It started like any other modern-day love story: a “like” on an old Instagram photo, followed by a series of DMs.

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Monica Stewart of The Misfit House couldn’t believe her luck when she received the message from Lulie Wallace, an artist and textile designer: she and her husband Harrison, an architect, were renovating a mid-century lake house in Columbus, Georgia, and they needed decorating help. Both women had admired the other’s work for years—and now they got to collaborate.

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With the house down to the studs, the pair revived original details, from mid-century elements to ornate trim the previous owner had liberally added throughout. “We made sure we had modern touches, but also the sweet traditional nods from the old home,” she explains. Reverse board and batten—also the siding of the house—now clads interior walls, a detail both charming and practical. “Lulie and Harrison have three girls, paneling in high traffic areas was essential, so was a wood island because stained cabinetry is more durable than paint.”

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For Monica, working with artists is uniquely rewarding: “I would show Lulie textiles for inspiration and she would say: ‘Okay, I can work with that.’ She designed a lot of patterns for the house that ended up in her latest collection.” A sounding board to help create balance, The Expert sprinkled Lulie’s fabrics and wallpapers in doses big and small—and even incorporated pieces from her own brand Evolve Lighting Co.

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It’s no surprise why Monica’s work is so sought after by artists and homeowners alike: her spaces exude warmth and comfort—and so does she. Her Showroom, freshly curated with such thought and care, is a veritable masterclass on how to get her signature style. For the launch, The Expert spilled all her best design secrets, from her golden rule for incorporating vintage to the wall finish she always recommends.

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How Evolve Lighting Co. was born

Evolve Lighting Co actually came to be when I was working on projects and couldn’t find the right lighting. I started creating pieces through a local metalsmith in town and pitching the designs to my clients.

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Most people are really on board with having things handmade for their house. Each of Evolve’s designs was created for a specific client’s room. In Lulie’s house, we created a new rattan pendant for the laundry room, and ceiling lights for the kitchen… It works because pieces are created for my clients specifically, which is something they get really excited about.

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How I curated my Showroom

I really tried to make my Showroom cohesive to make people feel like they could design a house holistically from top to bottom. I wanted to make sense of the chaos because there's so much beauty out there, but I honed in on pieces that you could put in any room that would also work with anything else in the Showroom. The palette was constructed for people to feel comfortable making selections on their own without losing that compass.

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How I create spaces that feel timeless

I always try to incorporate 30% vintage in every project. A lot of design is disposable nowadays, which is disheartening. We have to get away from that mentality of ‘I'll get a cheap couch because my kids are going to destroy it and then just get another one in five years.’ It’s just not the way people used to renovate or decorate and I really try to encourage people to spend a little bit more for lasting quality.If kids do destroy the sofa—which they usually don’t—it’s the fabric, not the frame. And there are a ton of performance or velvet fabrics out there that are really resilient. It's way cheaper in the long run to just invest in that beautiful Nickey Kehoe sofa and have it for the rest of your life, even if you end up re-upholstering it every decade or two. A cheap sofa isn’t comfortable, it will look slumpy, and wear out really quickly.

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What I buy vintage versus new

I love to source vintage side tables, nightstands, coffee tables, and dining chairs. You can find really interesting upholstered pieces that can be recovered and given new life. It can really help the budget—and even if it's not a steal, it's probably better made than anything from a big box store. Even with the knicks and scratches, it'll be a longer lasting piece.

I love vintage mirrors, especially in powder rooms where they can handle some patina and the glass doesn’t need a pristine finish. And I love buying vintage textiles, like curtains or drapery that I can use as a jumping off point for a room and repurpose into pillows. If you want to create spaces that aren't trendy, you really have to find things that inspire you outside of other people's current work. If you can find inspiration in older art and textiles, they can inform the future.

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How I make spaces feel personal

Just find things that speak to you. Incorporate things from your travels and heirlooms passed down from family that make your home uniquely you. I have these hanging metal plates that were passed down from my grandmother.

