205 | The House Hushing Framework for Beautiful, Soulful Homes With Myquillyn Smith

As interior designers, we often focus on creating beautiful spaces, but beauty alone isn't always enough. Sometimes a room can have gorgeous furnishings, meaningful décor, and impeccable styling, yet still feel visually loud. When every surface competes for attention, a home stops supporting everyday life and starts demanding energy from the people living in it.

That's why I was so excited to sit down with bestselling author Myquillyn Smith, better known as The Nester, to talk about her newest book, House Hushing. Rather than encouraging us to simply own fewer things, Myquillyn introduces a refreshing perspective: great design is about managing visual volume, not just the volume of possessions. Her approach blends interior design, decluttering, quiet decorating, soulful styling, and seasonal simplicity into a practical framework that helps create homes that feel both peaceful and deeply personal.

If you're designing for clients—or even creating a home for yourself—this episode will encourage you to think beyond minimalism. You'll discover how thoughtful design decisions can reduce visual noise while preserving warmth, personality, and the lived-in beauty that makes a house truly feel like home.

Featured Guest

Myquillyn Smith, also known as The Nester, is a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author, decorating expert, and founder of The Nester. For more than fifteen years, she has encouraged homeowners to embrace their homes—imperfections and all—by creating spaces that reflect their personalities instead of chasing perfection. Her thoughtful approach combines decorating, styling, decluttering, and intentional living, helping thousands of women create welcoming homes with less stress and more meaning. Living in a historic Victorian home in North Carolina has further shaped her philosophy, inspiring her latest book, House Hushing, which introduces a fresh framework for reducing visual noise while maintaining warmth, beauty, and soul.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

✳️ Understand the four-part House Hushing framework.

✳️ Reduce visual noise without sacrificing personality.

✳️ Style meaningful homes with fewer decorative items.

✳️ Create peaceful interiors through quiet decorating.

✳️ Design homes supporting changing life seasons.

Read the Blog >>> The Four Principles of House Hushing

NEXT STEPS:

🎯 Join My Design Mentor and start creating a design career you truly love.

👉https://my-design-mentor.mn.co

Check out our Designer's Playlist!

*️ Start Your Interior Design Journey

*️ From Newbie to Confident Designer

*️ Switching Gears to Interior Design

Grab your freebies:

📺 Watch this free webinar, "From Passion to Profit," and learn the 5 Money Moves to start your interior design business right

📌 Your Roadmap to a Career in Interior Design

🎨 3 Things I Wish I had known when I Started my Career

Connect With Me:

📧 Email: podcast@rwarddesign.com

🔆 Instagram: @rwarddesign

🌎 Website at rwarddesign.com

Thanks for listening! I hope this helps you discover if interior design is the career for you. See you next week...

Timestamps

0:00 Introduction and Guest Bio

2:27 Myquillyn’s Journey Into Decorating

4:39 Living in a Historic Victorian Home

8:37 What House Hushing Really Means

13:00 Knowing When a Home Needs Hushing

14:34 How Backwards Decluttering Works

17:51 Why Visual Volume Changes Everything

19:56 Quiet Decorating in Action

23:00 Book Launch and Bonus Resources