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CREATE A SPACE THAT’S COZY, CLEAN, AND TOTALLY YOU

ONE DAY, SOON AFTER I HAD HONOR, MY GIRLFRIEND
Ramona Braganza—who is a personal trainer I met when I was 17 while working on a TV show—came over for a workout. As usual, we were chatting (I need to be distracted when I’m exercising!), and she told me about another client of hers, who’d also just had a baby.

“You should see her house now—it’s amazing! It’s all organic, natural, and eco-friendly,” she said.

I looked around. We had just finished a big pre-Honor renovation on our house, too: PVC-free vinyl chairs that wipe clean, couches stuffed with nontoxic filler and covered with flame-retardant-free fabric, organic area rugs? Check. Nontoxic wallpapers? Check. No-VOC paint? Check again. (Don’t worry, I’ll tell you what all that stuff means in a minute!) “Mona,
my house
is organic, natural, and eco-friendly!” I said.

She looked a little confused. “Really? Because in her house . . . everything is
beige
or
white
.”

Oh, right.

So I’d really love to know: Who made this design rule that if it’s going to be eco, it’s got to be beige, brown, muted, or full of earth tones? If that’s truly your style, great. Layer on your neutrals, paint all your floors white, arrange your books in architectural stacks, and be your bad minimalist self. But our house is a fun, busy, kid-friendly place. We have yellow-and-gold wallpaper in the kitchen, deep blues and browns in our den—where we cozy up to watch movies and play board games—and pink and purple
everything
in Honor’s room.

I love to play with colors and patterns in home design just as much as I do with fashion. After spending countless hours living in hotels, I find I gravitate toward that kind of cleanliness and organization, where everything has a place. But I also crave personality and coziness, because hotel spaces can be so impersonal and sterile—it’s always been important to me to create my own sense of space where I can return home. And everywhere I travel, I fall in love with a new aesthetic—the Midcentury Modern ranch houses in Southern California, a modern beachy condo I lived in when I was in Australia, the old-world classic Provençal style my mother-in-law inhabits in the south of France, or the unbelievable hand-carved teak furniture you see in Indonesia. The place that most inspired me when I was first figuring out my home style was the bar at Round Hill, a resort in Montego Bay, Jamaica. It was designed by Ralph Lauren and has such a sense of history—so many famous writers, artists, and musicians have lived there—but it doesn’t feel like a cloistered museum. Instead, it’s light and airy, with lots of open space and this great juxtaposition of heavy, dark wood and clean, white linens with bold pops of color like turquoise or royal blue.

In every space I decorate, I’m always playing with that relationship—how do you keep the space clean, light, and uncluttered yet also layer in plenty of warmth and personality? In our current house, I struck the balance by using lots of textured fabrics and wallpapers and by finding interesting-shaped lighting while keeping the overall color scheme on the lighter side of the palette.

And as much as I want color and style, I also need everything that I bring into our home to be completely safe and healthy—and this cannot be a compromise. Our home is our sanctuary at the end of busy workdays and must be a calm, welcoming place. But even more important, it’s where our daughters spend most of their time. Babies’ and little kids’ bodies are growing and developing so rapidly—any exposure to chemicals that can harm development can do maximum damage at this time. And babies breathe in twice as much as adults (per pound of body weight), so if the air they’re breathing is polluted with harmful toxins, they’re getting a double dose. You might think of air pollution as an outdoor problem—I sure used to, growing up in the “Inland Empire” just outside of LA with its awful smog situation—but it turns out that tons of household items release fumes or off-gas chemicals that pollute the indoor air as well. Not to mention, little kids often have an even more direct route of exposure since they’ll put everything they can reach into their mouths. In the next chapter, we’ll talk more specifically about the best nontoxic teething toys and other gear for babies and young children. For now, consider this chapter your whole-house guide to developing your home’s style and ensuring that you’re decorating and maintaining it in the safest and healthiest ways possible.

“Have nothing in your home that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.”
–William Morris

“H
AVE NOTHING IN IN YOUR HOME
your home that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.” That’s a design rule from the famous British designer (and pioneer of the Arts and Crafts Movement) William Morris, which I try to keep in mind whenever I’m considering something new for our home . . . or editing what we already have because clutter is starting to pile up!

Just like Honest Style, Honest Home style is intensely personal—you’ll never walk into my house and wonder if you’ve stepped into a home décor catalog. Nothing against any one store—I’ve pulled my home’s look from all sorts of sources, from mass market (I love Target’s Missoni plates!) to flea market to handmade to designer vintage. I’ll definitely get ideas from catalog pages and tons of other places, but then it’s all about how I can put my own spin on it and make it unique.

When you have a really strong sense of your own aesthetic, you make fewer design mistakes—which is more sustainable in the long term. You don’t find yourself getting sick of a room after six months or a year and wanting to redecorate it completely. At the same time, you understand that your home is a living, breathing space and it’s always evolving—there’s no “done”—so tweaks are always fair game because that’s how we keep a space fresh and functional for our family’s evolving needs.

Whenever I travel, shop, eat in a new restaurant, or even just walk down a city block I haven’t explored before, I’m always keeping an eye out for inspiration—some of the things I love most in my house have been accidental finds, like the vintage postcards I stumbled on at a New York City flea market or colorful fabrics at a thrift store in France. Here are more ways to find inspiration, develop your eye for interior decorating, and hone your own style.

All the furniture you see in stores today was inspired by something old—so why not go for the real thing instead? The key is to know what the looks you like today are referencing from the past. This helps me zero in on the right shapes and styles when I’m in a cluttered antiques store or flea market.