Meet the Amazing Designer You’ll Need When Your Living Space Needs a Glowup
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At some point it’s time to grow up.
For many of us that means less comics, crates, and Funko collectibles on display but let’s face it not all of us were born with a queer eye. For some, the ability to decorate is innate, for others it’s a skill acquired over the years.
That’s where Kyle Schuneman comes in.
Schuneman is a veteran in the design world at a young age. With multiple product lines, a popular design book, and frequent television appearances his experience in multiple channels is vast. Kyle is spreading his mantra that beautiful living doesn’t have to be expensive or expansive. And he’s igniting a movement.
Kyle released his design book, The First Apartment Book: Cool Design for Small Spaces (Clarkson Potter) in 2012 and wrote the subsequent syndicated column, “The Apt. Life” for the Los Angeles Times, inspiring legions of budding DIY-ers across the nation to realize their inner interior design skills. His successful home décor line, Studio 3B by Kyle Schuneman, was exclusively sold in stores and online at Bed Bath and Beyond. And his upholstery line, Kyle Schuneman for Apt2B, is on its fourth collection, bringing affordable, colorful, and modern furniture to people everywhere.
GayNrd caught up with Schuneman.
How and why did you get into interior design? Growing up I started subscribing to Architectural Digest when I was 13 and really loved escaping into grand spaces and thought I wanted to be an architect. But once I saw how long it would take school wise for the architecture path my ADHD did not agree with that. So I actually went to LA and studied production design which led me to creating sets and prop styling for magazines, commercials and TV shows where I really specialized in interiors and lifestyle imagery. That then led me into working with private clients. So it was a bit of a back door approach really.
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Do you enjoy looking to your clients wants and needs for inspiration when furnishing a room or do you prefer to be given free reign? Any designer who says they wouldn’t rather prefer free reign is lying but what I will say is I work really well with creative constraints — whether that mean a quirky space or a quirk client —those limitations can actually create a tension where the work ends up better. And once you do find that rhythm with a client that’s where the magic can really happen.
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I’ve always described you as having a masculine aesthetic. I really love it. The veneer is deceptively simple, but I know how difficult it is to achieve–how much do you agree with that assessment? Nope I agree — I am unapologetically a designer that has a masculine edge to my work. My style is refined but I think the deception you’re referring to is all in the edit. Simple can often times result as unfinished or not thought through. You want to have a balance through collected elements. So one way to warm up a simple masculine aesthetic is to layer materials. Start with a graphic patterned wool rug, next an earth tone sofa, add a metal and wood coffee table and pillows that have different knits and shades on them and you can really create something thoughtful quickly. And then I’d say it’s always important to add a personal quirk to it. In my den for instance I frame a leaf from every country I travel to but any collection could work if it’s displayed well – a set of vintage trophies on a bar cart, Japanese toys in like colors sitting in clear boxes on a wall, etc…
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What’s the first thing you look for or at when tackling a new space? What are your favorite parts of that process of designing and furnishing a space? The architecture and the place. My pet peeve in design is when the design isn’t rooted in where it is. A “coastal” bathroom in a suburb no where near the water really gets my eyes rolling. So once I walk into a space whether that’s a loft in the South End of Boston or a Victorian apartment building in Atlanta that for me gives me the start for where this should go. You can always put your personality into a space but when it isn’t rooted in reality it feels like a theme room quickly. I also always work with off of how the room needs to function so if the extra bedroom needs to be both a guest room and an office those creative constraints can lead me to finding a desk that can double as a guest dresser and a daybed that can turn into a queen mattress. There’s amazing furniture design and pieces out there so finding cool things that can solve problems in the beginning can inform the decor a lot.
“My favorite part is adding in the personal touches and plants. The main staple items are great to get in but the room really comes to life when you bring in that cool record player you got in Nashville and that succulent in the mid century planter you got for a steal on Etsy.”
Have you ever had a project that was dream come true? Conversely, Is there one that you faced unanticipated obstacles? Even though I was so young when I got my book deal for The First Apartment Book (I was 25 when I got it and 27 when it came out) and there are about a million things I would have changed about it looking back now that was definitely a dream come true for me. It was such a cool experience traveling across the country designing these super quirky little first apartments and really producing the whole project myself a long the way. Almost everything in my career — furniture lines, bedding lines, endorsements all stemmed from that — and I’ve grown so much as a designer since then but it feels like this carefree time when everything about design was so new and shiny to me.
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I’d say working in print advertising is always difficult even though I really love it. Time is usually a quick turnaround, clients can want things you never thought you could make happen, and designs are constantly changing but the end result is probably the most worthwhile of all the mediums I work in. You really do feel like you move mountains with a crew of people you love and then poof it’s over and you pack down the set but that image lives for ever.
Based in both Chicago and Los Angeles, Kyle’s work has been featured in Esquire, Dwell, Cosmopolitan, This Old House, Redbook, Sunset, L’Uomo Vogue, The Chicago Tribune, CA Home + Design, Angeleno Interiors, and Real Simple. With a natural comfort in front of the camera, Kyle has also reached large TV audiences as a designer on HGTV’s Rentervention and appearing on Fox’s The Real, CBS’ The Talk,and Fox News’ Fox and Friends. He frequently lends his style advice to other on-air segments for NBC, HGTV and TBS. His television work also consists of art directing various shows including the Emmy-winning Food Network series, Giada At Home.
Kyle’s company, Kyle Schuneman Designs, is a threefold venture consisting of interior design, art direction and prop styling. His colorful, classic style is seen in advertising campaigns everywhere for clients such as Target, Apple, CB2, and Martha Stewart.
