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House Beautiful

You'll Be Obsessed With how This Decorator Uses Color

Hillary Brown
Photo credit: Mali Azima
Photo credit: Mali Azima

From House Beautiful

White walls are what my nightmares are made of!” says Atlanta-based designer Jared Hughes. “I need to feel color in my environment.” For proof, look no further than his own bedroom, coated in a brilliant saffron hue.

An affinity for bold -palettes was something Hughes picked up during his time as a floral designer in Charleston, South Carolina, where he fell for the Holy City’s -singular blend of Georgian architecture and chinoiserie influences--characteristics that eventually found their way into his color-saturated, multilayered interiors.

Photo credit: Hector Manuel Sanchez
Photo credit: Hector Manuel Sanchez

Since opening his eponymous firm two years ago, he has continued to explore the dichotomy between the traditional and the exotic, always -adding a splash of the unexpected. Take the minimalist white-plaster side tables he designed for a client’s bedroom that sit among Rococo-style bergères, a hodgepodge of ginger jars, and a classic four-poster bed: “I love plaster-it’s a centuries-old material used for molding and ceiling details in English country houses,” he says, “but in this context, it feels modern. The key is to create just enough tension between new and old.”

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It goes without saying that Hughes also likes to throw the rule book out the window. “I hate following rules,” he says, “but it’s always nice to see traditional patterns in unexpected ways. Damask is traditionally used for upholstery and drapery, but it’s nice to use it in small amounts when the pattern can be framed in a pillow or ottoman or bordered with a more contemporary trim.”

In Hughes’s world, that small detail can have a big impact on a space as a whole. “It’s all about finding things that work visually and just continuing to stack them in for the more-is-more vibe,” he says. But take that advice with a grain of salt. “Details are important and can add so much, but they shouldn’t make or break a room.”


This story originally appeared in the December 2018 issue of House Beautiful.

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