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Meet the Designer: Nate Berkus Oprah’s go-to style guru gets personal about your home. 
As a child Nate Berkus would help his decorator mother rearrange the living room furniture. By the time he was eight he knew all about furniture scale and used his allowance to buy things for his bedroom. Following graduation from Lake Forest College, Berkus worked for Leslie Hindman Auctioneers in Chicago and Dominique Aurientis in Paris. He started his own business, Nate Berkus Associates, in 1995. Some of his clients included Wolfgang Puck’s Spago, W hotels, and Barney’s New York. Consequently, he was invited by talk show host Oprah Winfrey to make over a small space for her show in 2001 and has since become a regular contributor to the program. He recently launched a new line of products for Linens ‘N Things and published his first book, “Home Rules: Transform the Place You Live Into a Place You’ll Love” (Hyperion, 2005). You’re known for adding your love of decorative arts and furniture to your work. How can people obtain that on their own without spending a lot of money? Nate Berkus: Interiors are very much layered so I don’t think a project is ever done because you can keep adding layers to your space. There are inexpensive ways to start. Paint and color are probably the quickest. The whole living room can be transformed by adding pillows, a throw, a pair of new lamps or an occasional table. Another layer is framing things that have meaning to you - photography from vacations or special moments in your life. A lot of people think decorating is overwhelming. If you can break things down to what you can do in an hour, a day or a weekend, it doesn’t necessarily take a lot of money, it just takes some creativity and a desire to improve the way you’re living.What are the biggest decorating mistakes homeowners make? Berkus: People buy things on impulse. They look for something instead of waiting for something they really want or buy something on sale or a store sample because they can have it immediately. With the Internet and catalogs, it’s possible to decorate your house without ever leaving the house. I ask people to keep a style file, a small notebook or envelope filled with pictures of things they like, pictures of their space, little bits of fabrics and paint chips so when they go to flea market and they see a small table that they think they need, they can carefully consider how it will look at home. They can make a purchase on the spot without it being impulse buying.How do you hire a designer? Berkus: Make sure you’re really comfortable with that person, and be entirely honest about how you live and the point of your home. Also, people get very intimidated by people skilled in design, they’re afraid to make a stupid suggestion or have an idea that isn’t attractive. Any good designer should be given the opportunity to take a client’s ideas, hopes, dreams and expectations, and be able craft something out of that information that works for that person. The most important thing is to sit yourself down and recognize that this is going to be a process and you’re going to have to contribute. There’s nothing more personal than your home.What questions do you ask? Berkus: What’s the purpose of a room? How do you envision living in a space? How would you love to live in the space? I like challenges. I like it when someone says to me, “This extra bedroom needs to become a guest room, den and a home office.” The greatest interiors I have been able to do have been inspired by the actual person that I’m working for. I ask a lot of questions. I watch interaction with their children, other people; I see what they gravitate toward. I look at what they’re wearing to better understand that person.What is your house like? Berkus: It’s masculine, with browns, blacks and whites. The house is truly filled with everything I love; I don’t let a basket in it that I don’t like really like. Friends and family know they shouldn’t give me gifts that I haven’t already seen because I’m a careful editor of what I have in my own home. When I look around the rooms I live in, the objects remind me of good times, trips I’ve taken, people I love, images that are meaningful. I have a rug I designed, I sleep on my own sheets. It’s me practicing what I preach; it’s highly personalized.How do you keep up with trends? Berkus: I have a huge respect for things that have come before me. I turn to history and classic elements in design. I’m really interested in seeing other people’s work. I pour over shelter magazines, I keep a library of books of other works I admire. I’m interested in technology, how things are being made with different materials, new designs, new lines of furniture. The point of an interior is to be obviously beautiful, but more importantly, reflect the people who actually live there. |
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