Ask Debbie: The Interior Design Questions Homeowners Ask Most

At a Glance

• Personal style shows up as a recurring thread in materials, light, and mood, not as a single design label
• Rooms feel unfinished when the layers are missing: lighting, rugs, window treatments, art, accessories, and texture
• Lighting is the single change that makes a home feel more expensive, planned at architectural, decorative, lamp, and accent levels
• Luxury and comfort coexist; performance fabrics and durable natural materials mean nobody has to be afraid to sit down
• The best designer-client projects pair honest feedback with trust in the overall vision

A beautiful home is more than a collection of beautiful things. In this edition of Ask Debbie, interior designer Debbie Travin, founder and lead designer of DLT Interiors, answers the questions homeowners bring to her most often: how to find your personal style, how to design for two people with different taste, why a room full of good furniture can still feel unfinished, how lighting changes everything, how to make a home livable without giving up sophistication, and when to trust the design process. The common thread is simple. The interiors that last are timeless, personal, and designed around how people actually live. Her answers draw on years of designing luxury residential interiors, renovations, and turnkey homes.

I love so many different design styles. How do I figure out what my style actually is?

I hear this all the time. A client will show me twenty inspiration photos and worry because none of them look exactly alike.

I don't think that's a problem. I look for the common thread. Maybe every image has beautiful natural light. Maybe you're consistently drawn to warm wood, organic materials, soft neutral colors, or rooms that feel relaxed rather than formal. That is often more revealing than whether a room is technically modern or traditional.

When I design a home, I'm not trying to put a label on the client's style. I'm trying to understand how they want to feel when they walk through the door. That's where the design really begins. Your style is less about a label and more about how you want your home to make you feel.

My husband and I have completely different taste. How do you design a home we both love?

This happens more often than people realize. I don't try to determine who's right. My job is to understand what each person is responding to and then find the common ground.

One person may say they want modern and the other wants traditional, but when we dig deeper, they may both love warm woods, comfortable furniture, and uncluttered rooms. That's what I build from.

Some of the most interesting homes I've designed have come from combining different points of view. A home doesn't have to belong to one design category. It doesn't have to be his style or her style. It needs to feel like the people who live there.

Why does my room still not look finished even though I bought beautiful furniture?

Because furniture is only one layer of a room.

I've walked into homes filled with expensive furniture that still don't feel finished. Usually what's missing is everything that creates atmosphere and personality: lighting, rugs, window treatments, art, accessories, and texture.

Those finishing layers are not an afterthought. They are what turns a collection of beautiful things into a beautiful room. Installation is one of my favorite parts of the design process because that's when everything finally comes together. You add the art, style the tables, place the pillows, and suddenly the home has a soul. A furnished house and a finished home are two very different things.

I found the perfect sofa online. Why shouldn't I just order it myself?

Because the perfect sofa in a photograph isn't necessarily the perfect sofa for your room.

I've seen this happen countless times. Something looks incredible online, but the scale is wrong, the seat depth doesn't work for the family, the fabric isn't right for how they live, or it doesn't relate to everything else we're designing.

Every selection affects another selection. I don't look at a sofa as an isolated purchase. I'm thinking about the rug beneath it, the chairs across from it, the cocktail table, lighting, artwork, sightlines, and even how people will move through the room. That's one of the biggest differences between decorating a room and designing an entire home. The perfect piece isn't perfect if it doesn't work with the rest of the room.

How do I make my home beautiful without being afraid to actually live in it?

This is incredibly important to me. I don't believe a beautiful home should feel precious or untouchable. I want people to put their feet up, have grandchildren running through the house, entertain friends, and actually enjoy their home.

Luxury and comfort can coexist. There are so many beautiful performance fabrics, durable natural materials, and thoughtfully designed pieces available today that you don't have to choose between sophisticated and livable.

When I design, I'm constantly asking myself: how is this family really going to use this? A room can photograph beautifully, but if nobody wants to sit in it, I don't consider that successful design.

Is there one thing that can instantly make a home feel more expensive?

Lighting. I can't emphasize this enough.

You can have beautiful furniture and finishes, but poor lighting can completely flatten a room. Thoughtfully layered lighting, on the other hand, can make even a relatively simple space feel sophisticated.

I think about lighting at several levels: architectural lighting, decorative fixtures, lamps, and accent lighting. And I always consider what the room will feel like at night, not only during the day. I love a home that glows in the evening. Great lighting doesn't just illuminate a beautiful room. It helps create one.

When you're designing your own home, do you follow the same rules you give your clients?

Absolutely, and designing for yourself can actually be harder.

Living through my own renovations has reinforced something I tell clients constantly: make the decisions early. When you're renovating, there are hundreds of decisions, and they all affect one another. It can become overwhelming very quickly if you're trying to solve everything while construction is happening.

I've also learned personally how important it is for a home to feel peaceful. I'm naturally drawn to materials and colors that remind me of nature: warm woods, stone, organic textures, and soft, earthy neutrals. I want to walk into my own home and immediately feel calmer. That's ultimately what I try to create for my clients as well.

What do you tell a client who wants to be involved in every tiny decision?

I understand it completely. It's their home, and of course they care deeply about it. But there comes a point when you have to trust the designer you hired.

A designer isn't choosing a faucet, light fixture, or fabric in isolation. We're carrying the entire home in our heads. We're thinking several decisions ahead and considering how everything connects. If every individual selection gets pulled apart and reconsidered independently, you can lose the original vision.

I always want my clients involved in the important decisions. But I also want them to experience one of the greatest benefits of hiring a full-service interior designer: not having to manage every detail themselves. My best projects happen when the client understands the vision, gives us honest feedback, and then allows us to do what they hired us to do. The best projects are collaborative, but they also require trust.

What's something you've changed your mind about as you've become more experienced as a designer?

I've become even less interested in trends. The longer I design, the more I appreciate interiors that feel true to the people in them and have a sense of permanence.

I love natural materials because they age beautifully. I love craftsmanship. I love pieces that have character and don't look as though everything was purchased from the same showroom.

Travel has reinforced that for me as well. Some of the spaces that inspire me most aren't perfect or brand-new. They have history, patina, and personality. Perfection isn't what makes a room memorable. Feeling is.

My home looks beautiful, but it doesn't really feel like me. What's missing?

Probably something personal. A professionally designed home should never feel like a showroom.

I want to know what my clients love. Where have they traveled? What artwork means something to them? Do they entertain? Do they have children or grandchildren constantly visiting? Where do they drink their morning coffee?

Those details matter because they're what separate a beautiful interior from your beautiful interior. You should see yourself in your home. At the end of a project, the greatest compliment isn't simply, "This is beautiful." It's when a client says, "This feels like us."

Debbie Lori Travin is the founder and lead designer of DLT Interiors, an award-winning full-service interior design firm specializing in luxury residential interiors, renovations, and turnkey homes. Her work pairs timeless interiors and a fresh modern sensibility with warmth, comfort, and livability.

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