From Better Homes & Gardens: 3 easy steps to completely transform your living room
Kylie Petty at Better Homes & Gardens recently interviewed Annie Guest for the magazine's April 2026 issue. The topic was the challenge of redesigning a living room, the quasi-public space where we want to both relax and entertain guests.
Opposites attract: Add drama to your room without cluttering the stage
Add excitement to your room without creating visual clutter with this simple trick. Choose two fabrics that oppose each other and let them wake each other up. The opposing fabrics might be materials that contrast with each other’s texture or finish, such as silk and sisal. If you go that route, you might pair silk curtains with a sisal rug. Or take a different route and choose fabrics with patterns that mimic each other’s design, but in reverse.
Sleeping beauty: Awakening the forgotten vintage piece
I don’t know about you, but I love to find an old piece that has been neglected, forgotten, ill-used, or underappreciated, and to help it become the star it was meant to be. The piece might be a chair, or a desk, or an old lamp. With good care and some vision, that sleeper can greet a new day.
I’m sure I’m anthropomorphizing here, but helping that forgotten piece become its best self is hugely therapeutic for me. And once I discovered the power these transformations have over my own state of mind, I’ve been staying alert for more opportunities to make them happen.
Let your favorite books inspire your design story.
Looking for design ideas that give new life to the antiques you love? Take inspiration from your favorite books and use vintage items to create scenes that tell a story. It might be the rough-hewn wooden table that reminds you of D.H. Lawrence’s ode to simple living in Women in Love. Or the leather ottoman that could have come from Isak Dinesen’s farmhouse in Out of Africa. Or the ticking Victorian mantel clock that could punctuate a stilted exchange in Mrs. Welland’s The Age of Innocence drawing room. Loving books means entering the worlds the author creates and living in them for a while. Bringing elements of those books into our homes reminds us to stretch ourselves—to let ourselves be transported beyond our four walls to explore more of what life offers.
Style Your Home to Beat the Winter Blues: 5 Designer-Approved Tricks
Kylie Petty at Better Homes & Gardens Magazine asked Annie Guest about tips for using interior design to ward off the winter blues. Kylie’s article was published in the magazine’s January 2026 issue.
Living large in a small space
My first apartment was a studio walkup in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Boston. The entire apartment consisted of one modest-sized room with a creaky radiator. A stove, a refrigerator, and a sink huddled in the corner. I was immensely proud of my new home.
Happy New Year
HAPPY NEW YEAR. I don't make resolutions, anymore. Now, I picture snapshots from the coming year--say, I'm visiting a friend or exploring a new place--and then I set about making those pictures real. Knowing, of course, that anything can happen to derail a plan and that I'll be adapting to new realities every day.
A room of my own
My lifelong passion for interior design ignited when I was seven. My sister and I shared a bedroom, and the arrangement was not without squabbles. Then one day, Mom came home from the thrift store with an old privacy screen. A new age had dawned.
Here are five (or six) steps to create the perfect book lover’s hideout.
There are five or six elements that make a room a perfect place to read: natural light, a few tributes to nature, comfortable seating, a soft blanket, a place to stash a book and blanket, and maybe music. And oh, yes: a bookmark.
Cool as Glass: Affordable Collecting
I love glass. Glass brightens and lightens the look of a room and because it’s translucent, light passes through it. I’m drawn to handblown pieces made at the Blenko Glass Company in Milton, West Virginia, and to signed pieces made in Murano, the world-famous islands in the Venetian Lagoon where the art of glassmaking has been perfected and passed down since the late 1200s. It’s not hard to find glass pieces of significance—and we can even do it without breaking the bank.
Creamy zucchini coconut curry soup
Here’s my recipe for a chilled bowl of curried zucchini soup made with coconut milk. When life (or a neighbor) hands you and armload of zucchini, why not make soup?
Tackling the garden my mom left me
I’m finally tackling the garden my mom left me. Working in the flowerbeds she created brings me closer to her and helps me remember the many things she taught me. In the garden, I re-live the roles in our relationship that were turned upside down during mom’s final years. Mom was my first teacher. I put on my gloves and reclaim my place as her apprentice.
Designing an all-weather atrium for reading and working out. Part III
My project to turn the atrium into a light-filled escape for reading and working out in all weather continues. Time for a carriage lamp, a jute rug, a caterpillar sofa and chair, antique table lamp, and a coffee table I bought for my first apartment.
Designing an all-weather atrium for reading and working out. Part II
The atrium is a work in progress, and we’re getting there. The natural light in this room will be a head-saver during those long winter months—a place to exercise and read.
Designing an all-weather atrium for reading and working out. Part I
It was finally time to tackle the atrium. I’d been using it to store furniture and boxes as I renovated the rest of the house. The brick interior walls were painted a bright haint blue, and I was about to learn why. The room had its challenges, and I was ready.
Those family heirlooms may be the coolest things in your house.
You’ve heard it. “Brown is down.” Younger adults don’t want their parents’ hand-me-down furniture. They want new things from IKEA that they can throw away when they move. Or so the story goes. Who knows if it’s true?
5 Secrets to Making Your Galley Kitchen Work
The galley kitchen in my guesthouse is tiny. The floor space measures a mere 5” x 7”. And when it came time to begin my renovations, I faced one dispirited little space. But I did some sleuthing for photos of galley kitchens that work, and the secrets were hiding in plain sight.
Reading the room.
We have a lot on our minds, right now. Not a great time for a book about how to make your house pretty. Right? Or maybe it is.
DESIGN FOR YOUR MIND is a story about how any of us can use interior design to help us find our voice and our strength and creativity, build community with other people, and recharge our lives.