---
title: Kelly Wearstler, decoded
description: Decode Kelly Wearstler's interior design style through six recurring habits, from sculptural shapes and contrasting materials to vintage furniture, oversized objects and colour.
image: https://www.everythingbutthekitchensink.co.uk/hubfs/look-decoded_cover-photo-wide-1.png
---

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- [DECODE](https://www.everythingbutthekitchensink.co.uk/blog/tag/decode)
- [MUSINGS](https://www.everythingbutthekitchensink.co.uk/blog/tag/musings)
- [KNOW-HOW](https://www.everythingbutthekitchensink.co.uk/know-how)
- [THE EDIT](https://www.everythingbutthekitchensink.co.uk/the-edit)
- [ABOUT](https://www.everythingbutthekitchensink.co.uk/about)

- [DECODE](https://www.everythingbutthekitchensink.co.uk/blog/tag/decode)
- [MUSINGS](https://www.everythingbutthekitchensink.co.uk/blog/tag/musings)
- [KNOW-HOW](https://www.everythingbutthekitchensink.co.uk/know-how)
- [THE EDIT](https://www.everythingbutthekitchensink.co.uk/the-edit)
- [ABOUT](https://www.everythingbutthekitchensink.co.uk/about)

# Kelly Wearstler, decoded: six habits behind her interiors

[Everything But](https://www.everythingbutthekitchensink.co.uk/blog/author/everything-but)

[IN /ɪn/ adv.](https://www.everythingbutthekitchensink.co.uk/blog/tag/in-ɪn-adv), [Decode](https://www.everythingbutthekitchensink.co.uk/blog/tag/decode)

![](https://www.everythingbutthekitchensink.co.uk/hubfs/look-decoded_cover-photo-wide-1.png)

Kelly Wearstler's interiors are full of contradictions. Curves meet grids. Rough stone sits beside polished metal. Vintage Italian furniture shares a room with something made yesterday. 

So what makes a room unmistakably hers?

AD | This article links to an Edit with affiliate links. I may earn a commission if you buy through them, at no extra cost to you.

### Tension everywhere

Curves against grids, rough against polished, old against new.

### Materials do the talking

Stone, timber and metal carry the pattern and the colour.

### Go for it, or go light

Every habit works in full, or with a lighter touch.

## The idea

I looked closely at six projects, from a California family home to a Michelin-starred restaurant in Austin, to find out. Not just the colours or the statement pieces, but the decisions underneath: the shapes, materials, proportions and unexpected combinations that keep appearing.

Six habits stood out. Some need a Hollywood budget. Others can be borrowed with a much lighter touch.

 

This is my decode of her work from the outside looking in. You may well see her rooms differently.

![Kelly Wearstler, decoded: six illustrated cards, one for each habit. A grid softened by a curve, rough stone beside a smooth slab, pieces from three eras, one oversized circle over a low bench, a pair of mismatched arches, and wood grain doing the work of pattern and colour.](https://www.everythingbutthekitchensink.co.uk/hs-fs/hubfs/Decode/Kelly%20W/look-decoded_summary.png?width=1200&height=1340&name=look-decoded_summary.png)

[Shop my Kelly Wearstler Edit →](https://www.everythingbutthekitchensink.co.uk/blog/the-kelly-wearstler-edit)

## The details

Each habit comes two ways: go for it, or go light.

01

### Straight lines need a wobble

Wearstler rarely lets a room get too orderly. In the New York townhouse, a key-pattern parquet floor runs under a serpentine stair. In Austin, strict shoji-style screens meet rounded chairs and lights made of quilted fibreglass.

Go for it

A curved sofa or a sculptural light against panelling or parquet.

Go light

One globe lamp in a room of straight lines.

![Straight lines need a wobble: a strict line grid with a soft, rounded blob laid over it, showing a curve breaking up an orderly room](https://www.everythingbutthekitchensink.co.uk/hs-fs/hubfs/Decode/Kelly%20W/look-decoded_01-grid.png?width=300&height=375&name=look-decoded_01-grid.png)

02

### Rough makes polished look expensive

Fossil limestone beside aluminium. Hand-fractured glass banded in brass. Charred cypress against handmade tile. The polished stops the rough looking unfinished, and the rough stops the polished looking new.

Go for it

A characterful stone worktop beside lacquered or metal cabinets.

Go light

A rough ceramic bowl on a smooth table. This is one of the two habits I'd use in my own house.

![Rough makes polished look expensive: an irregular cut stone beside a smooth, flat slab, showing raw and refined surfaces side by side](https://www.everythingbutthekitchensink.co.uk/hs-fs/hubfs/Decode/Kelly%20W/look-decoded_02-raw.png?width=300&height=375&name=look-decoded_02-raw.png)

03

### Nothing belongs to one era

In the six projects, there is usually something older, something vintage and something by a living maker. The vintage is mostly mid-century and often Italian: seven of the twelve vintage names she gives are Italian. In Beverly Hills, a 2019 bench by Misha Kahn stands in a 1930s Georgian bedroom, quite happily. The older pieces give a room a history; the new ones stop it feeling like a museum.

