'And That’s When a Home Feels Authentic and Beautiful' – Designer Ariel Okin Has Found the Secret Sauce to Making Homes Feel Homey, Cozy, and Good for Your Soul
In the latest installment of our Layered Lives series, designer Ariel Okin talks about how her home makes her happy, and how yours can, too
Ariel Okin is a New York–based interior designer celebrated for homes that feel deeply personal, intelligently planned, and, above all, joyful. Known for her layered approach to traditional design, Ariel creates spaces that prioritize how people actually live – entertaining, relaxing, and raising families – rather than chasing trends.
In the latest installment of our Layered Lives series, Ariel explains how her work is shaped by an early immersion in textiles, storytelling, and spatial planning, as well as an unconventional career path that took her through journalism, politics, and education before design became her full-time calling. That varied background gives her a rare clarity about what makes a home function emotionally as well as practically.
Article continues below 
Homes & Gardens: Can you describe the first space that shaped your sense of design?
Ariel Okin: My mom became an interior designer later in life, but she was the fashion director at Macy’s when I was little, so I grew up surrounded by textiles. And like a true child of the ’90s, it was a lot of chintz, a lot of Laura Ashley, and they were really formative in how I thought about design.
When I was about 10, my mom used to take me to a local bookstore and I’d sit in the arts section and pore over art and interiors books – she’d buy them for me even though they were meant for grown-ups. Then, when I was 12, my parents moved to a house that they built from the ground up, and they let me sit in on all the planning meetings, even allowing me to design my own bedroom. Which is nuts – looking back, there is no way I’d let my own kids now have that much freedom! But it gave me a big sense of agency in my own creativity. I was artsy anyway – I wasn’t into sports – and my mom and dad encouraged it. From an early age, my mom said I should do what I enjoyed and follow what I loved.
Homes & Gardens: So what did that bedroom you designed at age 12 look like?
Ariel Okin: Looking back, it’s still kind of amazing to me that I had that experience and free rein. Well, not total free rein – my mother worked with an amazing interior designer called Judy Clayton, and between them they let me pick everything, but only as long as it fit into her principles. So I went for steel gray moldings, while the walls were white, and there was a scroll bed upholstered in satin that was almost like cashmere in its texture. Then the chairs were in the same color family, too. It all left such an impact on me.
Homes & Gardens: Did the process open your eyes to how enjoyable design could be?
Ariel Okin: I remember picking out the artwork – pieces that I still have in my own home – and it made me really happy. My mom collected Nantucket baskets, and I still have them all over the house. They have no monetary value, but they are full of value in other ways for me. I learned through all this how filling a space with things you love can make you really happy. My parents had these maps that they had framed, and I now have them in my own home, running up the stairs just as my parents had them. They make me smile all the time, and they were formative in shaping who I am.
Homes & Gardens: In some ways, the description of your childhood bedroom doesn’t sound too far from many of the spaces you design today. Is that fair?
Ariel Okin: Yes! Certainly, the house I grew up in left a huge mark on my personal DNA. The way the house was laid out for daily living and entertaining – because it was done so well – actually improved our quality of life.
Homes & Gardens: What does a home need to have to improve your quality of life now?
Ariel Okin: The layout needs to work for the way you want to live. If you want to do a lot of entertaining, but there is no flow from the living room to the kitchen, no places to sit before and after dinner, no proper media room, no ‘back of house,’ and all formal spaces, then it’s not going to work for your lifestyle. So we start every project with how the client wants to live – what kind of things they want to do in their home. I ask things like ‘Will the dog be allowed on the sofa?’ and ‘Are you an entertainer?’ and then work out how to make their home function specifically for them.
Homes & Gardens: So with that incredible experience at age 12, was it then a dead cert you’d become a designer?
Ariel Okin: Actually, not at all. I never went to school to be a designer. I went to undergraduate school for journalism, then worked on political campaigns, did some political consulting, and then went into education. I had no intention of becoming a designer – obviously, I loved interiors and creative things, but didn’t consider it a career. Then, when I was in New York City after grad school, my friends would come over and say, ‘I love what you’ve done with your place – can you help me?’ I was only 24, we were all moving in and out of shoeboxes constantly, and I just started helping friends for fun.
