Podcast, Ep. 28: Miles Redd, our newest designer

 

Celebrated New York decorator Miles Redd welcomed us to his home for this week’s episode of the podcast. With the launch of his new collection, we couldn’t resist the chance to talk with him about his inspiration for the pieces and how he envisions them living in people’s homes.

What You’ll Hear on This Episode:

• We all share the best thing we’ve done to our homes, and also our biggest regret or mistake
• He talks about his home, and how he longs for wide open spaces
• He shares how he went about designing the pieces for his collection, nearly all of them in his own home
• How his experience as the Creative Director for Oscar de la Renta helped inform his Ballard Designs collection
• We ask him about his favorite pieces in the collection — the dining table and the Kidney Accent Table
• Why juxtaposition is so important in decorating
• We talk about drama, and why Miles doesn’t necessarily see his collection as being ‘dramatic’
• He tells us the story of how he custom built his Miles Bookcase
• We talk about how his Fire Island home is all beige
• What color would he pick if he could pick the 2018 Pantone Color of the Year

Decorating Dilemmas:

Hello,

I’m a recently separated dad who will be moving into a new house with my young son in a few weeks. It’s a nice house in a great neighborhood, but I’m not a designer and I’m having a tough time envisioning how to best make the space hip but comfortable. As he makes new friends and I’m assuming their parents may come by for playdates and see the house, I want it to feel good, and “clean” and grown up and put together, but not stuffy. And of course I’d like it to feel good and usable to us too.

I tried to lay the room out using a room designer thing. I’m not sure I nailed it. My biggest obstacle is figuring out how to place comfortable furniture in this room, with windows on one side and a sliding patio door on the other. Behind the stairs is the kitchen (to the right). We have a dog, so I was hoping for leather furniture that’s “dog proof??”. We have a “family room” too, on the other side of the kitchen where I plan on setting up our electronics space, ikea storage cabinet for our video games and TV. The living room below is a place I’d like to maybe have our record player and books since I can’t figure out how to have a TV there, and a comfortable seating arrangement that doesn’t force people to have to actively shimmy and move around the furniture to get from the front door to the patio. I am also attaching pictures of the space to maybe reflect a slightly more accurate dimensionality. I plan on replacing the carpet with a gray/neutral mix in a few months, so I’m open to gray, blue, or brown furniture. Any guidance would be great. I really appreciate your taking a look.

Sincerely,

B

Miles suggests floating a sofa in the room, facing the fireplace. Add two armchairs on either side of the fireplace, tuck in two smaller chairs next to the sofa, then float two benches in front of the fireplace. This will give you seating for eight people. Over by the bank of windows, place a long, narrow console table that can hold your record player and maybe a little bar. Good luck!

Show Notes:

• Sherry Hart of Design Indulgence’s blogpost on Miles’ collection
• Miles mentions his Shell Console, Kidney Accent Table, Greek Key Accent Table, Extension Dining Table, and bookcase

Please send in your questions so we can answer them on our next episode! And of course, please subscribe to the podcast in iTunes so you never miss an episode. Of course, you can always check back here to see new episodes, but if you subscribe, it’ll automatically download to your phone.

Happy Decorating!

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