Ep. 462: Young Huh's New Book + Renovating Your Forever Home

0:01Welcome to How to Decorate from Ballard Designs, a weekly podcast all about the trials and triumphs of decorating and redecorating your home. I'm Caroline. I'm on the marketing team. And I'm Taryn, and I'm a product designer. I'm Liz. I head up the creative team. We're your hosts. Join the expert team at Ballard Designs for tips, tricks, and tales from interior designers, stylists, and other talents in the design world. Plus, we'll answer your decorating dilemmas at the end of each episode. We love answering your questions, so don't forget to email us at podcast at ballardesigns.net. Now, on with the show.

0:33Today, we are joined by a designer who has become a fixture on the Elle Decor A-List and the 80-100, known for her ability to mix classic proportions with a modern, joyful energy. She's here to discuss her stunning debut book, A Mood, A Thought, A Feeling, Interiors. Young Ha, welcome to the show. Thanks for having me. So happy to have you. I've been following your work for many years, and it was a delight to get to see your brand new book. I want to start with the name because it's such a surprising and delightful name. And I wanted to know kind of how you—and it also describes sort of the format of the book, right?

1:15It's set into three sections—mood, a thought, a feeling. So tell me about the structure and kind of how you started thinking about the book and, you know, what sort of was the thought process there? Well, the title actually comes from how I think about my design process. I think, you know, when you start a project, you think about how do you want to feel in a room? How do you want to feel in different spaces? So a mood is first. What is the mood that you're going for? and we split it out into several concepts with illustrations. And then, you know, design requires a lot of thinking, a lot of structured, you know, detailed thinking.

2:00So that's a thought, which is part two. And we go through three projects and I walk you through how we thought through it, how we applied the different moods and really develop these projects. And then the last part is a feeling, which is my own home and garden. And, you know, this is illustrating how I want to feel in my home, how I want to live, and how I think design supports me and why I designed the rooms in such a way. And I'm hoping that that really encapsulates the entire design experience for homeowners or enthusiasts and gives them some ideas for how they could approach their own homes, their own spaces or their own projects.

2:58It's so inspiring how you started your design career, not in design, but found your way there through your own home and how you started finding your feelings and the moods throughout your own first family home. Can you walk us through that experience? Yeah. So when I first started, when I had my first house in Scarsdale, I was just so overwhelmed by, you know, how do I turn this into a home? I decorated a dorm room, an apartment space, and now I had multiple rooms and I just wasn't sure how to put it together. And that really started my design journey. Like, how do you think through this? How do you work through a design project?

3:56Is it just picking things that you like? Is it just picking random things and putting it together? Like, there's got to be some sort of structured thinking. And it also happened to be at a time when I was trying to figure out what career move I wanted to make. And I was going through a lot of sort of self-analysis and trying to figure out what my next steps were. And I met a designer at a cocktail party and it just, a light bulb went off. And I was like, that's what I need to do. That's what I want to do. That's my next step. And for our listeners, just so they know, you started off as a lawyer, but with a passion for art history and the arts of all kinds, whether it's writing or visual arts.

4:54Yeah, so I went to a high school called Cranbrook, which also has a very famous art school. And there I learned all sorts of creative things. I learned art. I learned different mediums of art. I learned about literature. And then when I went to Smith College, I learned so much about art history. And all of that was just so amazing. But I never imagined that these were useful tools for a career. My parents always told me that you, being an Asian woman, you have to be a doctor or a lawyer. Those are the only two options. No one's going to hire you for anything else. So, I went to law school because I was bad at math and I, you know, really stuck through it.

5:54But all the while knowing that it was probably not the right move for me, didn't quite, wasn't really my passion. I had to really kind of, you know, white knuckle it through the entire way through the bar exams. And yeah, but it's really amazing. You don't realize how impactful those classes are in your early childhood, in your college years. Those classes that you took for love and enjoyment, how impactful they are later. So everything that you learn is important and useful along the way. What was the experience of going back to school for design? Was it joyful from the beginning? Was it scary?

