior designers. Discover their tips on how to decorate with color, create “ornamental minimalism” and when to go bright and maximalist versus soft and serene. Scroll down!
Joseph Dirand, Paris
Design Lesson: Edit your collections. Think twice before purchasing items just because you can. Ask yourself, “Will this fit in my home? Where will it go?”
The sought-after architect and interior designer is known for his trademark “ornamental minimalism.” Joseph’s home in Paris’s 16th arrondissement is layered yet understated, filled with objets and art brought in as “a crush and love story,” he says. Joseph stays disciplined when it comes to collecting, keeping spaces airy, elegant and serene.
Paola Navone, Milan
Design Lesson: Take risks with your design — being bold and daring can produce spectacular results, and color can pull a collection together.
The iconic Italian designer’s signature moves include using color (think polka dot–covered walls in McDonald’s restaurants) and having a unique story line for each project. “I like to imagine every interior is a new movie,” says Paola. In her own home, she looked to create a living museum full of pieces she’d collected from her travels, including this French ceramics wall. “I always like the cold colors coming from the sea, from the water, from the sky,” she says.
Hugo Grisanti, Santiago
Design Lesson: Try a bold scheme with saturated colors and don’t forget the ceiling!
The architect, half of interior design firm Grisanti & Cussen, likes to keep people guessing. It’s often hard to pinpoint the exact aesthetic of his rooms, but it always leans maximalist, with nods to history and cinema. For his own home, Hugo and design partner Kana Cussen picked a bold color palette, repainting rooms in punchier shades after coming out of Covid lockdowns. “We like to choose colors of the same saturation,” says Hugo. “We use different colors to create new atmospheres.”
Emiliano Salci, Milan
Design Lesson: Think beyond how a room looks — how it makes you feel and the mood you’re trying to create are more important.
Co-founder of architecture and design firm Dimorestudio, Emiliano approaches interiors through a distinct color story, often using muted jewel tones to create spaces that almost glow. In his own home studio in Milan, he chose a palette of brown, hazel, ochre and dusty orange, and introduced iconic pieces such as a Tobia Scarpa daybed, Jean Prouvé shelf, Serge Mouille wall light and Eero Saarinen stool. “Design is about emotion, what the house tells you — the first impact,” says Emiliano.
Laura Sartori Rimini, London
Design Lesson: Not everything has to be perfect. Design for how you live and allow the small signs of a life well-lived to show through in your interiors.
If you want the look of an old British home, Laura suggests you relax a little. “Many English interiors are more casual, less studied and created with a bit of folie,” she says. The Milan-based designer’s one-bedroom flat in Chelsea features a dining room papered in restored and newly reproduced 18th-century chinoiserie wallpaper. It has a sumptuous atmosphere, thanks to a palette of golds and purples, and lush velvet textiles.
Miles Redd, New York
Design Lesson: Mix low and high, rough and glossy and different styles. Don’t forget the details — no surface is too small for adornment.
When the Redd Kaihoi interior designer (along with David Kaihoi) decorated his dream townhouse, he knew it was not the time to hold back. In the library, he added a bold red velvet tufted sectional and plenty of salon-style artworks, one of his signature decorating moves.
Sheila Bridges, New York
Design Lesson: Let your space reflect who you are. Incorporate art and objects from your travels or that have personal meaning for you.
Sheila’s apartment is in an Italian Renaissance–style building in Harlem that was built for the Astor family in 1901 by legendary architecture firm Clinton and Russell. Her decorating style, a fresh take on classical design, lights up every space. In the living room, walls are painted in Farrow & Ball’s Oval Room Blue to create a “subtly aged feel” while silk-covered seating and antique furniture are mixed with a Moroccan table, Burmese vessels and portraits by Black artists. The vibe is eclectic yet elegant.
Vincenzo De Cotiis, Milan
Design Lesson: Take cues from the architecture of your house when decorating. Work with historical features rather than removing them.
In 2015, Vincenzo and his wife, Claudia Rose, moved into their home and immediately got to work removing finishes from previous renovations to bring the floors, ceilings, archways and walls back to their original condition. Vincenzo leaned in to imperfect details such as creaky floors and plaster dust while reworking the layout, then filled the living and dining room with his own creations, like this sculptural light fixture.
Isabel López-Quesada, Biarritz
Design Lesson: Incorporate vintage materials and finds — they bring character to a space. As Isabel says, “You’re more creative when you don’t have all the money.”
“I don’t do houses that are unused, or places you wouldn’t sit, or dining rooms where you wouldn’t eat,” says the Madrid designer, who established her design firm at the age of 20. In 2005, she created her rustic guesthouse on a former pheasant farm in the French Basque countryside. A cement henhouse conversion, the dwelling is constructed from salvaged materials. In the kitchen, whitewashed wood paneling is juxtaposed with a bright turquoise Senegalese rug. “I love the woodwork, I love the handcraft and I love imperfect things,” she says. The look is relaxed, comfy and natural, and every piece comes with a story.