How to Seriously Level Up Your Decorating Skills
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When interior designer Miles Redd—one half of the esteemed design studio, Redd Kaihoi—was met with the opportunity to create and film a course for Create Academy, he felt it would be a way to push himself out of his comfort zone. "I know it doesn't necessarily come across this way, but I'm sort of a private person, and I'm a very much a reluctant Instagrammer," Redd tells House Beautiful. The engagement, the algorithm, the upkeep and time commitment of social media—it's all a bit much for him. But Create Academy—the British answer to MasterClass—was the perfect re-entrance into the digital world for Redd, giving him the ability to share his wealth of knowledge from a lifetime of working in interior design with those looking for creative ways to freshen up their space.
While MasterClass has videos on sports, business, and acting amongst other things, Create Academy solely focuses on creative industries, like interior design, gardening, food and wine, and crafting, encouraging their members to live a more curated and inspired life. Think of it as cozy Britannia versus American high-achiever—both valuable, but the former feels a lot more fun during the winter month. Create Academy reaches out to top people in their respective industries who all have something different to offer to their members. Alongside Redd in the interiors category comes courses from designers Kathryn M. Ireland, Rita Konig, and Amanda Lindroth (who happens to be Redd's cousin). Konig and Lindroth both encouraged Redd to work with the online program when he was considering it.
While Konig's lessons focus more on relaxation and refinement in style and Lindroth's cover the chic coastal grandmother look, Redd wants the people who take his course to learn about the importance of juxtaposition in the home decorating space. He is aware that for some, figuring out this "tension of disparate elements" is difficult, which is usually why professionals come into the picture, but he's hoping to replace that need with the content in his lessons. "It's all about the push and pull," he explains. "If you have an entirely modern setting, and then you add piece of 18th century furniture, suddenly the whole scene will become exciting." And vice versa if you have a completely traditional setting.
Redd also establishes his "fundamental building blocks of decorating," which always starts with decorating the floors and walls of a space. "I break that down in terms of showing you how to make it all flow together while each space has its own individual feeling; they can play off of each other," he says. After that, the rest of the room comes together a lot easier, and any decorating style—minimalist, maximalist, farmhouse, coastal—is supported because a strong foundation is in place. "Whether it's an all-white minimal room or a chocolate brown lacquer room with red and emerald accents... They're essentially the same things," Redd explains.
Redd brings a unique, fashion-focused perspective to the interior decorating table. After working for Oscar de la Renta at the beginning of his career, Redd discovered he was a slower paced person than the fashion industry generally allows. He liked the endurance and lasting qualities of home design, but he had the knowledge of someone who studied fashion at the Parsons School of Design in New York, so he's found ways to fuse the two together. "It's the creativity of fashion in the details that I like to take and apply to interiors," he says. "I hope [those who take the course] just get to have fun, get some decorating knowledge, and learn how I go about it."
And what better time to have fun redecorating your home than in January when it's too cold to leave and the idea of self-care and self-improvement is so heavy in the air? For Redd, the act of creating a comforting, beautiful space is a form of self-care. "It’s your nest... And a beautiful nest is the most comforting thing in the world, more comforting than a hot bath, more comforting than a massage," he says. "We use my own house as the structure [in the course], and so you see my own nest through and through... Getting your home comfortable and beautiful and meeting all of your needs is just what this course is all about."
Though Create Academy is based in the UK, Redd's Create Academy course—and all others—are available for access internationally. Purchase the course for yourself, purchase it for your friend who's looking for a bit of design direction (or maybe buy it together and tackle it as a group project!)—make winter the season of interior rebranding. You'll come out of it with a more you space.
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