6:48You know, because embarking on a new career, you know, I imagine that would be terrifying. Yeah. I guess in some ways I felt like I had nothing to lose. Because I was already not super happy in my, where I was. And I was just very curious. But I had small children at that time. And I remember taking my son to drafting class and, you know, dealing with a tiny child who was squirming around and then trying to draw straight lines. That was not very easy. And everyone was super young. Everyone was like 18 or 19 in my class. And here I was with like a baby and everyone was looking at me like, why are you here?

7:48What are you doing? but it was really amazing it just opened my eyes to so much and um to this day I feel so inspired by all the young people that um I run into I always learn something from them whether it's cool tricks with apps or just a new way of thinking or creative ideas so So I think it's really exciting to, I would go back to school again if I could. You know, because I got so busy so fast, I wasn't able to finish school. And I would love to go back and take as many classes as I could. I think that's such a good point, though, for anyone who's listening, who's feeling, again, that guttural reaction like you had of meeting somebody at a party and being like, this is it.

8:44Like, what do I have to lose that, you know, going back, let me go back, figure out who I want to be and what I want to do and like throwing yourself in it. Absolutely. I think that we're all evolving creatures. You are not the same person tomorrow as you were yesterday. And as we evolve, we have to embrace new challenges and new things that are exciting. and what's more exciting than a new adventure? I think if we are feeling kind of stuck and doing the same old every day, you know, life becomes too static and uninteresting. So yeah, embrace adventure. You mentioned how you had this epiphany while at a cocktail party, but at the time you were decorating your house in Scarsdale, your first house.

9:40I was curious if there were any choices or projects that you did in that first house where you thought, oh, this is fun. This is a thrill. I love this. Or I made this right choice. Yeah, I think that was the first time I experimented with fairly bold colors. I remember painting my dining room red and it was a pretty traditional red. But at the time, I thought I was being so wild. I was so excited for myself. And I loved that red dining room. And I think that really inspired me how enveloping and wonderful color can be. And a bold choice is often the right one. okay let's get into the book because it's a gorgeous gorgeous book um and i mentioned before i love the way that you organized it you start the first section with talking about moods and you you have a fabulous list and none of these are moods that are the words you chose have so much more personality and story than um you know than i think what most people would think But I also really loved that you start with moods because I find often people try to describe their style.

11:10And they think describing their style is the very first step. But you're presenting a different option. So walk us through that. Yeah, so I think it's really hard to articulate style because then you're requiring yourself to describe components and elements. And oftentimes we don't know how to put things together, but everyone can appreciate and understand how they feel and what they want to feel when they walk in a room. So I spend some time analyzing that, like how do you want to feel when you enter your home? Do you want it to be welcoming? Do you want it to be bright and cheerful? Or do you want to have it really soothing and quiet?

11:59Some people really like walking into a moody, dark space. And that sort of explains the impending drama that is going to happen as the house reveals itself. So really understanding how you want to feel in a room determines what elements you want to put in. For instance, living room. Do you want it to have a lot of verb? Do you want it to be stylish, in other words? Or do you want a sense of joy? Do you want a sense of conviviality, which is a sociability? A lot of people love to entertain, but just don't know how to get there. How do I make my living room wonderful for parties? That's the most important thing to me.

12:52and maybe some people just want a very peaceful living room really quiet and still and you don't want a lot of noise and activities and parties happening in your living room and and that's the thing you get to choose you know best how you want to feel in your own home so start with that and then we can talk about the components and building your quote-unquote style I found myself wanting every mood in my house somewhere. You know, whether it's conviviality in my living room where I want people to just enter and gather and start socializing. Or coziness in my dining room where it's more intimate.

13:39Yeah. You know, peaceful in my kitchen. I'm just walking you through my house now. Yeah, I love it. I love it. Yeah, it was really exciting to see the pictures that you associated with these words and how inspiring they all became while reading the book. So great. I love that. And that's the thing. I think a lot of people will want most of these moods. there's got to be a place where you need peace. There's got to be a place where you want to run away and be cozy. All of those different moods. And I think it's really important to think, well, I want to feel kind of peaceful, but also cozy. And then that gives you enough of a goal to start building the components to create that feeling and then the look of the room.

