Design:

Live Beautiful Unpublished: Nate Berkus & Jeremiah Brent

Nicole Franzen
Nicole Franzen

If there is one rule to design, it’s embracing impermanence. Just as in life change is inevitable, and being open to evolution at home is also critical. It’s not until you live in a space, until you move through each room, experience every nook, and appreciate every crevice, that you realize, perhaps the spaces you created based on moments you imagined there, are actually happening in opposite rooms.

This is what happened to interior designers, Nate Berkus and Jeremiah Brent a few weeks after moving into their Los Angeles home. Suddenly, the formal dining room with its grand oak millwork felt incongruent to the way they live: “We never had one dinner in there,” recalls Jeremiah. And so the pair went ahead and transformed the space into a rich and cozy library, and overhauled a transitional room nearby to be their dining room for entertaining guests. It’s as Athena writes in her book, Live Beautiful: “Sometimes, we need to live in a home for a bit to really understand the space’s true potential and what changes can be made to live our best life between its walls.”

This week, we continue the celebration of Live Beautiful’s one year anniversary with exclusive, unpublished pages. Read on for a special rapid fire interview and curated collage designed by Jeremiah and Nate for the book and indulge in their impeccably curated, well-traveled, and soulfully executed taste level.

Live Beautiful Unpublished: Nate Berkus & Jeremiah Brent
Live Beautiful Unpublished: Nate Berkus & Jeremiah Brent
Live Beautiful Unpublished: Nate Berkus & Jeremiah Brent
WHAT DOES HOME MEAN TO YOU?
Home represents everything we love, and everywhere we’ve been. It’s the physical manifestation of all of our experiences.
DESCRIBE YOUR AESTHETIC / DESIGN PHILOSOPHY IN THREE WORDS.
We can do it in two: well-traveled.
UNEXPECTED DESIGN SOLUTION IN YOUR HOME YOU ARE PROUD OF?
Designing around, and for, our children. using outdoor fabrics on unexpected frames to make the upholstery more durable. The kids live with “real” furniture, pieces that they will never grow out of —there’s nothing disposable or temporary about them.
I HATE TO ADMIT IT BUT MY BIGGEST DESIGN FAUX-PAS WAS _____.
Nate: I’ll lead with the fact that I don’t own a computer. When we were in pre-construction for this house, I quickly ordered a tile sample from my phone for our outdoor patio. a few weeks later, we were delivered 15,000 square feet of red tiles … it was a hefty restocking fee.
BIGGEST LESSON LEARNED IN DESIGNING THIS HOME?
We learned that less is more. there are really only two paint colors in the house. The architecture is the main feature.
FAVORITE ROOM AND WHY?
The kitchen. It’s the heartbeat of our home, where our day starts. There are windows on three sides so it’s full of light and of course all the laughter and liveliness of having two little kids.
YOU SAW ____ AND IT INSPIRED ____.
The 200 year old oak tree in the garden;
Us to find a place to put our roots
WHAT SHOULD BE ON EVERYONE’S COFFEE TABLE?
Books in a subject that interests you, along with a small decorative tray and palo santo. A grouping of objects that you love to look at.
I HAVE FAR TOO MANY ____ IN OUR HOME. BUT I CONTINUE TO COLLECT THEM!
Crystals (and rocks and geodes)
WHAT ARE YOU ENDLESSLY CURIOUS ABOUT?
The evolution of our home and see- ing it through our children’s eyes.

Necessary Objects

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