Interview with Leanne Ford

I recently had the opportunity to interview the amazingly talented HGTV designer, Leanne Ford. I have followed Leanne from the get-go and respect her design eye tremendously.

What I admire about Leanne’s work is that she isn’t one of those designers who goes in to a space with grand plans to demolish every wall, and make everything look new and shiny. Occasionally yes, but she’s very selective. Instead, she seems to have a “horse-whisperer” sense (except for interiors) where she gets in touch with a space’s soul. She embraces an interior’s character, “flaws” and all, and makes them the stand-out star of a room.

Take this room for example…any designer would have probably turned their nose up at this heavy wall texture but she embraced it with a two-toned paint treatment, almost bringing more attention to it, and now it’s visually interesting.

Another aspect I love about her design is her ability to break the design rules and have it look even more beautiful. Check out her “shelvie’s”…I’m over here trying to achieve the perfect balance, color scheme and collection of items while she on the other hand, makes shelves functional AND beautiful.

“Rule of thirds”? Forget it. Just throw what you love on the shelf . She debunks the idea of perfection when it comes to interiors. Leanne is helping people create spaces that are actually functional rather than museum-esque rooms to be observed and not used.

The last point I want to emphasize is Leanne’s use of vintage pieces, which is what I think really sets her rooms apart from other designers. One of my complaints about buying new is rooms are starting to look like copy-cat versions of everyone else’s. You start to see the same sofa’s, lamps and tables in everyone else’s homes.

Good luck finding that sofa…