Leading interiors stylist Mieke ten Have developed a passion for interiors as a little girl, captivated by and inquisitive about the emotions certain places evoke. From her grandmother’s Federal-style dining room to summers spent in Maine, to her family’s chintz-laden Manhattan apartment, Mieke’s childhood was surrounded inspiring interiors. Today, she is a leading interiors stylist, design writer, and creative consultant. After years working as a magazine editor, which included positions as Home Editor of Vogue Magazine and Design Editor at Large of Elle Decor, Mieke parlays her editorial point of view into creative direction for interior designers, architects, and home brands.
In her newly released book, Interiors: Styled by Mieke ten Have, Mieke shares her techniques for teasing out the elements of a home that make it compelling, beautiful, and alive. The beautiful book identifies and explains the four principal elements that she always takes into account: Color Theory, Pattern Play, Wild and Tame, and Flowers for Living.
She illustrates each of these principles with images of rooms that she has styled for such noted designers as Stephen Sills, Mario Buatta, Alberto Pinto, Rita Konig, and Victoria Hagan in a wide variety of homes and locations. Then Mieke demonstrates how she applies these concepts, season after season, in her own country home, the Barn, where she lives with her husband and two children.
Using the Barn as a backdrop, Interiors: Styled by Mieke ten Have demonstrates how to apply her interwoven styling principles over the course of all four seasons.
ten Have treasures the glass-front cabinets in her kitchen. “Plates are wonderful objects to collect,” she says. “Not only because you can enjoy looking at them but also because you can use them every day… If the interior of your cabinets is visible, consider arranging them as you would any other space in your home, taking into account scale, color, and pattern.” Photographer Frank Frances Digital Tech Olivia Demetrosten Have’s cat poses on her desk from Montage Antiques. The layered antique rugs are sourced from Tent. Photographer Frank Frances Digital Tech Olivia Demetros
Rich, atmospheric images by photographer Frank Frances document the evolution of the house, capturing the distinctive light, mood, colors, tonality, and textures of each season. Both aspirational and inspirational, Interiors: Styled by Mieke ten Have provides countless design ideas for beautifying our surroundings throughout the year.
Hints of neon orange in the stick lampshade and roses speak to the artwork above the desk but, more importantly, energize and modernize the classical Zuber wallcovering in a gorgeous living room designed by Billy Cotton, photographed by Simon Watson.In a living room designed by Billy Cotton, ten Have took inspiration for the floral bonanza in front of the fireplace from a Horst photograph. She used the colors in the Zuber wallcovering as her guide. Photograph by Simon WatsonIn the late interior designer Mario Buatta’s final project, ten Have took her color cues from Buatta’s signature curtain treatment and the homeowner’s Magritte. Photographer: Scott FrancesEmerald pressed glassware and fuchsia bougainvillea are an unexpected contrast to the blue and white Portuguese scenic tiles that line the walls of a loggia in Ibiza, Spain, designed by the Albert Pinto Agenty. Photographer James MerrellA vivid tangerine beautifully duels with fabric designed by Eliza Harris for Sister Parish. A geometric Gregory Parkinson blanket over the chair bridges the wall color, florals, and textiles. Photographer: Read McKendreeten Have’s living room, bathed in gorgeous autumnal morning light. Photographer Frank Frances Digital Tech Olivia DemetrosSpaced with a sense of symmetry based on proportion, the arrangements in ten Have’s home force the eye to wanter through them, rather than be stopped by them. Photographer Frank Frances Digital Tech Olivia DemetrosIn an elegant country dining room designed by Virginia Tupker, ten Have mixed verbena with white asters and arranged them explosively in an earthenware bowl to both echo and offset the chandelier overhead. A dappling of plates loosely scattered – and not at all matching – tousles the space ever so slightly. Photographer: Isabel ParraA riot of patterns abound in a Chicago dining room designed by Summer Thornton, Photographer: Annie SchlechterA detail of ten Have’s bookshelves, laden with design reference books, old issues of World of Interiors, and plenty of fiction. Interspersed are ceramics and olf family photos. The painted desk is Venetian. ten Have hung artwork and maps directly on the bookcases; “Interspersing objects and art among the books animates bookshelves,” she said. Photographer Frank Frances Digital Tech Olivia Demetros
A monochrome kitchen designed by Billy Cotton, photographed by Simon Watson. “By adding only an all-white arrangement of ranunculus and lilacs in a white ceramic basket, flanked by two Italian white candelabras, I maintained the holistically immersive feeling of the room; the eye doesn’t linger on any one thing, but rather on the varying textures of the high-gloss walls, the shiny checkered-chintz fabric, the smooth yet textural floor, and the glistening chandelier. The room embraces you in its totality, and the monochromatic styling accessories enhance that experience,” ten Have explains.A garden-party table setting ten Have created for designer Mary Taylor McGee at a Palm Beach house by architect Marion Sims Wyeth. Photographer James McDonald
Available via Amazon, Interiors: Styled by Mieke ten Have is a beautiful coffee table book any design enthusiast would enjoy having in their collection! Please visit Mieke ten Have for additional information, and follow @mieketenhave on Instagram for ongoing inspiration.
