'It’s Very Freeing Not to Be Attached to the Stuff in Your Home' – Why Designer Miles Redd Is Evolving Into a New Fresh and Airy Decorative Phase

For decades, Miles Redd has been one of the great maximalists of American decorating – a designer whose rooms pulse with glamour, wit, and an unmistakable sense of personality. Known for layering bold color, theatrical flourishes, and unexpected juxtapositions, the interiors produced by his studio, Redd Kaihoi, have long felt worlds away from the restrained minimalism that has dominated so much of contemporary design.

Yet in this new installment of our Layered Lives series, Miles Redd reveals that his tastes are shifting. These days, alongside the lacquer and sparkle, he finds himself drawn to stripped-back English country houses, scrubbed wood, and airy simplicity. Here, he reflects on the Southern upbringing that shaped his eye, his formative years working for legendary decorator Bunny Williams, and the downtown Manhattan apartment that launched his career. Along the way, he shares why decorating should never be taken too seriously – and why learning to let go of possessions may be the ultimate luxury of all.

Homes & Gardens: Where do you think your love of design comes from?

Miles Redd: It came from my mother, definitely – she loved beautiful houses and beautiful architecture. She was from Williamsburg, Virginia, and she grew up around 18th-century buildings, with a sense of spareness and simplicity. She had a real strictness to her aesthetic, and I always remember her saying, ‘I don’t like doodads!’ Which, of course, made me react by embracing maximalism and baroque tendencies. Though now I find myself moving toward her strictness...

Homes & Gardens: Were there any hints in your childhood that this could be the career path you'd take?

Miles Redd: I’ve always had a love of objects and furniture. I would rearrange the furniture in our home, and my mom would just move it back. But that's fair – it was her house, and she liked things a certain way, and she was entitled to it. I grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, where the homes are amazing, designed by the greats like Philip Trammell Shutze and Neel Reid. Back then, these houses were forever being refluffed and renovated. When the construction workers were in, they would often leave the houses open, and we would just walk around and look at the floor plans. We weren't supposed to, of course, but it was one of my favorite things in the world.

Homes & Gardens: Did it start to teach you what you liked and disliked?

Miles Redd: Absolutely. My mom was a hysterical critic. She'd say things like, ‘There isn't enough closet space,’ or, ‘I don't like having a garage here on the ground floor.’ It gave me the confidence to make my own assessments. I have always liked order and beautiful interiors. You know, I’m a Taurus rising, and we like our comforts.

Homes & Gardens: What sort of aesthetics caught your eye?

Miles Redd: It was always Hollywood’s interpretation of what New York was like in the 1930s. We loved old movies and old sets, that streamlined glamour that the interiors always had. I was always in search of that feeling, and I still love it to this day, but I would say I’ve moved into an English country house phase, and now I want everything to be stripped back. It’s like they say, what’s old is new again...

Homes & Gardens: Legendary designer Bunny Williams was influential for you too, right?

Miles Redd: Oh, hugely. I worked for Bunny Williams, and her way of arranging a room, and the scale and proportion, and the mix... She’d put something Irish next to something French, next to something really decorative, and she really taught me about juxtaposition.

Homes & Gardens: How did you come to work for Bunny?

Miles Redd: I was a film major at NYU, and I’m now so glad I didn’t take that route. Film is technical, and I’m not suited to that, but people would say they just loved my sets. I worked for a producer, but it was not for me. I was just reading scripts and got bored, so I thought I’d try my hand at decorating. I got a job with John Rosselli, who is an antique dealer and Bunny’s partner. It was fun, and I was there for two years. They became like my New York parents.

Homes & Gardens: What do you think they saw in you that made them want to take you under their wings?

Miles Redd: We share a Southern sensibility, and a scrappiness. We all had a sense that if you wanted something badly enough, you’d be able to figure it out for yourself. I’d watch her making curtains by getting cotton balls from the five-and-dime store to pad the pelmets, and I was always making my own things, painting floors, and just getting stuff done. Our senses of humor and values were the same, and we all just love decorating – it’s our raison d’être. But at the same time, we all knew it was just decorating, which I appreciate. That sense of not taking it too seriously, really.

