‘Sarah Jessica Parker Taught Me to Push Boundaries’ – Inside the Bold, Brave World of Master Decorator Nathan Turner
Nathan Turner's career has seen him write, deal antiques, decorate homes, and become a professional bon vivant. As part of our Layered Lives series of interviews, we find out how his early influences shaped who he is today
Author, antique dealer, and designer Nathan Turner is the kind of decorator who proves that great design isn’t always taught – it’s instinctive. Raised on a multi-generational cattle ranch in Northern California, his aesthetic was shaped as much by dusty landscapes as by the lilac chintz bedroom of his English great-grandmother, where he first absorbed the art of layering.
In this installment of our Layered Lives series, Nathan Turner explains that despite having no formal training, he was able to carve out a career defined by curiosity, personality, and an ability to translate people’s lives into spaces that feel both relaxed and deeply personal. From chance beginnings in the antiques world to building a distinctly intimate design business, his path has been anything but conventional. Along the way, mentors, friendships, and a love of storytelling through objects have helped define his approach.
Marking the publication of his latest book, I Love Decorating, he reflects on the formative interiors that shaped him, the evolution of his style, and why decorating, for him, is ultimately about creating homes that feel alive.
Homes & Gardens: Where do you think your love of design comes from?
Nathan Turner: I’m now having some weird early memories! If you’re a decorator, it’s just a part of you – you’re born with it. I never went to design school, but as a child, I was super-particular about my space and environment. My mother had a decorator who did our homes, and I would just interject, aged 12, and say, 'No, that’s not how it should be done,' all the time. It must have been so annoying, but you know, I was right!
Homes & Gardens: What did those early rooms look like that you had strong opinions about?
Nathan Turner: My family was an old cattle ranch family in Northern California – I’m a fifth-generation cattle rancher, and my great-grandmother (who was English) ran the show. Her bedroom at the ranch was magical to me. She had a separate bedroom from my great-grandfather, and it was all lilac-colored chintz. Looking back, I suppose it was very English, and that she wanted to do her own thing on this dusty old ranch that reminded her of where she came from. I remember that it would constantly change, that she would reupholster a chair in blush velvet, for example, and I would really take note of her masterclass in layering. But I didn’t even know it – I just loved that room; it was so pretty.
Homes & Gardens: Did her influence start to shape your own style?
Nathan Turner: Growing up around that aesthetic on a working cattle ranch is pretty much who I am, yes. I love the layered decorative approach, but I also like spaces that are incredibly laid-back. I don’t like pretentious design – you know, I barely wear shoes, and so I need a home that’s OK in. And that all goes back to the surroundings I grew up in, which were the making of me as a person.
Homes & Gardens: Were there any other design influences that inspired you as you were growing up?
Nathan Turner: My mother’s aunt was an antiques dealer and an artist, and she painted and had friends over, and I spent a huge amount of time with her. Our ranch was multi-generational, with a few houses grouped together that I would walk between all the time to see what the different ladies were doing. My mother’s aunt really nurtured that part of me, and in fact there is now a fabric in my collection called Heaton, named after her, that features wild blackberry, as there were blackberries along the route between my home and hers.
Homes & Gardens: When did you first start to think about design as a career, and how did you get into it?
Nathan Turner: I didn’t know what I wanted to do, so my family insisted I study business and economics, and it was a crashing bore. So I studied abroad, which at least sounded fun, and went to the University of Siena in Italy for eight months. I loved it, but still had no idea what I wanted to do. My mother had a friend who worked in antiques, and he said he was going to a fair in Palma and that, because I spoke a bit of Italian, I could be an assistant on this buying trip. And it was fantastic! We went to Italy, Belgium, and England, driving around, meeting amazing people, and I ended up working for him for two years. The thing is that I can’t sit still, so after that I opened my own store in LA.
Homes & Gardens: Were there any designers you were looking up to at the time who inspired the store?
Nathan Turner: I’m an ’80s and ’90s kid, and the designer Michael Taylor was a huge inspiration. Mario Buatta was incredibly kind to me, and when my antiques shop started to produce inquiries, I didn’t know what I was doing, and he said I could shadow him. It was so cool and fun and fantastic, and I modeled my business after him. He worked out of his townhouse on 80th in Manhattan, and he had only a few employees, something I’ve stuck to all my career. I only employ three people, and it’s much easier to keep your operation lean.
Homes & Gardens: And was the store well received when you first opened it?
Nathan Turner: I joke that I opened the store in September, and by January I had no money. I’d spent it all on inventory, so I quickly figured that out, but one of my favorite parts of the antiques business is that it’s so personal, and most dealers are really about a lifestyle. This isn’t a job people tend to do for the money, but because you get to live an interesting and great life. You meet characters in the countryside of Italy who have stories to tell and who sit you down over wine and food. And I thought that I’d like to do that in LA, so I started hosting people for dinner and lunches.
