Before Vern Yip transformed rooms on the American television series “Trading Spaces,” the popular progenitor to today’s home makeover shows, he studied chemistry and economics at the University of Virginia.
“It’s part of the Chinese-American tradition,” said Mr. Yip, whose parents emigrated from China to Hong Kong and then the United States. “You can become a doctor or you can become a doctor. But I was working at a lab during my break, and instead of focusing on the work in front of me, I was wondering why the walls were this hideous yellow.”
A few weeks before Mr. Yip was supposed to start medical school, he finally confessed to his mother that he wanted to study design and architecture instead.
“To my mom’s credit she said, ‘That’s fine, do what you love; you have my support,’” said Mr. Yip, who went on to get a masters of architecture and an M.B.A. at the Georgia Institute of Technology before starting work at an architecture and design firm in Atlanta. “I was working 80 hours a week and making $25,000 a year, but I loved it. My mom said, ‘Make sure you’re the first person at work and the last person to leave.’ A partner noticed. She said, ‘I love your drawings and you’re such a hard worker.’ She gave me the corporate headquarters of Disney Cruises to design. It was the break of a lifetime.”
Since completing that project in Celebration, Fla., in 1995, the 51-year-old has earned a reputation as the friendly, detail-oriented designer on several television shows, introduced a line of home products and published the interior guides “Design Wise” and the recently released “Vacation at Home,” which focuses on how to turn a home into a peaceful retreat.
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
Has design become more accessible?
Without question. The fact that the show [“Trading Spaces”] became such a hit indicated to the design world and the business world that there’s a huge untapped market of people who don’t want to live in a cookie-cutter fashion. They want to live in homes that reflect them, that have design value, but at an affordable price. Everybody deserves to have great design in their life.
How would you describe your approach to design?
Design has the ability to improve your life. Your home should be a functional and aesthetic reflection of you. Your home is where you spend the most important times of your life. It should nurture you. It should replenish and take care of you.
How do you make a home relaxing?
There are 18 key points that I outline in the book, but the big umbrella is get the foundation right and then maintain it. Getting the foundation right means setting it up in a way that takes things off your to-do list. I have performance fabrics in my house that can’t be permanently stained. You can draw a big smiley face in yellow highlighter and still get it out. I don’t have to freak out about my kids sitting on the sofa with ice cream or guests having a glass of red wine. With white marble countertops, which everyone loves, you’re stressed because if someone spills salsa it stains. Now we have beautiful quartz countertops that give you the look, and you don’t have to worry about it. It’s about getting the foundation right so you’re not coming home and getting stressed.
I also talk a lot about having a place to put things. Get rid of everything in your home except the things you need and the things you love. If you don’t need it and you don’t love it, sell it, donate it or give it away. It’s not enough to just “kind of like” something. Once you narrow it down, you should have the things you love in one of two places — on display so you can see them or away in closed storage. The things that you need that aren’t visually delightful should have their own place. Do you love the sight of your vacuum cleaner? Probably not. But you need your vacuum cleaner.
What else is involved in maintaining the foundation?
Leave the room the way you want to come back to it. I call it resetting the room. Get into the habit of making the bed every day. The next time you come in you’re like, “aah, it’s my bedroom,” instead of coming in to a crumpled bed. Fluff the sofa cushions when you get up. I make sure there are no dishes in the sink. The last thing I want to be greeted by is a sink full of dishes.
What is the No. 1 design question you get from people?
People stop me on the streets and want to know one of two things: how to lay out their room or what color to paint their home. It’s remarkable how many people have pictures of their rooms on their phones and will ask me for layout advice. Paint is a tough one because that’s dependent on light. Paint is hard for people. I talk about this in “Design Wise” because it’s really hard.
What design mistakes have you made? What did you learn?
I definitely made some huge mistakes with color. Color saturation and how colors look. I think it’s a problem a lot of people have. It takes a lot of practice to get it right. I remember my first apartment in grad school, I was really into having different colors in different rooms. There was no continuity. It was uncomfortable to be in. Individually, the rooms were beautiful, but it felt like a carnival and I was going on a different ride in each room.
I don’t think the house has to be the same color. I think that’s a mistake, too. I think you need an overall plan. It doesn’t matter if you have $1,000 from “Trading Spaces” or a six-figure budget, you’re going to have a more successful project if you plan it out from a space, budget and aesthetic perspective. It’s so tempting to go out and just buy stuff. The planning requires a little more work and a little more patience.
What design trends do you wish would go away?
I don’t know that people think about trends in the same way. I think people understand trends are here to inspire us, to give us ideas, but we don’t need to incorporate it if we don’t love it. People are hung up on the color of the year. It doesn’t mean anything if you don’t love it. It doesn’t matter if it’s on trend. It has to make you happy.