14:43But the most important thing I think about design is our built environment is only meaningful in the way that we attach to it, the way it gives us emotional impact, the way we feel something when we enter a space, whether it's, you know, like a really exciting restaurant or running away to your bedroom and having a good cry. You definitely want to have a place where you can feel safe or have that emotional connection. So I'm so glad that you thought through your home that way. Oh, totally. I mean, and I started finding things like, oh, maybe I do need to paint my ceiling lilac. Because there's such really bold and beautiful moves that you make in every one of your rooms.

15:44And it's very inspiring. Oh, thank you so much. I hope it gives people inspiration to activate their own homes and their own lives in that way. Well, can we get a little technical with this? So let's say you do want to get a little, you want to make this room as soon as people enter, again, this perfect place for a party. What are some things that you always go to when you're like, all right, so you guys are social. What are we putting in this space? Right. So I think social people are imagining the different configurations of socializing. It's a pod of people here. Cocktails are served here. When people enter, you want this feeling of welcome and you want people to socialize with each other.

16:39Parties are often sort of spontaneous and exciting and fun. So definitely not super bright lighting because that's, you know, that makes, that shuts down people real fast. So moody lighting, soft lighting, maybe candles, maybe a fire in the fireplace. Definitely with furniture planned, there's got to be a place for people to have sort of like a main group of seating, but also different pods where, you know, two girlfriends can go and gossip about something that just happened. Oh, for sure. All of those things are really important for a party. You want different breakout conversations, and then you also want a way for a lot of people to sit together and tingle.

17:37And I also think a really important thing for conviviality is a bar. even if you are not serving alcoholic drinks, just having a place to have people come in and give them refreshment, something for their eyes to be delighted at and offer this feeling of welcome. So I think that's really good in a convivial room. I do love that welcome moment, if that makes sense. That whole, I've arrived, this is part of the ritual of being around people. And to your point, it doesn't even have to be alcoholic, but who's not excited for a coffee bar or a big tray of treats or something. So like you said, to delight not only, you know, all your senses, I should say.

18:27Yeah. I just remember one of the most, it seems like a small moment, but I remember visiting Bunny Williams at her home, and one of the first things she did was welcome me and hand me a glass of ice-cold lemonade. And it was just such a hospitable, warm welcome. And, you know, just a small act like that, it has such impact on how you are received and experience someone's home and welcome. Okay, now let's say let's go the opposite just to see if there's any tips or tricks. So let's say again, you want that very quiet, calm space as you're because you are kind of more, you know, closed and this isn't your entertaining space.

19:20What are you doing for spaces like that? so everyone has different ideas of what's cozy to them but what is your go-to color like when you are having that day what's your favorite what's the color of your favorite sweater what do you want to be enveloped in um and the other thing to think about is how do you want to how do you like to be cozy? Do you like to be in a soft sofa, a day bed with lots of cushions? Is it a little tiny nook? Is it a chair with an ottoman? How do you like to experience coziness? I know we just recently had a meeting with a client and they really like upright seating and kind of firm seating and I was sort of speaking to them about how they're going to use the room.

20:19And the question is, do you really want hard seating in a cozy space where you're going to run or, you know, think about it. You're probably going to lie down and take a nap here or, you know, read a book lying down. Think about it. So those are all the important elements of building those spaces together. And, you know, like lighting, do you want to be able to have just one source of light and no overhead lights if you're lying down? I find if I'm lying down, having overhead lights shining in my eyes is probably the most annoying thing. So it could be lamps, floor lamps within arms reach. It's funny how all those small things make you perceive and experience in its entirety.

21:15Thank you for taking us through those two moods. I know, again, there's so many more, but I think that's a perfect, some good tidbits there on people who are trying to think about what their mood is. I really loved the Wes Anderson-inspired house in New York. That was my favorite, one of my favorites. I liked all the sections, but I really loved this section because it was such a contrast to the previous house that was in there, which was, you know, very fashionable and, you know, kind of sleek. And then this Wes Anderson was so transportive. So, but I also want you to describe for our listeners, I know I've just teed you up with with a very fanciful description, but it was also so livable too.