Homes & Gardens: What did your own apartment look like at the time?

Miles Redd: I lived on 14th Street here in New York, between Avenue B and Avenue C, which was not such a savory place. Or at least it certainly wasn’t in the 1990s. The bathtub was in the kitchen. It had a sort of Cecil Beaton vibe, with emerald green and white harlequin tiles on the floor. Everything else was chocolate brown. There was a loft bed, but it was my laboratory, and I furnished it from the flea market and the occasional big purchase. It launched me.

Homes & Gardens: What did your own apartment look like at the time?

Miles Redd: I lived on 14th Street here in New York, between Avenue B and Avenue C, which was not such a savory place. Or at least it certainly wasn’t in the 1990s. The bathtub was in the kitchen. It had a sort of Cecil Beaton vibe, with emerald green and white harlequin tiles on the floor. Everything else was chocolate brown. There was a loft bed, but it was my laboratory, and I furnished it from the flea market and the occasional big purchase. It launched me.

Homes & Gardens: How did it launch you?

Miles Redd: Well, actually, my career taking off was a combination of so many things. Bunny and John were so generous in introducing me to everyone – you just met people as they came into John’s shop all the time, so it felt natural and organic to make connections that way. Back then, magazines were more promotional, and I had some early success when my own apartment was featured in several major interiors magazines. At the same time, many of my friends were just starting to achieve success in their fields. They were buying bigger places and needed someone to decorate them, so the timing was right for me to step in. All these things came together at exactly the right moment.

Homes & Gardens: At what point did it feel right to leave Bunny and John and work for yourself?

Miles Redd: I worked for Bunny for five years, then took a sabbatical and went to France for six months. I had been working hard and needed a break, and taking that time out in France was where I found my center again. By that point, my sister had moved to New York, and she was the one who said, ‘Let’s try this together and set up our own design practice!’ So we did, but then she got married, and I took it over.

Homes & Gardens: And now that you're in charge, what's your approach to each new project?

Miles Redd: You have to get the walls and floors right first. You get the floor plans, and from there, you have to be practical about what will work for real life.

Homes & Gardens: Your projects are very varied; you don't seem to have one aesthetic style. Is that because your taste is always evolving?

Miles Redd: My taste definitely evolves – instead of, say, the ebony-and-silver parquet that I once loved, I'm now into natural wood tones, scrubbed pitch pine, and plaster. It's a different vibe, but a decorator sees the connection between these different looks. Perhaps it's in the way they smell or feel, or the air in the space. A decorator knows when a home is loved, cared for, and thoughtfully considered.

Homes & Gardens: What aesthetic would you say you're most drawn to at the moment?

Miles Redd: Fresh, sparkling, airy spaces. That's what I want. I used to love rich, glittering interiors, and my apartment is rich and glittering, but now I want it to feel fresh and airy.

Homes & Gardens: Does that mean a decluttering project is imminent? How do you feel about letting go of the treasures that make up your home?

Miles Redd: You have to let them go. Objects are things you can enjoy for a while, but every time I see the sale of a great collector's possessions, I think about the person those things end up with and how they were meant to go to them instead. It's very freeing not to be attached to the things in your home. I try not to be attached. You can dither about whether to get rid of something, but once it's gone, it's gone – you barely, if ever, think about it again. Your home is still there, just different. It's not the things that made the place a home in the first place; it's you, and the way you live your life.

There is something refreshing about the way Miles talks about interiors. For all the grandeur and glamour associated with his work, he approaches decorating with a looseness and emotional intelligence that feels deeply human. Tastes evolve, rooms shift, treasured objects come and go – and none of it, he suggests, should be treated too preciously.

What matters is not perfection, but atmosphere: the feeling a home creates, the memories made within it, and the sense that it has been truly lived in and loved. Even now, after decades shaping some of America’s most celebrated interiors, Miles still speaks with the enthusiasm of someone endlessly fascinated by rooms – by how they look, yes, but even more by how they make people feel.

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