By playing, you agree to uListen's Terms and Privacy Policy and YouTube's Terms of Service.

Jay Shetty Podcast

World Famous Interior Designer: How Your Space Can Affect Your MOOD | Kelly Wearstler

Today I welcome interior designer, Kelly Wearstler, to the podcast. Internationally recognized by the design community, Kelly has received awards from numerous publications and organizations such as Architectural Digest’s AD 100 Hall of…

Kelly WearstlerguestJay Shettyhost

Oct 2, 20231h 21mWatch on YouTube

Summaries, chapters, transcripts, and FAQs on this page are made by uListen, not YouTube.

Great conversations run long. Their best ideas don't have to.

uListen is free on iPhone, iPad, Android, Chrome, and Claude.

CHAPTERS

Jump to publisher timestamps

Chapter summaries

Design as identity: spaces that mirror who you are
Kelly Wearstler opens by framing home as a reflection of personal identity—what you collect and how you live. Jay Shetty welcomes her and sets up the conversation around intentional spaces and how they shape daily experience.
- •A home is presented as an extension of self-expression, similar to clothing
- •Jay highlights Kelly’s thoughtfulness and energy from their prior encounters
- •The episode’s central question is introduced: whether design can make you happy
Can design make you happy? How environments shape emotion and connection
Jay asks directly if design can make you happy, and Kelly says yes—describing the joy of seeing people thrive in spaces she’s created. They discuss how a room can energize or drain you and how design influences whether people connect or feel isolated.
- •Kelly says making people happy is a core part of her work, especially in hospitality spaces
- •Jay describes becoming more aware of how aesthetics affect mood and energy
- •They explore how design can encourage connection and shared experiences
Authenticity and place: creating site-specific experiences with local craft
Kelly explains that people want to experience something new while also feeling the character of a location. She describes using local artisans and listening closely to clients so the end result feels authentic and intentional.
- •People seek novelty and a sense of place in well-designed spaces
- •Kelly describes using local artisans to create authentic, location-rooted details
- •She emphasizes listening to clients’ intentions and designing without unwanted surprises
- •Design is framed as part of living better and surrounding yourself with familiar joy
Finding inspiration without a designer: museums, flea markets, and taking your time
Jay asks how someone can start designing their own home without access to a professional. Kelly encourages seeking inspiration in museums, flea markets, and vintage shops, and stresses pacing—curating slowly so pieces hold meaning and memories.
- •Encouragement to explore museums, flea markets, and vintage stores for ‘soulful’ history
- •Kelly’s approach blends an ‘old soul’ with a ‘new spirit’ through vintage and emerging art
- •She recommends starting from what you collect, love, or are drawn to (art, color, etc.)
- •Pacing and baby steps help build a home with meaningful memories attached to objects
Resisting sameness in the digital age: staying curious and discovering the new
They talk about how social media can create a sameness in interiors and taste. Kelly describes her drive to keep ‘falling in love’ with new materials, galleries, technologies, and inspirations, and how varied clients and contexts keep her searching.
- •Jay notes how feeds can normalize one dominant style and make originality harder
- •Kelly describes the emotional ‘heart stops’ feeling when discovering something new
- •She cites inspiration from galleries, new technologies, pop culture, and AI as a disruptor
- •She ties creativity to setting a high bar and striving across roles—designer, mom, partner, leader
Developing personal taste: using photos as a journal and reading your own patterns
Jay asks what to say to people who believe they have ‘bad taste.’ Kelly reframes it as a matter of openness and seeking inspiration, then explains how documenting what moves you reveals patterns—your style is already there.
- •Kelly argues that with abundant visuals today, the key is awareness and seeking what moves you
- •She describes taking photos constantly and reviewing them monthly to see what excites her
- •Jay shares how he photographs textures and details while traveling to learn combinations
- •Kelly suggests patterns in what you save and notice will reveal your style
Your closet as a blueprint: translating what you wear into how you live
Kelly shares a practical method for clients who don’t know what they like: look in the closet. Jay describes his own style as calm and sanctuary-like, focused on emotional energy and intention, and reflects on how adults lose childlike sensory curiosity.
- •Kelly describes assessing a client’s wardrobe for clues: neutrals, patterns, color, minimalism
- •Jay explains designing spaces by asking how he wants to feel in a room
- •He emphasizes emotional intention over looking ‘cool’ and notes the role of sensory cues
- •They discuss staying connected to curiosity and a tactile, childlike way of experiencing objects
Impulse vs. intuition: when to buy now, what to invest in, and why art lasts
Jay asks how to know when to be patient versus buying immediately. Kelly describes intuition, the value of time in long projects, and the need for a spending hierarchy—arguing that investment pieces like art can carry forward across homes.
- •Kelly says recognizing what’s special becomes easier the more you see and learn
- •Long timelines (years) allow for meaningful pieces that clients will live with happily
- •She recommends a spending hierarchy: everything can’t be expensive
- •Kelly argues art can be a longer-term investment than certain furniture pieces
- •They return to the idea that your home reflects what you collect and who you are
Mindfulness, material things, and intentional spaces: Jay’s monk-to-now perspective
Kelly asks Jay how his relationship with material things and design changed after becoming a monk. Jay explains how intention was trained through art school critique, notes that temples can be both minimalist and ornate, and argues design and mindfulness work together.
- •Jay shares how an art teacher taught him to justify design choices with intention
- •He distinguishes minimal living from ‘no design,’ pointing to intentional temple design
- •Jay says clothing and spaces influence how he feels and expresses himself
- •Kelly frames design as part of lifestyle—wellness, food, and how you operate
Curating eclectic spaces and earning trust: early career nerves, client buy-in, and visuals
