The difference between weird and wonderful is just good design.
–LEANNE FORD
Leanne
I know there are a lot of creative souls out there reading this who are just starting out on their creative lives. Maybe you are still in high school and have to just get through math class. (Who needs it, really? Hi, calculators!) Or maybe you are a mother or father of three kids, doing a job you don’t love in a career you don’t care about. It is never too early or too late to follow your dream or even to think of a new dream.
I’m a designer. It would be crazy for me not to have a chapter on design. I want to tell you that I have all the answers to your design problems, that if you do this one little thing, your house is going to look like one in a magazine. But you know I don’t believe in any formula like that.
You know what I believe in? I believe you—and everyone—should love their homes.
That’s it. Yes, really. That is it. You and your family, the ones living in your home, are the only ones who matter.
I look at a house as a blueprint without interior walls. I get tunnel vision and focus on what needs to move. Move your bathroom to the back of your house? Yes! Move the living room to the front of your house? Yes! Take out the staircase and put in an entirely new staircase? Yes!
People who are trying to convince you out of your dream will say that they are doing so because they want you to be happy. That taking a risk is hard, too hard.
I say no. How will you ever know what is going to look good in your home if you don’t follow your own path?
Here are a couple of ideas to make your house your favorite design project—and your dream home.
1. ADD ART TO YOUR HOME
I’m a huge fan of installing art in my homes and the homes I decorate. In my new 1950s personal project, I commissioned my friend Elaina Sullivan to create an enormous white painting that is hanging on my white wall for the entryway of my house.
Remember: you can frame anything and say it’s art. I will frame doodles from friends, magazine tear sheets, or ripped-out pictures from books I love. Anything that makes my little heart happy.
Probably the biggest risk I took with an art installation was for the Yanakos family. Pittsburgh artist Carolyn Kelly custom painted their entryway stairs in a high-gloss black and then painted a white high-gloss graffiti-like design over the steps. The client requested those stairs specifically; they were inspired by a previous project I had done with the same artist.
“You can name my firstborn child if I get to have graffiti stairs,” the owner said to me.
Okay, great. Let’s do graffiti stairs. And her name shall be Bongo.
I posted the finished product on my Instagram, and my goodness, those stairs were so polarizing. Some people loved it; some hated it. But the only opinion that mattered was my clients’, because it was their house and they had to live in it. They were thrilled.
I’ll say it again: art is subjective. That’s why I love it. I’ve always been in an industry where someone is almost always going to like my work and someone is not. And if no one hates it, then it’s most likely that no one loves it.
You and your family live in the house, and your family is going to live with the art. If you decide that you want to draw on your wall—go for it. You can always paint over it. But don’t stop yourself from taking that risk because you’re worried about what other people are going to think.
2. CREATE A SOLUTION OUT OF A PROBLEM
The farmhouse I lived in for a short time was a wreck when I first got it. I ripped down walls, painted everything white—you know the drill—and that’s not so hard to do. But I had an attic that I loved and wanted to use as a room. That was the good thing. The problem was getting to it.
In the second-floor hallway, there were two closets and the attic pull-down staircase. I don’t like wasting space in a house; if the space is there, I want to use it. I wanted the attic to be a full office. Here was the big problem: How would I turn this into an everyday room?
So I spoke to Ed Zeiler and Steve. Ed has been friends with Steve for more than ten years, and he’s an incredible woodworker. I told him what my idea was: to have a wooden spiral staircase. It couldn’t take up any room, so we had to get creative. I wanted something artistic and beautiful. Ed, who’s a regular on the show now, majored in photography in college and minored in sculpture. His dad had a remodeling company when he was growing up as well. We’ve all been really lucky to have Ed in our lives and to take risks on projects with us. He’s a true talent.
“That staircase was one of the hardest things I’ve ever built,” Ed said. He built the whole staircase in his shop—all hand-carved, hand-bent wood; each stair had a different cut. I loved that staircase—it was like a piece of artwork. We ripped out the closets, closed up the pull-down attic, and installed that staircase. It was a huge job.
I say this all the time, but some of the most beautiful design elements in my homes, or in the homes I work on, were created as a solution to a problem. That staircase is no exception.
3. THEIR HEIRLOOMS DON’T HAVE TO BE YOUR HEIRLOOMS
Imagine this scenario: Grandma gave Mom a giant velvet-painted portrait. “This is a collectible. You have to keep it,” she says. But Mom doesn’t like it, and it doesn’t fit in her house. She doesn’t know what to do with it. She feels guilty about getting rid of it. She gives it to you. Now you’re stuck with the burden of carrying this giant velvet-painted portrait for fifty years. And guess what? You’re going to pass it on to your kid, who’s still not going to want it. And the cycle continues, a long line of torturing the next family member.
Here’s an idea: just get rid of it. You don’t have to keep the family heirloom.
