Last updated : Thursday, November 5, 2009

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The Elements of Erin Gates

Credit: Michael Piazza

Like that of any successful interior designer, Erin Gates' home is a testament to her talent. But its comfort and eclecticism is also telling of her approach to design. Warm tans and chocolate brown walls flow from room to room in the colonial-style condo in Boston's Jamaica Plain neighborhood. Bold statements like her bright green office or a chandelier in the bedroom create envy not because they can't be attained, but rather because they require that extra gamble of creativity.

"I like to mix traditional and modern, new and old, high and low," she says while sitting on her living room couch with a cup of tea. Her two small dogs, Baxter and Oliver, play happily next to her. Gates, who started her interior design business, Element Interiors, almost a year ago, says her approach to decorating is very laid back, sampling products from Ikea and Target to Restoration Hardware and Pottery Barn. Based on her flexible approach, Gates has been able to forge relationships and build environments for her clients from all different styles and price points.

Yet in a profession that relies on personal relationships, Gates has managed to build a successful interior design business from conventionally impersonal means. Two years ago while working in event planning, Gates started a blog to help streamline her inspiration. "I was reading some of the pioneer design blogs and I thought, 'I'll give this a try,'" she says. "It was a creative release for me and at the time, my job didn't give me that." Soon after, the blog went from a way to keep one foot in the design world to the door that opened it wide open. Beginning with two loyal readers, (Gates' mother and husband), the blog developed a steady following. Before she knew it, people were asking to hire her to help them style their homes. Eventually, she acquired so much work through the blog that she quit her job and started her company.

The blog, however, was no small endeavor. The daughter of an architect and department store owner, Gates always had a knack for design. After graduating from Connecticut College in 2001 with a degree in Visual Arts, Gates moved to Boston and began working at an art gallery. She then took a job at Dennis Duffy, a prominent interior design firm, where she learned the basics of the business. But with no formal training in interiors, Gates had little opportunity for upward mobility in a firm setting, and realized she needed to set out on her own. "My dad is self-taught and he has his own firm and he always told me 'you either have it or you don't, and you have it. If you love it, make it happen.'"

Two years later, with a blog and a business under her belt, Gates enjoys the challenge of working within a budget. "I think it's a more creative way to work," she says. "If it's all high-end or all budget it can look boring. If you mix the two, it creates an interesting look." And under this model, business has been good. "It's appropriate in this economy; there aren't many designers who are willing to shop at Ikea and the Design Center, who will mix a Baker console with Target benches." She also emphasizes the relationship with a client, and likes to have a base to work from, whether it's a rug from Nepal or a photograph of a family member. "Some designers love a blank slate, but I'm not one of them," she says. "I try to really take in what a client's aesthetic is and make it the best version of what they like by suggesting things that they wouldn't have thought of on their own."

Gates has applied this line of thinking to her own home. She took the antique dining set given to her by her husband's in-laws, and gave it a personal touch. "At first I was like, 'this is not my style,' but we couldn't afford a dining set." Gates painted the shielded chairs white and reupholstered them with zebra fabric, giving them an updated look while keeping the set sophisticated. "It went from something I didn't like, to something I love," she says. "I love that my husband grew up having breakfast as a little boy at that table."

Seeing little disconnect between home décor and fashion, Gates hopes to expand her business from the couch to the closet. She has recently begun styling for clients, using the same ideas of mixing expensive with affordable looks, vintage with modern, etc. "Getting dressed and dressing a room are equally as creative ventures," she says. "I think they are so similar that I really feel like I could do either and be happy."

And yet for now, she is most happy to be doing it all.

Click here to see a slideshow of Gates' home. 

 

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