Jay observes that Kelly combines unexpected elements into cohesive spaces and asks how she gave herself permission to do that. Kelly recalls early work where clients didn’t understand at first, and explains how communication, shared decisions, and visuals help clients trust bold ideas.
- •Kelly recalls starting in a world of neutral, slip-covered trends and introducing color and vintage mix
- •She describes walking clients through choices and even taking them to flea markets
- •Kelly admits she was nervous early on and still faces hesitation in big presentations
- •She says effective communication relies heavily on visuals and confidence
Overcoming early obstacles and learning through mistakes: doing it alone, asking questions, repainting a whole house
Jay asks what was hardest about getting started, and Kelly describes doing everything alone for years—creative, business, physical labor—without studio training. She shares a major mistake: going overboard with color on a tight-budget project, then repainting the house herself with her assistant to make it right.
- •Kelly describes learning contracts, budgets, and presentations without studio visibility
- •She emphasizes asking many questions and learning from collaborators
- •A creative misstep becomes a lesson: mistakes are part of the process
- •She recounts repainting an entire house herself to deliver a better result to the client
Career risks and unexpected opportunities: a major commission and launching a shop
Kelly describes a pivotal opportunity: being invited to pitch a major New York store project and winning the commission. That success led to an invitation to open a shop, pushing her into product design, global fabrication, and expanding beyond interiors.
- •Kelly recalls being the only West Coast designer in contention for a major commission
- •She describes the project’s success leading to an offer to open a shop despite not ‘selling anything’ initially
- •She built product from custom pieces developed for previous projects and created a ‘jewel box’ space
- •She frames growth as staying open to opportunity and learning new business models
Travel as antidote to sameness—and a visual tour through the book’s projects
They discuss cities and travel as critical to staying inspired in a world that feels increasingly uniform. Jay then flips into an intuitive walkthrough of Kelly’s book, prompting stories about specific projects, artists, vintage pieces, and the thinking behind creating memorable experiences.
- •Kelly highlights European travel and flea markets as major sources of inspiration
- •She argues travel helps you see special materials, craftsmanship, and what makes places distinct
- •Jay selects images from the book and asks for the stories behind them
- •Kelly describes specific design elements (artworks, chairs, libraries, and experiential hotel spaces) as inspiration triggers
Design on a budget, minimalism, and practical spatial choices: low beds, tile patchwork, and embracing imperfection
Jay asks whether money is required to make a space feel good, and Kelly argues it isn’t—small, thoughtful moves can transform a room. They discuss minimalism, scale trends, and practical tips like low seating, patchwork solutions from limited materials, and how imperfection contributes to storytelling.
- •Kelly suggests simple upgrades: paint one wall, choose one great chair, lighting, and let it evolve
- •She describes shifting from ‘lots of stuff’ to fewer, more important pieces
- •They discuss how low furniture can make rooms feel more expansive
- •Kelly shares a tile story sourced from a family-run shop, creating patchwork from limited ‘dead stock’
- •They reflect on the beauty of imperfection despite perfectionist tendencies
Motherhood, presence, and prioritization: passion alongside family life
Jay transitions to Kelly’s personal life and how motherhood fit into a career-first mindset. Kelly shares that having children wasn’t her original plan, but became deeply transformative; she describes the ongoing challenge of being present at work and at home through routine and prioritization.
- •Kelly describes coming from a family of working women and initially prioritizing career
- •She shares how her husband’s desire for a family and her pregnancy changed everything
- •She reflects on what she would do differently: more time with kids because it goes fast
- •Kelly discusses routine and prioritization while acknowledging missed moments due to travel
- •She frames fulfillment in work as part of what helps her show up as a strong parent
Replication vs. creativity, burnout, and pacing the studio: learning to say no
Jay asks about replication and whether it undermines creativity, then turns to burnout. Kelly distinguishes creativity as an internal voice and replication as external reference that can inform function; she then shares how taking on too much work burned out her team and taught her to pace and say no.
- •Kelly defines creativity as coming from within and replication as looking outward
- •She says replication can inform function, then be reinterpreted with new materials and spirit
- •Kelly emphasizes saying no as important as saying yes for timing and quality
- •She recounts overloading the studio with multiple major projects and losing team members to burnout
- •She describes learning to pace and be attuned to team capacity and onboarding time
Dreaming in design, valuing creative work, and the ‘Final Five’—then AI as functional design support
Kelly describes turning off only when sleeping—and even then she ‘dreams design,’ sometimes translating dream ideas into real projects. They then discuss how creatives price their work through communication, project context, and value, followed by the rapid-fire final questions on diversity, pacing, fitness, and starting with what’s outside the window; the conversation closes with Kelly’s enthusiasm for AI as a tool for idea generation and efficiency.
- •Kelly says sleep is her off switch, yet she still ‘dreams design’ and sometimes uses dream imagery
- •On pricing, she emphasizes communication, project goals, and factors like career stepping stones and time demands
- •In the final questions, she calls ‘diversity’ of scale/eras/materials the best design advice and warns against rushing a project timeline
- •She explains fitness as ‘active meditation’ that clears the mind for creativity
- •She says the first design consideration is what’s outside the window, treating it as the room’s first artwork
- •She shares underrated fundamentals: mirrors, low seating, and careful lighting placement
- •Kelly describes using AI in her studio for idea generation and efficiency to free team time

Publisher timestamps

Get more out of YouTube videos.

Read along on your phone, search it beside the video, or ask your favorite AI app what was said.