I’ve never designed a Soulcation by starting with a style.
There’s no mood board labeled modern farmhouse or boho or Hill Country rustic that I’m trying to recreate. I usually start somewhere much less tangible:
How do I want this place to feel?
Warm, but not precious.
Beautiful, but comfortable enough to put your feet up.
Interesting, but never so designed that you can’t settle in.
Because a beautiful room is one thing. A room that makes you pour another cup of coffee, curl up on the sofa and decide you don’t actually need to go anywhere today is something else entirely.
That’s what I’m always trying to create.
Designing for a Feeling, Not a Look
When I started creating Soulcation, I knew I didn’t want the spaces to feel as though everything had arrived together on a furniture truck.
I wanted them to feel collected.
That usually means mixing things that aren’t necessarily supposed to go together. Something old beside something new. Rustic wood with modern finishes. A little pattern where you might expect something safe. Pieces found secondhand alongside things chosen specifically for the space.
I don’t need everything to match. In fact, I’d rather it didn’t.
What matters is that, somehow, it all feels like it belongs.
That’s how you end up with weathered wood next to floral wallpaper, an antler chandelier above a caramel leather sofa, or something I found secondhand becoming one of my favorite pieces in the room.
There isn’t a formula. There’s a feeling I’m looking for.
Let the Place Be Part of the Design
I also don’t want you to walk into a Soulcation and forget where you are.
The landscape should be part of the experience.
Sometimes that means oversized windows that make the view feel like part of the room. Sometimes it means positioning a bed beneath the sky, creating an outdoor shower or giving you somewhere to sit outside with your coffee before you’ve decided what the day will look like.
The best view shouldn’t always require walking out the front door.
At The Hex, for example, I wanted as little separation as possible between the space inside and the Hill Country landscape outside. The expanses of glass let the trees, changing light and weather become part of the interior.
Those decisions aren’t just about what photographs well. They change the way it feels to spend time there.
And that’s the point.
Collected Is Better Than Perfect
Some of my favorite things at Soulcation weren’t found by searching online for the perfect piece.
They were discovered.
I love thrifting because I never know exactly what I’m going to find. There’s something about spotting an unexpected piece and immediately knowing where it belongs.
Those finds add personality that’s difficult to manufacture. They also keep the spaces from feeling too polished or predictable.
Sometimes the thing with a few scratches, a little history or absolutely no business being next to something else ends up being exactly what the room needed.
Come thrifting with me for Hill Country Soulcation.
That process takes longer than ordering an entire room at once.
I’m okay with that.
Beautiful Is Only Half the Job
There’s another filter I use when I’m designing that may be even more important:
Will someone actually want to live in this space?
Vacation rental interior design can become so focused on being photogenic that it’s easy to forget what happens after the photo.
Is there somewhere you actually want to sit with your morning coffee?
Can you put your feet up?
Does the bedroom make you want to stay in bed a little longer?
Is there a place to have a conversation without a television becoming the center of the room?
Can you look outside without immediately reaching for your phone?
The goal isn’t to create spaces you admire.
It’s to create spaces you use.
Because ultimately, the prettiest room in the world doesn’t mean much if it doesn’t make you want to stay awhile.
Every Soulcation Should Feel Different
The same philosophy doesn’t mean creating the same space over and over again.
Quite the opposite.
A retreat tucked into the Texas Hill Country shouldn’t feel the same as a home in Sonoma Wine Country. And neither should feel like a beach house on the Texas coast.
The landscape is different. The architecture is different. The reason you might go there is different.
So I let each place have its own personality.
What connects them isn’t a particular color palette, furniture style or design trend. It’s the feeling I hope is there when everything comes together.
A little warmth.
Something unexpected.
A connection to what’s outside.
And permission to slow down once you’re there.
Maybe that’s the closest thing Soulcation has to a design style.
Not a particular look.
A feeling.
Linger a little longer.