Go for it

A signed mid-century Italian piece beside something made this year.

Go light

One older piece from an auction among the new.

![Nothing belongs to one era: a classical arch, a mid-century sideboard and a modern pebble form side by side, labelled then, mid-century and now](https://www.everythingbutthekitchensink.co.uk/hs-fs/hubfs/Decode/Kelly%20W/look-decoded_03-decades.png?width=300&height=375&name=look-decoded_03-decades.png)

04

### One thing should be a little too big

A giant chain sculpture in a hotel lobby. A steel figure filling a bay window. Faye Toogood's Puffball pendant over the dining table. Everything around it stays low, and that is what gives the big piece room. Without the space around it, it's just a big thing.

Go for it

A floor sculpture or a pendant that's genuinely too big for the room.

Go light

One oversized floor lamp or a tall plant, with everything else kept low.

![One thing should be a little too big: a huge circle above a small, low bench, showing one oversized piece given space by everything around it](https://www.everythingbutthekitchensink.co.uk/hs-fs/hubfs/Decode/Kelly%20W/look-decoded_04-scale.png?width=300&height=375&name=look-decoded_04-scale.png)

05

### Pairs, sometimes twins

Pairs are everywhere: two alabaster lamps at Canela Lounge, two ceramic chairs at the door of Santa Monica Proper. Sometimes they match exactly. Often something breaks the symmetry, like two Theselius chairs in different colours. The symmetry calms the room; the odd one out stops it looking like a showroom.

Go for it

Matching pairs of lamps, chairs or sconces, then one deliberate odd one out.

Go light

Two lamps of the same height in different shapes. This is the other habit I'd use in my own house.

![Pairs, sometimes twins: two tall panels of the same size, one with a dipped top and one with a round arch, showing a pair that doesn't quite match](https://www.everythingbutthekitchensink.co.uk/hs-fs/hubfs/Decode/Kelly%20W/look-decoded_05-pairs.png?width=300&height=375&name=look-decoded_05-pairs.png)

06

### The materials do the pattern and the colour

Across the six projects, veined marble, timber grain, tile grids and textured plaster do the work that pattern usually does. In the Kappo Kappo photographs I studied, there is no printed fabric at all. Where pattern does appear, it tends to be geometric or linear, and rarely more than two in a room. Grain and veining give the eye something to do without adding another motif to compete with everything else.

The materials set the palette too. Her colour comes mostly from what things are made of: timber, from pale oak to charred cypress; stone, from fossil limestone and travertine to veined marble; brass and gold leaf; alabaster, plaster and clay. Each project is one family of warm, natural tones, from sand at Santa Monica Proper to near-black at Kappo Kappo.

The cool colours are rare. In the six projects I studied, blue or green never takes up more than a sliver of the room, often a single lamp or a piece of art.

Go for it

A veined marble or charred timber wall, with the rest of the room in one material family: walnut, travertine, brass.

Go light

One real material, a stone tray or a brass lamp, with plain fabrics around it. Let it set the colour.

![The materials do the pattern and the colour: flowing wood grain lines with a plain panel set into them, showing natural grain doing the work of pattern](https://www.everythingbutthekitchensink.co.uk/hs-fs/hubfs/Decode/Kelly%20W/look-decoded_06-material.png?width=300&height=375&name=look-decoded_06-material.png)

![Six projects, six palettes: measured colour strips for six Kelly Wearstler projects, each a single family of warm tones, from sand at Santa Monica Proper to near-black at Kappo Kappo](https://www.everythingbutthekitchensink.co.uk/hs-fs/hubfs/Decode/Kelly%20W/look-decoded_palettes.png?width=1200&height=800&name=look-decoded_palettes.png)

[![The Kelly Wearstler Edit | Everything But](https://www.everythingbutthekitchensink.co.uk/hs-fs/hubfs/Decode/Kelly%20W/The%20Kelly%20Wearstler%20Edit%20Gird%20Everything%20But.png?width=960&height=320&name=The%20Kelly%20Wearstler%20Edit%20Gird%20Everything%20But.png)](https://www.everythingbutthekitchensink.co.uk/blog/the-kelly-wearstler-edit)

Go for it or go light

A curve, a rough surface, one older piece, one big thing and a pair.

Pieces chosen to show the habits, not her own designs.

[SHOP THE KELLY WEARSTLER EDIT →](https://www.everythingbutthekitchensink.co.uk/blog/the-kelly-wearstler-edit)

Why it works

Each habit adds a little tension. The materials keep it calm.

Wearstler's rooms thrive on contrast, but they aren't a free-for-all.

Curves interrupt grids. Rough materials temper polished finishes. Vintage pieces stop new furniture feeling too perfect, while an oversized object changes the balance of a room. Pairs introduce order, then an unexpected detail breaks it.

