At Home with Kathy Ireland

Kathy Ireland, model and home furnishings designer, gives us an inside look at her personal design philosophies.

by Nancy Robinson

While many readers remember Kathy Ireland from her days as a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model, today she’s something of a home furnishings mogul with close to 25 different home furnishings product categories to her credit. HomeFurnishings.com recently caught up with her to learn more about her personal design style.

You’ve been designing home furnishings for many years now. How has your personal aesthetic changed during that time?

My design taste has really expanded over the years. I think it was much more narrow before. It’s been a learning process.

How do you define your personal decorating style today?

I would have considered myself more traditional in the past. Today, I would define my personal decorating style as very eclectic.

Where do you find inspiration?

It’s based on my travels. I love bringing what I find not only into our (product) designs, but into our home—different woods and colors and textures. Our team developed something we call Style Guides, which really span the globe. Having traveled the world has opened up my eyes to color and design. It’s a constant education and I really, really enjoy that.

Are you a self-taught designer?

I don’t have a formal degree. I’ve learned through life experience and the school of hard knocks. I’ve learned that, often times, you just have to try something new and not be afraid. Our home is a working lab so it’s constantly changing. We’re always trying out new products, whether its wallcoverings or flooring, and we’re mixing it up with furniture and experimenting. It’s constantly flowing.

What would you say are the hallmarks of your personal style?  

Something I think is really distinct about my design taste is that I love a balance. I really feel it when I walk into a room and it’s not balanced. I don’t mean everything has to be symmetrical. I mean balanced as far as the blend of masculine and feminine. I grew up with three sisters, a mom and a dad. My mom was very thoughtful to make the design feel inclusive, not overly frilly.

In your own home, do you prefer color or a neutral palette?

I love color. Neutrals are very soothing and there’s a place for them, but I always encourage people not to be afraid of color, especially if you have children. Color is so telling about our personality and what we want to express about ourselves. It’s fun. 

What does your own home look like?

It’s a mix. A lot of the design in our primary residence in Santa Barbara is European-country inspired. Santa Barbara has a very Mediterranean feel to it, and our home is very Tuscan in style. Our living room is European country with warm honey tones—from the honey-stained oak to the golden finish on our walls to the florals in the fabrics on our sofa. We used Venetian plaster, and it’s covered with this beautiful color that we call Sunshower.

Our dining room is very Latin inspired, like our La Vida Buena Style Guide. The chairs are leather; the table is a classic Mission table inspired by churches I’ve seen traveling in Mexico.

Our daughter Lily has beautiful lighting in her room, which is very French country inspired. The lighting is white washed and decorated with crystals and we call it Chateau Brittany. It’s very reminiscent of Versailles. So often we think of the palace, but the homes and inns there are so inspiring.  It’s amazing how a simple piece of lighting can inspire the whole room. We whitewashed the walls and wood, because the darker wood was too heavy. Lily wanted to carry the sparkle from the crystals in the lighting to the rest of the room, so we added some sparkle to the whitewash by applying a gloss