22:03Will you tell our audience about this project? Yeah. So it was a home of a very young family, young, beautiful, amazing couple with two small boys. And when they approached me, they said, you know, we are really inspired by Wes Anderson's The Royal Tenenbaums. We want a house like that, like quirky, full of energy, interesting, and really livable. And as soon as she said that, it just immediately gave me a picture of what they were looking for. And I think it's really fun as a designer to be able to inhabit your clients' ideas and their desires and to try and different design strategies and finishes.

23:03And so this family, they sort of had so many ideas and different elements they wanted to incorporate. and that's how the house turned out because they were so good at expressing what they wanted like how they wanted to feel when they walked in the house how they wanted to feel in in the kitchen at first they thought they wanted a really moody green kitchen and then I showed them what a moody kitchen would look like and they're like oh no that's not us we actually want something a little quiet but not that moody so um and that's what's really uh fun and and wonderful is to realize you know maybe you thought this but actually you want something else and and going through all those exercises um but i think it's such a fun quirky um house so full of personality What really, I think, charmed me was the colors.

24:11Because when I think of the Royal Tenenbaums, I think of a very sepia kind of tone to it. And there is a real earthiness to the palette. You know, you have this kind of almost muddy buttercup yellow and that muddy green in the kitchen, but it also felt very light and bright. And it's also, I believe, a brownstone. So I know it's only getting light on two sides. So talk to me about picking the paint colors and that, because, you know, I imagine there could be two tones to the to one side of that yellow and it would have felt very very different and the ultimate effect was still real bright and cheerful even though it had a real earthiness to it so how did you how did you how'd you manage that so um when we are working with clients we show them different color palettes.

25:13Is this what you mean by, let's say, the Royal Tenenbaums? But they are such a bright, happy family. I could tell that they really wanted bright, cheerful colors and that they would surround themselves with happiness. They're just so delightful. And so, of course, when I showed them the brighter palettes, they were like, oh, this is more like us. So in some ways, you have to be such a good interpreter. And that's why I developed these exercises for people so that I could really understand what they were looking for. I often tell this story to my team, but early on in my career, we had a client who was asking for a wood country table.

26:09And so I kept showing them country style tables and old fashion tables, antique tables. They're like, no, no, no, no, nothing like that. And then one day they saw this table from a really sleek, modern place with a live edge side. And they were like, oh, we mean a table like this. So everyone's country, wood country is different from another's. So I really, that's why we go into figuring out what they actually mean, because the words can be used in so many different ways and you're trying to capture the essence of what they actually mean okay so but how tell me about the paint color how did you pick the paint colors how did you know that this was just the right one because it doesn't feel heavy i i don't know i paint is such an a less like yeah what's the word i'm thinking elusive um elusive yes it was like illustrious is not right.

27:18Elusive. Yes. Thank you. Paint is really tough. It takes us a lot of effort, thinking, feeling, experimenting. And sometimes you don't get it right the first round. That's why we test paints and test them again and do lots and lots of samples. Um, you know, color is really difficult because it interacts with the lighting that you have. It interacts with the architecture that you have. So I think the most important thing is, again, to figure out what you're going for. Is it this light airiness? And then I can go and pick those colors. colors. So in the case of this family, they're looking for something light and bright, but with a touch of quirkiness.

28:18So that's why that yellow is not just a buttercup sunny yellow. It's got a little something to it. It's a little edgy. So everything has a little bit of an edginess, a little bit of off the beaten path, because that's who they are. yeah i love that and that's very royal tan and bombs and like every color in every room feels like it has a backstory and it's been there i also really love that they went very kind of muted with mushroom cabinets and very very sparse in the kitchen yeah that was the kitchen i was telling you about originally they thought they wanted a moody green like deep deep green um like color drenched kitchen and when we rendered it they were like no no that's that's not how we want to feel and so really kind of um getting into that discussion of of what what is it that you were looking for.

29:24And it was kind of this calm. They wanted a feeling of calm, but they didn't want that space to feel dark. She's like, this is where the kids come after school. This is where we congregate. This is where all the kids come for cookies. This is how they run out to the backyard. So we want that kind of space. So when I heard that, it sounded like lighter, brighter, more welcoming. But if most people, I think, would think light, bright and go white, and white would have just been all wrong. It could have never blended. So I loved that sort of, yeah, green, gray, brown, because it seemed like it could sort of be all sorts of different things depending on what you were doing and what time of day and what season it was.

