designer feature: michelle r. smith

May 22, 2014Emily Oster

Lonny relaunched this month with a feature on Michelle R. Smith's Sag Harbor home. I hadn't heard of Smith before but after looking through her work and reading some articles about her, I have become an instant fan. Smith has had a somewhat untraditional path to becoming an interior designer. Growing up in Louisiana, Smith was constantly surrounded by home renovation projects and has said "I spent most of my childhood at Lowes and Home Depot" (Lonny). She showed a natural propensity for design but decided to take a different route by going into law. After working as an attorney for two years in New York City, she left her job to intern with Daniel Romualdez. Eventually working her way up from intern to design assistant, Smith left to start her own firm - STUDIO MRS - in 2012.

Smith's interiors are effortlessly chic and have a beautiful blend of the old and new. Her signature palette is muted with lots of contrasting whites and beiges and there is a distinctly Southern aesthetic to her work. Below are images of her designs including her home in Sag Harbor. I would highly recommend reading and watching her feature in this month's Lonny.