Homes & Gardens: When did you start to realize design could be a career?
Ariel Okin: Back when I was 24, I didn’t know CAD, I didn’t know anything technical, but I was just doing it – figuring it out as I went along – and soon I realized I was actually spending more time on it than on my real job. At first, I was designing for free, but then it turned into a side business, doing friends of friends for about three years while still at my day job.
I picked up a bit of journalism work, too, writing about design for a few publications, and I was really living a double life – between decor on one side and education on the other. Looking back, I don’t know how I did it, but I was young, and I had all that energy. Eventually, after three years, I had six months’ worth of design work in the pipeline, so I figured with that amount of security I could give it a go – and go back to education if it didn’t work out. That was 11 years ago, and I’m still doing it.
Homes & Gardens: Was there a project in those early days that felt like a turning point in your career?
Ariel Okin: I did a place in Tribeca that was featured in a prominent design magazine, and that changed the trajectory of my career. I started to get a lot of inquiries, and it really impacted the growth of my business. You can’t underestimate the power of getting press for a young studio.
Homes & Gardens: And how has your style evolved since those early days?
Ariel Okin: My style evolved when I had children. Now I design a lot for young families, and having kids changed the lens I use to think about floor plans, layouts, usability, and multipurpose spaces. That was a big shift in my style.
I suppose the common thread between now and how I’ve always designed is that I want my spaces to work for my clients, and I don’t believe in trends. I’m drawn to traditional but layered, homey, and cozy interiors – homes that are full of books and personal collections. Warm and not stuffy, places where you can have a glass of wine and not feel too worried about it.
Homes & Gardens: Your new coffee table book, just published, is called The Happy Home. Happiness through design is a theme that has come up a lot today, but what is currently making you happy?
Ariel Okin: For me, having those layers and that coziness is what makes me happy – a place to display those sentimental pieces I’ve collected over time. I have my grandmother’s collection of porcelain figurines, these dolls she had when I was little and that she’d tell me stories about, and they make me so happy to see them now.
Then I like things that are quirky and funny, and I feel like a house should make room for them too – like the cabinet in my living room that I got at auction. It’s painted in a faux tortoiseshell print on the outside, and then inside are painted monkeys drinking martinis and smoking cigars. It’s irreverent, but you really connect to stuff like that, and it’s those pieces that make a home happy.
Homes & Gardens: You often talk about comfort as a luxury. How do you design spaces that feel elegant but genuinely lived-in?
Ariel Okin: It comes from being unafraid to use the space, to fill it with your own collections. When a house gets installed – well, that’s just the first page of the story, and it shouldn’t stay like that. A home is always evolving, and it can feel stuffy if it’s not changing, as it’s not being used.
Homes & Gardens: Is that the message you’d like people to take from your book
Ariel Okin: I really hope that people get the overarching message, which is that the point of your home really is to add those personal layers. The joy of being in your home comes from getting in the muck of it and not being so afraid that you’re making what could be the wrong decision.
Just ask yourself, ‘Does this make us happy?’ Lean into authenticity, start to hone in on what you love and what you collect, as that’s when you feel alive and comfortable in your space. We must tap into what we actually like ourselves, not what social media says we should like – as that’s when a home feels authentic and beautiful.
Throughout this conversation, Ariel Okin returns again and again to the idea that a home should make you feel good – and that means supported, comfortable, and genuinely yourself. From sentimental collections to flexible floor plans, her approach champions warmth over rigidity and authenticity over image.
What’s most striking is her insistence that great design isn’t about getting everything ‘right’ on day one, but about allowing a home to evolve alongside the people who live in it. In a culture often dominated by polished perfection, Ariel’s message feels refreshing and reassuring: happiness comes from leaning into what you love, trusting your instincts, and letting your home tell your own story.
Love beautiful design ideas, expert advice, and inspiring decor trends? Sign up for our newsletter and get the latest features delivered straight to your inbox.