Homes & Gardens: Was there a point where the business started to take off?
Nathan Turner: Yes, so the LA Times gave me a front cover of its home section, saying that there was this kid who was cooking in his antique shop, and it snowballed. People were trying to make reservations! The whole look of the shop was that it was very curated, just like a house, and it was easy for clients to see how I’d decorate, so they started asking me to do their own homes. Of course, I had no idea how, but I just figured I’d figure it out. Martyn Lawrence Bullard gave me some contacts of contractors he used, and I was so fortunate that industry friends like him rallied around me.
Homes & Gardens: So what was your aesthetic at the time?
Nathan Turner: I’m an ’80s and ’90s kid, and the designer Michael Taylor was a huge inspiration. Mario Buatta was incredibly kind to me, and when my antiques shop started to produce inquiries, I didn’t know what I was doing, and he said I could shadow him. It was so cool and fun and fantastic, and I modeled my business after him. He worked out of his townhouse on 80th in Manhattan, and he had only a few employees, something I’ve stuck to all my career. I only employ three people, and it’s much easier to keep your operation lean.
Homes & Gardens: What was your own home looking like at that time?
Nathan Turner: It was cute, a 1920s Regency apartment. It got featured in Domino magazine, and that was a big boost to my career. A mutual friend had brought Deborah Needleman from the magazine in to see me at the shop, and I remember picking fig leaves to dress the table for her arrival and pouring champagne, and I became the Domino entertaining guy. It was bonkers and really fun, and those ladies taught me so much. The reason I can do books now is because I essentially went to the school of Domino, where I had to learn how to produce my own shoots and tell my own stories.
Homes & Gardens: Speaking of books, your brand-new one is called, simply, I Love Decorating. Why do you love it so much?
Nathan Turner: A lot of decorators have a look that is specific to them, but for me, every job is wildly different. I am a hyped-up person with ADD, and so I don’t get bored. I will do every type of style, from a fancy lady’s apartment in NYC to a minimalist penthouse in Japan. I just love the excitement that decorating can bring and the way it can help reflect and enhance who a person truly is. It’s kind of weird, being a decorator, as you get to know everything about the people you’re designing for, and it’s very intimate. But I love that relationship, too.
Homes & Gardens: You say in the book that you also still love buying antiques. How do you find the treasure in all the trash?
Nathan Turner: It’s my favorite part of the process! It’s always a rush going into a crap palace and finding the one good thing. I get a vibe off it. It takes a while to figure that out. I remember being an assistant and being like, 'I love that,' about a piece we’d seen but not speaking up, and getting the confidence to just like things and understand how they might look in a space comes with time and experience. I would say, be curious. No one knows more than a good antique dealer, and if you ask them why they stock a piece, they will tell you the story, which can help you judge whether it’s worth having or not. I always love a good story.
Homes & Gardens: And from those early days as an assistant, has your style evolved?
Nathan Turner: For sure – it has to. Your style can’t help but evolve if you’re a curious person, which I am. My foundation is the same – I still love comfortable English upholstered furniture, even in modern houses, and I still want the spirit of that, with a home to be all cozy – but I go through phases where I like a particular color or pattern.
Homes & Gardens: You’re friends with Sarah Jessica Parker, one of the world’s most eminent tastemakers. Has she taught you anything about style?
Nathan Turner: My husband Eric and her have been friends since they were 21, and Eric has always done her homes. Her sense of color is wild – she has such a very specific palette that she loves. To the average eye, you think it’ll be bonkers, as it’s all bold tones like peacock blue, but the way she mixes them… it has taught me to push boundaries, not to lock into safe color combinations, to be brave.
Homes & Gardens: Lastly, in the book, you say your goal is to create homes that enable people to live their best lives – how does your own home do that for you?
Nathan Turner: I love to gather and bring people together – what’s the good in having a beautiful dining room without beautiful dishes being eaten off the table?! You need to be able to fill a house with joy and laughter to make it a home, and I’m happiest when there are loads of people around. My homes in LA and Ojai do that, functioning as places our friends can gather.
What emerges is a portrait of a designer led by instinct, emotion, and experience rather than rigid rules. Nathan Turner’s story traces a path from early influences on a California ranch to a career built on antiques, entertaining, and deeply personal interiors. His approach – layered yet relaxed, considered yet unpretentious – has been shaped by mentors, travel, and meaningful relationships with clients and collaborators alike.
At its core, his work is about more than aesthetics; it’s about connection, storytelling, and creating spaces that invite people in. As his new book I Love Decorating suggests, decorating isn’t just something he does at work – it’s something he genuinely adores.
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