The Decorating Lessons Mom Taught Me Were Better Than Design School

For tabletop inspiration beyond flowers, take a cue from the mom of Radhika Vydianatha of Kalaa Chakra Interiors. "She loves flowers in vases, a large wooden bowl with fresh fruits set on the dining table, a china cabinet with beautiful china she bought from Kashmir, India, and other cities during her travels," the designer explains. "Overall keeping it simple and organized, carefully stylized, layered with color and texture." The result? "Bold and sweet —like her!"

A home is a lot more than a blank canvas to display the coolest furniture or trends. It's your happy place, so why not create an environment that feels warm and welcoming? That's exactly what Chrissy Jones of Twenty Eighth Design learned from her mom.
"[Her] approach to home decor was rooted in creating a space where everyone felt welcome," the designer shares. "Warm colors and her collection of personal items made our house feel like a place of togetherness. It's a philosophy that has deeply influenced my work as a designer. When I create spaces for my clients, I aim to bring that same sense of comfort and belonging."

As a designer, author of The Space That Keeps You, and the latest addition to the Queer Eye cast, Jeremiah Brent's eye for inspiration knows no bounds. But, as Brent reveals to House Beautiful, he gets a lot of the design drive from his mom. "Growing up, my mother taught us the art of finding beauty anywhere and everywhere," he explains. "'What do you see right now that's beautiful?' she'd ask – whether we were driving to the grocery store or sitting on the couch at home. She taught me to find the potential in any space and to value the story of something more than its appearance. It’s something I’ve carried with me and taught my own children."

Celerie Kemble now works alongside her mom Mimi McMakin as a partner and principal designer of Kemble Interiors, but she says her parent has been a long-standing source of decorating inspiration. "I learned imagination and artistic skill can make anything happen and I'm not at all afraid of all the more tragic tropes of the craft," she shares.

For a "wow" moment that double as an optical illusion, Kemble says her mom perfected the use of trompe-l'oeil, highly realistic, dimensional art on a flat surface that, as the name says in French, fools the eye. "She works with highly skilled artisans to create design elements that are beautiful and witty while often solving for problems that 'IRL' architecture and objects can’t rectify," Kemble explains. "Boring flat cabinets become a seemingly a three-dimension tableaux of what one might wish were inside, curved staircase walls are dressed with one-dimensional medieval framed artworks that people have to touch to realize are not real."

It's no secret that Taylor Mattos gets her design savvy from her mama, Cindy Rinfret. After working for renowned design firms and brands, Mattos joined her mom's eponymous design firm, Rinfret Ltd., in 2020. When asked about the biggest takeaway she learned from her mom, Mattos's response was simple: Buy what you love. "Instead of focusing on a certain brand name or trendy artist, if you focus on the subject matter or the feeling of the piece, you’ll be happy with the purchase every time you look at it," Matt's explains. "This is how you create the collection of your life."

We love viral products and brand-new items as much as the next person, but designer David Frazier champions pieces with a story. Fittingly, he inherited his passion for antiques from his mother. "We have spent a lot of time sourcing antiques, art, and things for my parents houses and it is some of my fondest memories spent together," he says. "This translates to my design in that almost all of the work we do incorporates antiques or personal effects that have historical value."

The saying goes the devil lies in the details—and that's true of the angel, too! Just ask Meg Lonergran's mom. According to the Houston-based designer, those tiny touches matter most in the bathroom. "My mother always used embroidered, linen hand towels in the powder room," Longergran explains. "She still insists that all of her grandchildren—even the toddlers—dry their hands with embroidered towels at her house." After all, embroidered hand towels are the perfect mix of pretty and practical—that's so mom.

Growing up, Jerel Lake's mother always filled their home with art: Hawaiian photography, colorful paintings, sculptures—you name it, she probably had it. Now, as an interior designer, Lake always incorporates art into his spaces. "Anytime my siblings or I moved into a new place, our first stop was always to go purchase a few pieces of art to make the space feel like a home," he explains. "Having been surrounded by art all my life continues to influence me in my work and at home."

Perhaps the best design lesson a mother could impart on their child is to follow the beat of their own drum. "From the start my mom encouraged me to enjoy the things you love in your home no matter what anyone else thinks of your design decisions," says Ashley Ross of Muse Noire Interiors. "[She] taught me to love what I love regardless of the naysayers!"

The North Carolina-based designer says the three-bedroom townhome she was raised in was the perfect example of that "you do you" mentality. Each space, she explains, had a monochromatic moment—often with matching floors: The dining room was aquamarine, the living area was "Pepto-Bismol" pink, and the kitchen was "Big Bird" yellow. As Ross jokes, "I often wonder how monochromatic mommy managed to pull this off."