TOP INTERIOR DESIGNERS

Nate Berkus is an American interior designer, author, TV host and television personality. He runs the Chicago interior design firm Nate Berkus Associates and has been a regularly featured guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show, offering design advice to viewers, as well as coordinating surprise make-overs for people’s homes. He has released numerous lines of products, and authored several books.

Nate believes that people are happiest with their space when they take risks and are honest with themselves about what they really love. He said he likes when people decide, “I’m going to use this room in this way. Even though it’s a formal dining room, I’m going to put two sofas facing each other in it, and I want to hang out in here in a different way than the home builder intended or how my neighbor next door has it set up.”

The first time interior designer Nate Berkus and his fiancé, Jeremiah Brent, walked through the black lacquered double doors of their Hollywood Hills home, Brent burst into tears. “When we first heard about the house, we were obsessed with the idea of it because of the architect,” says Brent, an interior designer known for his role on The Rachel Zoe Project.

A cozy den makes for the ultimate movie-night room, where a rotating roster of guests hangs out on the deep sofa. “It’s very surfy feeling,” says Berkus. Even the black-painted master bedroom is the embodiment of serenity. “You wake up and feel like you’re in a tree house.”