HomeHome & DesignInterior Design › Q&A with Celebrity Interior Designer, Windsor Smith
 
 
 

Meet L.A.-based interior designer Windsor Smith. While designing homes for celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow, she also recently launched a line of furniture with Century, and has her own innovative lines Room in a Box and Room in a Flash, which make it easy for anyone to access beautiful personalized interior design services.

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Interview Video:

 

KL: Well, again, thank you so much! I’m so excited to have the opportunity to chat with you today. Tell me a little bit about what led you to become an interior design professional.

WS: Well, it beats Welcome to McDonald’s! Can I take your order? I basically knew pretty early on that I am unhireable. I had to carve out a profession that I could enjoy and be a full-time mom and also have something that I love that was aesthetic and beautiful, and creative. And, that’s how I kind of stumbled onto it.

KL: What was your first big break?

WS: Oh, that’s an interesting question. I never really think about that. My first big break was probably that I had sold a business and had the opportunity to go shopping. My objects of desire were for architectural elements for my house. I was building a house at the time, and so I went to Europe. I always think that, that was my first big break because I realized that there is a whole world of beautiful things out there and um, that we just had to go looking for them. I was sort of like, little piggy sorting for truffles in the countryside of France. And, so I think that’s when I realized that getting out of, you know, where I was and into a new environment that was challenging, and interesting. And, um, that is sort of what led me into this industry. Just wanting to find treasures; put them into architecture, into homes; into houses; into rooms.

KL: Wonderful! Describe your typical clientele?

WS: My typical clientele is, you know, definitely upper tier for my design business, but I’m passionate about everyone having beautiful rooms.

KL: Are there any particular projects in your past that you recall that really stick out to you?

WS: Oh my gosh, there’s been so many. They’re like your children.

KL: Sure.

WS: You fall in love with every single one of them. And then of course you have to leave and they stay in someone else’s house. And so it’s a little odd. (Chuckle)

KL: Do you get visitation rights? (Chuckle) So, what gives you the inspiration to create? A client calls you, says, “Come to my home.” What from there?

WS: It’s really sort of a process by Braille, in a lot of ways. You have to meet the client, spend some time, and sort of get a sense of who they are and what they need in the interior. And I love that process. It’s very intimate. I think that is why I love my profession. You’re creating a home for someone. You’re in the inner sanctum of the family. I think it’s an awesome responsibility, because it’s more than just pretty rooms. It’s about setting up people for success in their lives by mapping, by just the way that you use rooms. Some of the old paradigms don’t really work in the way we live and that we co-exist as families now. So, formal dining rooms we don’t use. We want to be in that kitchen, so our kitchens should be more beautiful spaces, not just utilitarian spaces. No matter how nice the house is, everybody is going to stay there. So, I’m an advocate of knocking down walls and making sort of great room kitchens that people can co-exist in; that you can linger after dinner and not feel like you’re hanging out in the kitchen. So, I’m a big fan of paneled, beautiful glossy kitchens with old mirrored walls. And, you know, bring out the silver and the china and just live with all of it. I don’t like the idea that you have wedding china and that you slip it into a little felt bag, and it goes under the... (chuckle) I know, have you done that?

KL: No! (chuckle)

WS: And how often do you pull that out?

KL: Not very… (chuckle)

WS: Never! If you look in my cupboard in my kitchen and you see my china is stacked up, and I eat on it every day. I bring people in and part of the whole lifestyle piece. It’s how I like to live. I encourage that. So I think that designers can lead people to that, because it is so easy to get into the mundane and get into your busy life. And, if you put beauty around you; and you put smart design around you, it will navigate you to all the things that you need.

KL: Makes sense. Do you have any specific tips or specific ideas for modern, busy families, in terms of functionality when designing?

WS: Definitely! I think that with our children now, we have to be really careful because they’re sort of migrating into their rooms, plugged into different devices. And so, they’re very busy maintaining their 800 friends on Facebook. Meanwhile, they’re not going down to the corner store, or dime store with their friends and really getting the nuances of language and, you know, personalities and friendship and all those things. A big important thing for me is that I’m bringing kids back to the center of the house. So, I try to create homework centers, and creative spaces near the kitchen or the center of the house, so that we can govern what they’re doing, but at the same time keep them interactive in the family unit. I think it is super important. I think we can get far enough down that path that we don’t have a road map back. So, I’m seeing that as a trend and I’m trying to pull them back to the center of the house. And then also I’ve realized, I always joke that I’m part anthropologist, because I’ve been doing this long enough that I’m around families and I see sort of how design does either make their family life better, or not. And I’ve noticed that over time the people who’ve shared, the husbands and wives who’ve shared a bathroom or closet space that interact with each other early in the morning or at the end of night have longer marriages or are still together.