Decorating & Design
Designer Spotlight: Mikel Welch On Creating Spaces That Tell A Story
Updated on August 21, 2020
It’s rare for designer Mikel Welch to get a moment to himself. Between filming episodes of his Quibi show Murder House Flip and perfecting his new wholesale furniture line with Yosemite Home (which is available for purchase online next month), we were lucky to catch the designer in his New York City apartment for a phone call. We chatted about his experience as a set designer for hit talk shows like The Steve Harvey Show and Harry Connick Jr.’s Harry (Mikel’s a natural in front of the camera), the item he can’t live without and his secret for creating character in even the most cookie-cutter spaces.
Scroll down to learn more about the talented designer!
“I call my design style primitive modern,” says Mikel. “Think, Fred Flintstone if he was in a time machine and brought to current day. I love things that have a more natural essence.”
Mikel designed the handsome lower-level of the 2019 Brooklyn Heights Designer Showhouse. He swathed the walls in Ressource Peintures’ Abysse, a deep gray-blue color, giving the space a cocooning feel. The warm tones from the natural brick, leather chair and stacks of chopped wood pop against the moody hue.
Just off to one side of the fireplace is built-in storage, filled with books, pottery, beads and a vintage portrait. “It’s all about creating character,” says Mikel, who is a master of layering.
“Furniture can be boring, so it needs to be dressed,” he says. “A room is just a basic shell with furniture in it, but it’s those layered moments that help you tell the story of each room.”
Look closely, and you’ll notice a recurring motif in some of his spaces: horses. “I’m totally afraid of them,” he says, with a laugh. “I don’t want to ride them, but it’s just something about horses that I gravitate towards, especially with sculptures. To me, they’re just so picturesque, and I think I like their strength. I see myself as a gentle strength.”
“Instagram is my biggest source of inspiration, but I’m really not a trend follower,” says Mikel. “I prefer to stick to the classics because I feel like they’re timeless.” His sentiment rings true in this trad living room, complete with a natural wood fireplace surround and symmetrical sofas, sconces and potted plants.
Would you believe us if we told you that Mikel came across this beautiful bench in the middle of a massage? His masseuse just so happened to be furniture maker/massage therapist Bradford Teasdale of Teasdale Design Studio who takes pieces of driftwood off of the Hudson River and infuses them with concrete slabs to make benches and sculptures. This bench is truly the epitome of Mikel’s design aesthetic: natural meets manmade, vintage meets modern. “I’m about mixing and matching those two worlds,” he says.
In Mikel’s 650-square-foot New York City apartment, a coconut fiber rain coat from the 1800s — which he found on eBay — has pride of place in the main living space. “It’s my one coveted piece,” he says. “If this apartment catches on fire, I will run outside in my underwear and that coat!” he says, with a laugh. Mikel made the barn doors out of wood to create a cottage feeling in the city.
Mikel Welch