What looked great in Grandma’s house isn’t always going to look great in your house, and that’s okay. If you love it, great! If it’s not your style, don’t keep it. I see it over and over again on the show and in people’s homes: because they’re still holding on to these heirlooms, they never fully move in and make a place their own. Which means they never get to love where they live. It’s this vicious cycle we all trick each other into.
You have full permission to purge what you don’t want.
Your home should have your energy and your soul. It has to have your intention, your purpose. Make conscious choices for your home. Only bring in what brings you and your family joy.
4. ALWAYS ADD VINTAGE
I have a friend who hired an interior designer. I walked into her home, excited to see the transformation, but once I walked in that door, my excitement just dropped. It wasn’t the design; it was nice enough, and everyone has different tastes. I don’t judge if you want to do your entire home in any style as long as that’s what you want. But a good interior designer should lead you in a direction where the home represents who you are.
We have lots of layers within us. We have history. We’ve been on trips. We have old and new.
When I walked into my friend’s house, I looked around in shock because everything was brand-new and store bought. Every single piece of art, every piece of furniture, every rug—all new and easy to find. It was almost like the designer was just trying to check the design project off their list. It was missing the soul, the fire, the oomph. It needed some heart.
That’s where vintage comes in. I believe deeply in mixing in vintage. You don’t have to do all vintage, but it’s good to represent the stories of life through your decorating choices. If someone is picking out all new furniture, all new items, all new knickknacks for your house, it becomes a house without a soul.
That’s how my friend’s house felt. It didn’t represent her and who she was as a person. Her tastes, her dreams. The decor could have been anywhere. It could have belonged to anyone. It was the first time I saw a home so obviously missing that element.
Don’t worry—we did some quick work and fixed her place up, adding soul with some vintage pieces and mixing it in with the new. Now she loves her home.
5. WEAR BLACK, PAINT WHITE
You knew this one was coming, didn’t you?
Don’t underestimate the power of white paint. It is the most universal, most forgiving, most timeless, classic, and beautiful color you can use in your home. It is failproof, and it works in your home. I promise.
In fact, I really love paint as a general tool in home design. Anything can be painted. I have painted new furniture, painted mirrors, painted sofas, painted floors—you name it. (I’ve even painted Tom Ford the dog. Not on purpose—I mean, I asked him to move!) But don’t forget about this option to freshen up your home. It’s easy and budget friendly and can make a huge difference. It’s amazing how a good coat of fresh paint can spruce things up.
6. DESIGN LIKE A CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Always think of the best visual in a room. What’s the best thing going about that space? Is it the windows? The fireplace? The bathtub? Design the room around that focal point. Think of “the shot” when working on your space, because that’s what you will see every day.
I’m working on a house right now that you’ll see in season 2 of the show. The master bathroom was a mess. First of all, the toilet was the first thing you saw when you walked into the bathroom. This was a problem! My client also had a beautiful copper tub that she didn’t know what to do with. I knew exactly what to do with it: make it the focus of the room. I always take the prettiest item and make that the centerpiece of the room.
So we moved the tub, and then we moved the toilet behind the door. Now, when you walk into the master bathroom, you see their magnificent copper tub, and it changes everything.
7. TAKE SOME PICTURES
If you want to get into design, then by all means, start taking pictures of your work! I know making a look book isn’t actually a design tip, but if you’re going to work so hard on making your home beautiful, it’s important to take photos. You want to document your progress.
I realized that anyone who was going to hire me was going to ask me if I had a book to look at. If you want to get into interior design—which people ask me about all the time—you absolutely have to start by making a book. People want to see what you can do and why they should hire you. They need visual proof. I can’t stress this enough.
You’ve only decorated your own house? That’s fine! Rearrange your bedroom and take pictures. Or rearrange the plates and the trinkets in your kitchen. Rearrange your friend’s bedroom. Take lots of pictures, and take risks with your ideas. Your style and your aesthetic will always evolve, and it will always get better. Take some pictures one way; then move a chair or place a new blanket down. Do an edit—that’s exactly what magazines do.
Study your favorite interior magazines and books and dissect what you love about the pictures. Is the chair pulled out from under the table? Is the floral arrangement off-center? Then re-create your favorite tricks in your own pictures.
My career in design started taking off when people started asking me to do little projects for them. I never said no (say yes until you get to say no), and I took pictures of everything. If I got one great picture out of the project, it was worth it. I went in with my creative director marketing brain, thinking of the imagery.
Think about the end visual. What do you want it to look like? What’s the best angle? Highlight the prettiest, most interesting pieces, in the best angles. Cheat the furniture. (Move it forward; move it back. A chair can sit in the middle of the room for a picture, even if you don’t live with it in that position.) Do what you need to do to get the shot. You’re creating art; do what you have to in order to make it special. Put your camera on a tripod or a table, and let the natural light in.
Maybe a hundred people ever get to be in that house, but thousands can potentially see a picture of it. The more people that can enjoy your work, the better.