3 min readArranging your home to give your guests a good first impression is one thing—but what if you happen to be hosting an interior designer? Their seasoned eye and reputation as an arbiter of good taste can be intimidating. But the way to really impress them with your design style is far simpler than you’d think.
We asked our class of Next Wave designers to share the home decor “green flags” they love to see in people’s homes—and their answers are much more down-to-earth than you’d expect.
A Smart Use of Floor Space
The first thing Abigale Marcelo notices when she walks into any home is the flooring—or rather how much of it she can actually see.
“Having a full-sized carpet in the living room,” the principal designer of Casa Marcelo says. “Too many people have a five-by-seven area rug when they need a 10-by-14.”
Intentional Furniture Placement
Designing for scale, especially in smaller living rooms, is an all-too-common challenge for most. While it may be tempting to scale down in the name of saving space, buying the correct size makes for a more curated, intentional-looking space.
For designer Louis Lin, it’s all about how you orient your space, particularly where you park your sofa. He loves to see a couch well-placed rather than shoved against the wall.
“I love it when people don't push their sofa against the wall,” says Lin. “I think all the sofa should be, you know, floating in the space that creates circulation.”
Circulation is a core principle in Brazilian modernism, a design style and methodology that Lin often uses to inform his work. Interior designers across styles have made it a point to prioritize function as well as form, crafting spaces that we not only sit in, but travel through in our daily routines.
Tasteful Knickknacks on Display
Indigo Pruitt’s Marie Cloud is skipping the foyer to check out your pantry, particularly your mug collection.
“I found that clients don't really know how to express their aesthetic and express their style within their home. That's why they're bringing us in. I want to go in their pantry and see their favorite mugs. I want to get a feel for their fashion aesthetic. I want to get a feel for those things. That gives me a little nod of what their jam is.”
With trend culture and a seemingly endless obsession with creating homes that feel “timeless” constantly crowding our social feeds, vision boards, and creativity, it can be hard to channel our personal style into designs that we know we’ll love years down the line. Interior designers are trained to translate our tastes into our home in a way that’s not just palatable, but beautiful.
Like Cloud, Johanna Lyle, of the eponymous interior design firm Jo Lyle & Co, loves to embrace her client’s individual whims. So, when she visits a home, she wants to see your knickknacks, trinkets, and tchotchkes on full display. It gives her a glimpse not just into the aesthetics or design periods you might find yourself inspired by, but your perspective on what a home should feel like.
“When people have really interesting tchotchkes and wall decor and things that they like to display, because it tells me that they like their home to feel storied and personal,” says Lyle.
Thriving Plants
If you have a penchant for plants or an impressive windowsill garden, Tiffany Skilling wants to work with you.
“Really luscious green plants. Oh yeah, green flag,” Skilling exclaims.
Blooming, full, beautiful plants are a sign of a well-kept home, thoughtful routine, and intentional lifestyle. For Skilling, these are all qualities that make a client that much more fun to work with.
Show-Stopping Drapery
If you’re hoping to impress Mallory Robins, we have two words for you: Custom. Drapery. Tailor-made drapes take your home decor to another level by allowing you to design for light allowance, scale, and even insulation while preserving your unique aesthetic, which is always worth going the extra mile.