What holds everything together is a sense of editing. The materials often carry their own pattern through grain, veining and texture, so the room doesn't need another layer of decoration everywhere.

The lesson isn't to combine every opposite you can find. It's to choose a few contrasts, give them space, and know when to stop.

## What to leave out

Her exact shades. Lupine's ochre glows in Californian light and sulks in a north-facing British room. Take the materials, not the paint colours. And the urge to do the whole look at once.

## The verdict

Theatrical, confident and full of things to discover, Wearstler's rooms reward a second look. They bring together strong forms, tactile materials and unexpected pieces without losing their sense of purpose.

The full treatment won't suit every British home, and it doesn't need to. You don't need the architecture, the budget or the entire collection of statement furniture to borrow something from it.

Try a rough surface against a polished one. Introduce an older piece into a contemporary room. Let one oversized object take the lead, then edit everything around it.

The point isn't to recreate a Kelly Wearstler room. It's to understand the decisions that give it character, and use the ones that make sense in your own home.

 

## The six at a glance

Which habits appear in which project. All six turned up in every one; the colour never repeated.

![What repeats: a grid of six Kelly Wearstler projects against the six habits. All six habits appear in every project. A patterned timber floor appears in four, a named mid-century European piece in four, and no two projects share a palette.](https://www.everythingbutthekitchensink.co.uk/hs-fs/hubfs/Decode/Kelly%20W/look-decoded_evidence.png?width=1200&height=800&name=look-decoded_evidence.png)

The six: Santa Monica Proper (hotel, 2018), an Upper East Side townhouse (2021), Lupine (family home, 2022), a Georgian house in Beverly Hills (2023), Canela Lounge (bar, 2024) and Kappo Kappo (restaurant, 2026).

The designer

Kelly Wearstler

Interiors, furniture and lighting, Los Angeles

[kellywearstler.com](https://www.kellywearstler.com)

LIKE THIS?

Interiors, gardens, useful ideas and things I’d genuinely want at home. The Edit lands every other Thursday.

## Questions

### What materials does Kelly Wearstler use?

In the six projects here: stone in every form, from fossil limestone and travertine to veined marble, alongside timber, brass, alabaster, plaster and handmade tile. Rough and polished usually sit side by side.

### What colours does Kelly Wearstler use?

In the six projects I studied, warm, natural tones that come from the materials themselves: sand, ochre, bronze and near-black. Cool colours appear only as small accents.

### Will this work in a Victorian house?

Yes. Keep the cornicing and the fireplace, and furnish against them rather than in their style.

### Do I need expensive vintage?

No. One older piece from an auction or a second-hand shop is enough.

### Isn't Kelly Wearstler a maximalist?

Her rooms are full, but edited: few objects, large ones, and pattern that comes from materials.

Spotted a habit I've missed, or think I've got her wrong? Tell me on Instagram [@everythingbut.theedit](https://www.instagram.com/everythingbut.theedit/).

Project details from [kellywearstler.com](https://www.kellywearstler.com). Illustrations by Everything But.

## Keep looking

### [![Cloud House | Everything But](https://www.everythingbutthekitchensink.co.uk/hs-fs/hubfs/Colour%20Pop%20Cloud%20House/Colour%20Pop%20Cloud%20House%20A%20Grand%20Design%20Everything%20But%20Grid%20Edit.png?width=303&height=101&name=Colour%20Pop%20Cloud%20House%20A%20Grand%20Design%20Everything%20But%20Grid%20Edit.png) Cloud House Colour, curves and conviction. Read it →](https://www.everythingbutthekitchensink.co.uk/blog/grand-designs-cloud-house-a-home-with-personality)

### [![Bond, by design | Everything But](https://www.everythingbutthekitchensink.co.uk/hs-fs/hubfs/AI-Generated%20Media/Images/AIGenerated%20Image%20with%20Subtle%20Light%20Adjustment.png?width=303&height=101&name=AIGenerated%20Image%20with%20Subtle%20Light%20Adjustment.png) Bond, by design More presence, less stuff. Read it →](https://www.everythingbutthekitchensink.co.uk/blog/where-will-the-new-bond-live)

### [![The floor lamp | Everything But](https://www.everythingbutthekitchensink.co.uk/hs-fs/hubfs/AI-Generated%20Media/Images/First%2c%20there%20was%20light.%20Then%20the%20lampshade%20Decode%20Everything%20But.png?width=303&height=101&name=First%2c%20there%20was%20light.%20Then%20the%20lampshade%20Decode%20Everything%20But.png) The floor lamp One brilliant lamp changes the room. Read it →](https://www.everythingbutthekitchensink.co.uk/blog/first-there-was-light.-then-the-lampshade)

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## [The Kelly Wearstler Edit](https://www.everythingbutthekitchensink.co.uk/blog/the-kelly-wearstler-edit)

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## [Listening Room Ideas: Create a home listening space](https://www.everythingbutthekitchensink.co.uk/blog/squeezing-in-a-listening-room)

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**IN** /ɪn/ *adv.* Everything inside.

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