I kept them in a box for years because they just were really not my style. When we purchased our home years later, I pulled them out and hung them up in our entry—and I found a note in the box. It was from my grandmother, instructing us to never get rid of them and telling us their backstory: her and my grandfather were eating at a restaurant and she made a comment about liking the plates on the wall. My grandfather convinced the establishment to buy them right off the walls for her. It was such a romantic memory and we were horrified because we had talked multiple times about throwing them out. And now I love them.

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The pieces that anchor a space

Especially when working with a tighter budget, I always recommend for people to choose their favorite piece, and then repeat it. If it’s a specific fabric, use it as much as you can afford to—on pillows, on a chair, on a bed skirt—and keep things simple everywhere else. And you've made your room really special.

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The colors I’m excited about right now

I love pinks, greens, blues, yellows. I'm definitely a warm girl, whether that's brown, gold, or more muddy tones. When I do pick a cooler color like a gray-blue, I make sure to surround it with warmth—whether that's a stained wood finish, or complementary colors.

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I have my go-to shades—about 10-12 for each color—so even if someone comes to me with a specific shade in mind that I’ve never tried, I can point them to a handful of tried-and-true samples to compare against the color they’ve chosen to either affirm their choice, or give them a better alternative.

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How I ensure colors and patterns will work together

I always tell people to lay everything out together: paint swatches, fabrics… Even if they’re on opposite ends of the house, it's important to see it all together. If something doesn't fit, it will jump out like a puzzle piece that doesn't work.

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Having a jumping off point—a textile or piece of art that incorporates multiple colors in it—is important to create a foundation to branch off from and can inform the color of the stone in the kitchen and the wallpaper in the dining room… Everything starts to weave together. If you have a green kitchen, maybe the primary bath will be an entirely different color but you can sprinkle in some green accents to give the whole house a cohesive feel.

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In my Showroom, you can see all these pieces side by side and it's helpful to see how everything can fit together.

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What makes a room feel cozy

It’s important to have a mix of textures, whether it's grasscloth, plaster, and stone or linen, velvet, and rattan. The color doesn't just do it on its own. If everything in the room is taupe, it's not going to be enough to make it feel warm. You have to have those layers.

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What I recommend to all my clients

I recommend grasscloth wallpaper a lot. It’s such an instant gratification for people that are just itching for transformation, but can't buy everything from scratch. It’s an easy transformation that doesn’t require a ton of little decisions and it’ll make you fall in love with your space again. Even people that shy away from wallpaper can usually get on board with a textural wallcovering. It’s something they can feel comfortable investing in, because it's not a pattern they're going to worry about being tired of. It's just a layer.

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The finishing touches that make a room feel complete

Lighting is a good place to start. It can change a house from feeling builder-grade space to one that has patina. It knocks off that new build feel when you add raw finishes and vintage pieces.

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I also love pottery. I feel like it can be art, it can be functional, it can have patina and color, or it can be neutral. I collect a lot of pottery. And I love beautiful books and original art. Any piece that can carry art and patina in one is pretty great.

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What I’m most excited about with my Showroom

Interior design is a luxury, but it's a really important one. It’s not frivolous in a lot of ways because everyone's home is often their biggest investment, so it's smart to do your homework and consult with experts. A lot of people come to me for advice in the pre-construction phase, and sometimes are left to their own devices with decorating the home in the end. The Showroom makes it easy for people to come back and say: “Monica’s gotten me this far, now I can go through what she's hand-picked and start working on my rooms based on what we had already discussed.

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Every call I do on The Expert is unique, because people have different needs, different homes, and different tastes. But I do have my go-to products and brands I like to recommend, so it’s helpful for people to be able to go to my Showroom and see the products I turn to again and again, all in one place. It’s a way for someone to see all the things that I'm drawn to, that I like to use, or that I talked about in my calls. It's just there for people to get started with.

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Meet with The Misfit House.