Savoy

Creating Solutions that are Fearless and Individual

Kim Myles, the host/designer of HGTV’s Myles of Style, has been fascinated by design since she was a kid so she has spent years developing her visual aesthetic. “My win on HGTV’s Design Star in 2007 taught me to believe in my own vision—which along with a combination of hard work, preparation, and passion have helped me to turn what could easily have been ‘15 minutes’ into a thriving career,” says Myles.

“I think that I’m a person who was just born wanting more,” says Myles. “I’ve been pursuing my goals with a certain relentlessness since I was a child, and most of the time I find the process of achievement to be just as valuable and fulfilling as attaining the actual goal,” Myles adds. While giving her family plenty of credit for encouraging her individuality from a young age, Myles believes that her choice to move to New York City in her early twenties reinforced the idea that success has less to do with circumstance, and more to do with imagination and acts of will.

During the show, Myles helps her clients to realize their own individual sense of beauty and style in their homes while placing special emphasis on creative solutions. Myles feels that her background as a professional hairdresser in NYC helped her develop important design skills. “While working with my hair clients, I learned the value of really listening to their needs in order to create a look that represented and emphasized their best attributes,” says Myles. “This practice serves me extremely well while designing interiors, and when a homeowner says ‘You really get me,’ that’s high praise and totally attributable to the fact that I’ve learned to just shut up and pay attention,” Myles adds.

Myles’ approach to design is all about being fearless and individual, and she places special emphasis on color, lighting and interesting combinations. “A beige room makes me want to shrivel up, bad lighting just says ‘lazy’, and catalog room designs bore me to death,” says Myles. “Life is short, so I say mix it up, be bold and celebrate the unexpected,” she adds.

Here’s how Myles’s describes her top three design tips:

• Paint is the fastest, least expensive, highest impact change you can make. It instantly alters the personality of a space no matter how small or large, and it’s easy to switch as your tastes change;
• Investing in proper window treatments will instantly add polish to any room—mini-blinds don’t count! ‘Investing’ doesn’t have to equal ‘expensive’, it just means that you should make a choice that feels considered and in keeping with your decor. When in doubt, floor to ceiling curtains in white canvas are fail-safe.
• Don’t forget the lighting. Ugly lamps are room-wreckers, and with countless fabulous options in every price range, there’s no reason to live with that 90’s-style halogen floor torchiere!

“I love the fact that HGTV speaks to the desire in all of us to feather our nests,” says Myles. “It’s amazing to be part of a community of colleagues and viewers alike who feel that home is where your spirit is fed,” she adds. “One of my favorite quotes comes from The Little Prince – ‘It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye’ – and for me, this philosophy has helped me to find my true north every time.”