30:13Yeah. I mean, that's what makes design so interesting. It's not just like, what's pretty? There's a lot of kind of complexity and thinking behind what is it that we're going for. And then I can pinpoint the color because there's a million colors. There's a million different ways we could take it. And I think we get it really right when we understand how a client wants to feel in that space. Can you tell us about your own house? It's the third chapter or third section of the book, and it's magical. And I always love seeing a designer's house because it's fun to see how they sort of interpret other styles.

31:00But then when they, you know, kind of express their own internal desires, too, is really fun. So tell everybody about, you know, finding the property, your maybe initial hesitations. And how it unfolded. Yeah. So when we first came to the house, we could see right away that the property was magical. There's this long meandering drive, the stream that leads to a pond, and then there's a waterfall at the other end of it, this sloping lawn to the pond. And it was just magical, but the house was pretty much a disaster. When I showed my design friends photos of it, they were like, maybe you shouldn't do that one.

32:00And one of the reasons was the architecture was really complicated. There was an 1820s heart and center and then two 1980s wings that looked very 1980s. And the question was, how do we integrate this into a whole and make it unique inside and have it flow seamlessly? But I'm also a person who loves discovery. I want each room to feel like its own space, but yet flow really well. And that's something that I think about a lot is color shifts and how I sit in a room and look into another room. And I want those different colors to look great together. so you know a designer's own home is the place where we can really experiment I think you can't you can't just phone it in with your own home this is your chance to really do something wacky or or something you've always wanted to try but none of your clients have been up for it.

33:27So this was my place where I could really do some really fun things and try some things out. It definitely is a part of the book that I spent the most time in. I was just so wowed. And it does feel like a design laboratory and like you had so much fun putting every space together. We talked a little earlier about how you want people to feel when you walk into your home. So how did you design your entry? Because I honestly, I turned the page and I gasped. That's great. Well, I wanted people to walk into my entry and have a feeling of surprise and wonder. I think an entryway can just be very boring and you have all this wall space.

34:25Why not tell a story? I think spaces become very interesting when you're intrigued by what's happening here. What's the story? Why is there so much unusual painting on the walls? So in my entry, I have a wallpaper collection that I did with Fromenthal. We painted different elements of Korean Minhwa painting, which is Korean folk art. and I chose this kind of an interesting montage of different elements and we kind of played with it in Photoshop putting all these different ideas together and then we colored everything on pink silk. So it's really, I think, delightful and a little wild. But also, you know, I think the other thing I want to express to people is that color and story doesn't have to be overwhelming.

35:36And it It doesn't have to be over the top. It can be really beautiful and elegant. And you can have that sense of welcome and tell a story and paint it pink. And it can be all of those things. I think the important thing is just to know what you want to do. So you step from the entry and you can turn, I'm guessing you turn left into your living room. So you have this like beautiful pink peach entry. And how did you carry that color or that idea through the next rooms or through the rest of your house? yeah so um i think a lot about those color shifts so i knew coming off that really pink entry um i wanted a place for your eye to rest a little bit so my living room is actually painted white um a lot of people don't realize that because there's so much color and pattern within it But we needed some place to have a little peace.

36:52And I pull in that color with little elements of pink in the living room. The sofa is pink. And when you look from the living room into the doorway and through to the hallway, you get this incredible sort of view of the pink sofa and the pink doorway and the wallpaper beyond. And also, I have a solid sofa. So you have the contrast of solid and then against pattern. So no matter what view, vantage point you have, you have a combination of pattern and interest and then also a place for your eye to rest. Can we discuss that sofa? Because it's three different shades of pink, no? Yes. It's fabulous.

37:51I can't even imagine in my wildest dreams what sparked that idea to do three different colors. That's actually a good question. I think because I was sketching out the sofa because I wanted something that was kind of modern, but also traditional. And something very unique, something I had never seen before. And as we were sketching it and as always pulling the colors together, I thought, you know, it'd be cool to have gradients of pink instead of just one color pink. And then you can't tell at first, is it a different, is it a lighting effect or is there different colors of different shades? I had to go back and look.