Emily Henderson
Emily Henderson is an American interior designer, stylist, author, and television host best known for hosting the HGTV series Secrets from a Stylist. Founder and Creative Director of Style by Emily Henderson, Henderson has become widely recognized for her approachable and personality-driven approach to interiors.
Originally from Portland, Oregon, Henderson trained in New York City while working as a prop stylist before gaining national attention after winning Season 5 of HGTV Design Star. She later relocated to Los Angeles, where she expanded her practice across residential design, editorial styling, television, and publishing.
Henderson is also the author of the Styled: Secrets for Arranging Rooms, from Tabletops to Bookshelves and The New Design Rules: How to Decorate and Renovate, from Start to Finish, alongside her long-running lifestyle and design platform Style by Emily Henderson. Her work is guided by the belief that interiors should feel personal, comfortable, and lived-in, often combining contemporary design with vintage and antique elements to create spaces full of warmth and character.
“A home should look like the person that inhabits it, not a catalog.”
INTERVIEW
Normally, the first thing I do is look at the actual house I’m designing. For me, I’ve lived in a Spanish-style apartment, a midcentury modern home, a classic Tudor, and now a 100-year-old farmhouse. Every design has been based on the architecture. For me, that helps to dictate the hard finishes and see what style of furniture I might start to play with. I, of course, love to mix it up and pick pieces that wouldn’t traditionally be chosen, but it’s easy to start with the ones that would. From there, I love to pin, read design books, look at magazines, and go to antique shops and thrift markets. So much inspiration can be pulled from all of those places.
It all started when I got a job as a shop girl at Jonathan Adler’s first store in New York. Stylists would come in to get pieces for shoots, and I knew that’s what I wanted to do.
Because of that, I was lucky to get a job assisting a magazine stylist until I was ready to go out on my own. It was so exciting and challenging, and I loved every minute of it.
Absolutely. There were, of course, cool milestones before that, but winning the show is what launched my career in a way that much more of the world got to learn who I was. I am forever grateful for that wild experience.
Writing a book is no joke, and especially when it’s a book about design, it takes A LOT of talented people to make it a success. But the best part is always to see it come to fruition, in print, and the response from the readers.
I think most designers would agree that a project feels like a success when you feel creatively fulfilled, and the client loves their home. It’s pretty magical. But also sometimes just finishing can feel like a success. Ha. Some projects can take years, so when you cross the finish line, it feels great no matter what.
And look, no one’s upset if their project gets published because it’s pretty darn exciting, and your work is being shown to a much larger audience. But those moments are just that, moments. So while they can bring you more business, it’s really about whether or not you and your client are equally happy with the result.
I’ve done it for so long that I don’t know any other way! I’m an external processor, so my blog posts and books are just as much for me as they are for the readers. But the most challenging part is that often it can feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day, week, or month.
I love my job so much, but I also need to be a good mother, wife, and friend, which I also love, obviously. Juggling everything can be a lot, but I’ve created stronger boundaries around my schedule, which has helped immensely.
I have fantasies of designing a bed and breakfast or a small boutique hotel someday, but who knows! I love the challenge of designing new types of projects.
It might not be the most exciting or what will go viral on the internet, but I love working with really classic materials and styles when it comes to tile, flooring, etc. But the home’s architecture plays a huge role too.
Then, when it comes to furniture and decor, I like to take more risks because it’s far more affordable to decide you want to change an accent chair than the tile in your kitchen. But I am so inspired by the designers who take more risks in all categories.
I know I am biased, but I really tried to pour as much useful information into my two books as possible. But of course, there are so many great books out there. Aside from that, I don’t have any specific program recommendations, but there is so much online, whether it’s on YouTube, Skillshare, Masterclass, etc. Those are great places to start.
It’s easy to get frustrated and want to point fingers when a mistake is made. But the best way to handle any mess-up is to be solution-focused. That’s not to say no one should be held accountable, but at the end of the day, the problem needs to be fixed, and the faster the solution is decided on, the better.
Just start creating and putting yourself out there. That is one cool part about the internet. We see so many wildly talented people now with a variety of backgrounds and experience levels. The more you do, the faster you’ll truly find your style and hone your eye. Sure, you might look back and cringe a little, but we all do that.
This is hard for me because I am extremely wordy, but if I only get one, I’d say eclectic.
Sentimental pieces of art. It’s easy (albeit not cheap) to replace things like a sofa or a rug, but a one-of-a-kind piece of art that means something to you can’t be. 15 years ago, I bought this huge vintage drawing of a blimp (it’s awesome, I promise) that I had been eyeing for months at a flea market.
While it wouldn’t hit my wallet as hard these days, it was a big expense then and my first real piece of art. It’s been with me in every home since then, and I would absolutely save it in a fire. Those are the decor pieces that make our homes unique to us, and that is why I think they are crucial.
Thank you so much Emily, for this lovely interview!
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