As told to Katherine McLaughlin by Kenzie Elizabeth

If I were to describe my interior design style, adjectives like lived-in, cozy, and Nancy Meyers-inspired immediately come to mind—a natural partiality given I’m a self-proclaimed homebody. When I moved into my current Dallas home in 2023, there was only one problem: the space is a tad more modern than I would typically prefer. It was flipped and refinished by the previous owners so I didn’t have to make any structural changes, but I was eager to add warmth to the stark white walls and crisp wood floors.

I’m passionate about hosting and a major reader, so I knew my living room would become one of the most important areas in the house. Over the past year and a half, I’ve decorated—and redecorated—this room, and can now confidently say it’s my perfect design. But it took a lot of trial and error to get here, and I learned many lessons along the way that I plan to take into any future home project. This is what I did, and bought, to create my ultimate Nancy Meyers-inspired living room.

The budget

I chose not to set a decor budget for the room, and instead considered every purchase piece by piece. In the past, I’ve tried to buy everything upfront with a certain budget, but I’ve always ended up not loving what I ordered. In general, I’m always willing to invest in my home, partially because I love to be in it, but also because I run my business from it.

I’m a vlogger on Youtube, so my home is in the background of all content, and I own a homeware brand; we sometimes shoot product or campaign imagery here. Not to mention my office is here, and I primarily work from home, so that definitely influences my choices. However, that doesn’t mean I had an unlimited budget. When I was looking for couches, for example, many of the new ones were more expensive than I was willing to spend. In those cases, I relied on secondhand sites to find deals.