“There are 3 reactions to a piece of design. Yes, no and wow. Wow is the one you want to shoot for.”

Milton Glaser

Let’s put it this way – if Studio 54 had a Department of Interiors, I’d be the boss of that shit. When I dish up a design, it is usually one cup Breakfast at Tiffany's, 4 tablespoons of The Grand Budapest Hotel, 2/3 cup Moulin Rouge, and 6 pounds of Paris Is Burning. Occasionally, a pinch of Ab Fab if I'm really going for it. But not too much - a little goes a long way darling. Do as Milton says. Wow somebody. Dazzle. Illuminate. Make a bold choice. I don't want to hang out in a minimalist space where the bare minimum is lauded as an achievement. I wanna hang out at Liza Minelli's place! Liberace's Manse!

Hell yes, Liberace. Look at the joy that can only be created by getting to wear all that jewelry in your bubble bath while gold swans fill the tub like a scene from an Esther Williams movie.

I think good design should make you feel. . .well. . .good. It should be a celebration. A party for your lifestyle. I try to avoid spaces that oppress the soul with a soviet-era tone of darkness and gravitas, because let’s get real – it’s not preserving Stonehenge, or providing spiritual healing to death row inmates. It’s decorating for fuck's sake. Unless you’re building a war memorial, or a holy site, decorate the fun way – with whatever sparks joy.

The right decorative accessories have the power to bring a little drama, and can turn any space around, even if the furniture and lighting is blah. I am of the opinion that at least five things in your home should be shocking, salacious, or controversial. Memorable and unexpected results are achieved when we can indulge the theatrical with objects that cause a little ruckus. Call it the riot girl approach to design. To elaborate, the decorative accessories in my place have three repeating categories - Bananas, Guns, or Jungle Cats. This wasn't an intentional choice. I just realized on a recent afternoon that I had multiple pieces of these objects. And I think they speak volumes about what kind of gal I am and the kind of humor I embrace. I go for the weird and sculptural, because at the end of the day, it’s much, much better than having a bowl of pinecones on the coffee table.

While I was working at what was definitely the job I have loved the most before beginning Studio Kendrick, there was a very. . .underwhelming change of management. I found myself toiling daily under a sour, joyless, hall-monitor of a woman, completely devoid of humor, but entirely filled with pretension from her career in the art world. When I suggested to her that a very fun, sequin-sparkled, hand-stitched wall hanging from Jonathan Adler might be a good addition to her boho-70’s-glam (and admittedly very cool) home, she scoffed and said “No. I have real art in my home.”

Oh, I thought to myself, perhaps I've somehow missed her collection of Picasso paintings in the fog of misery cast over her house. But no. There were of course, no masters of any kind hanging from the walls. The art in her home was well curated and thoughtfully incorporated into her aesthetic but there were no artists “of note”. What she meant to say, I think, is that her choice of art was serious and respected, and a sequin LSD wall hanging from Jonathan Adler was trash because it isn’t the kind of art one finds in a gallery or museum.

Well, friends, I’m here to tell you – don’t let a bowl of pinecones make you feel ashamed of the framed vintage needlepoint Cheetah embellishing your entry. To be clear, I’m not trying to elevate the wire wall sculpture of the Eiffel Tower you purchased at Hobby Lobby to decorate your college dorm room. That truly is trash. But if it brings you joy, has visual interest, and wasn’t mass-produced by robots, GO AHEAD SISTER. Most people can’t afford “serious” art anyway. A fabulous woman once told me "Art is the soul of the home." So take inspiration where you can get it. And if it comes with sequins, so much the better!

Here are some of the objects that inspired this post. . .