New Interior Design Book Gives Us Permission to Break the Rules

By Chris Frey
July 18, 2011

Undecorate

Undecorate cover and Rumaan Alam (left) with his son and husband (photos of Alam and family by Heather Weston)

For the interior décor obsessed who find professional interior decorators to be too invasive (not to mention expensive), but lack the know-how (and courage) to do it themselves, DwellStudio founder and creative director Christiane Lemieux and writer Rumaan Alam have provided a collective sigh of relief with their recently released book, Undecorate.

Exploring the residences of twenty individuals who champion, as the book’s sub header reads “a no-rules approach to interior design,” Undecorate gives permission to leave the professionals at the door, so to speak. Over 200 photographs give readers an intimate peek inside the eclectic selection of homes that fall within categories such as “The Decorators Without Borders,” “The Incurable Collectors,” and “The Imperfectionists.”

Undecorate

Alam, who has written about interior design for Domino, O at Home and Lonny magazine, and currently works for Target’s home division, is himself a self-professed collector of “too many things.” We asked him to share with us his personal "undecorate" philosophy as well as some of his favorite interiors from the book.

The Inside Source: How did you become involved with the book?

Rumaan Alam: Undecorate was Christiane's brainchild, and she turned to me to help her bring it to life. My role was to really help Christiane articulate her thesis and explore how each of the different residences in the book are, in their own way, undecorated.

Undecorate

left: Alam says: "I love the look of the worn rug on top of the sisal rug. I bought four beat up old oriental rugs on eBay. Love them all."; right: "I love the bench at the foot of the bed. I've been looking for a bench like that for a while. Eventually, I know I'll find the right one."

The Inside Source: "Undecorating" is a departure from more traditional ways of thinking about décor. What is "undecorating" to you?

Rumaan Alam: As you say, it is a departure from the traditional ways of thinking about décor, but that's not to say it's about abandoning tradition for its own sake, or disregarding the importance of expertise and training. There are many great interior designers whose work I love, and I know the same is true of Christiane. "Undecorate" is about upending the value judgment that good interior design is professional interior design; homes that are kooky or break the rules can be beautiful, too.

Take a scroll through the pages of Undecorate.

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"I love the little leather settees. I'm searching for a sofa about this size right now," says Alam.

The Inside Source: Has your home changed since you began working on the book? How would you describe your interior spaces?

Rumaan Alam: Writing this book certainly had a big impact on my home and my own sense of design style. I've always been a habitual re-arranger and re-decorator. I'm not sure how to describe our style. I love '60s and '70s modern furniture, but I also love 19th century portraiture. "Undecorate" doesn't mean that anything goes, style-wise, but it allows that one could take those disparate styles and make a beautiful home around them. My husband and I are pretty particular, but since becoming parents we are, of course, a lot more relaxed about these things. So right now, our home is less undecorated than it is toddler world.

The Inside Source: For someone who finds the notion of "undecorating" too abstract or too informal, what do you suggest as a departure point?

Rumaan Alam: People will feel overwhelmed if they attempt to understand the "rules" of undecorating. If the only rule is that there are no rules, where does that leave you? I think the key to making your home feel like it's right for you is to build it around the things that you love. Even focusing on just that—embracing what you love, getting rid of what you don't absolutely love—can yield some pretty big transformations.

Undecorate

The Inside Source: Do you collect? Do you use eBay?

Rumaan Alam: I collect a lot of things. Too many things. I have so many saved eBay searches it's sort of embarrassing. I collect vintage jigsaw puzzles. I have about 40 by now, I think, and every last one of them is from eBay. My husband collects reproductions of Gilbert Stuart's unfinished portrait of George Washington. We have about 15 of those, several of which are from eBay. I've also amassed a crazy collection of paintings almost all from eBay—mostly oils, mostly portraits, though I have also bought watercolors and a really lovely architectural pen and ink drawing.

I also collect promotional posters for the Smiths singles and albums—I've tracked down several really incredible originals on eBay. I've used eBay to amass an almost complete run of the seminal interiors magazine Nest, and I'm currently trying to compile a library of World of Interiors and Elle Decoration back issues. I'm really embarrassed by this list, and it doesn't even include my fashion-related searches!

Beyond my collecting, I've bought a lot of furniture on eBay: our dining table, a charmingly anonymous midcentury teak table with three leaves so we could have a party for 20 if we ever move into a bigger house, the little Parsons table I use as a desk as well as my Eames desk chair, our nightstands and a pair of mirrors that hangs over our nightstands, and our two dressers—every last one was bought on eBay. I've also bought a lot of small accessories on eBay: flatware, serving ware, a groovy Kaj Franck enamel bowl...

(images courtesy Christiane Lemieux, Rumaan Alam, Undecorate)