WILLIAMS METCALF INTERIORS

It’s not you, it’s the furniture. Or the layout. Or the lighting. That feeling of walking in, dropping your keys, and sinking into the couch with a deep exhale. This doesn’t come from whatever is trending online. It comes from a home designed around the way you actually live.

Good interior design isn’t just visual. It’s behavioral. It’s the pace of your daily routines, the height of your reach, the way you sit and stand and move through a room without thinking. Designers Morgan Metcalf and Alice Williams of Williams Metcalf Interiors see this every day. They don’t begin with a couch or a color — they begin with people.

Below are the principles they use, told through real homes and real moments, to help you think about your own space with more intention.

1. Begin With Your Habits, Not With Furniture

Most of us start decorating backwards: we fall in love with a piece of furniture or a photo online and try to force our life into it.

“People don’t know how customizable items can be for them,” Metcalf said. “You may see furniture that does not suit you, but does work for the homeowner. Maybe that person is shorter and they like a sofa with a shorter sit.”

Whether you’re the kind of person who tosses a towel on a hook or folds it carefully onto a rod matters. How long your arm is and where you naturally reach matters. These aren’t trivial, they’re the foundation.

Before changing anything, observe yourself:

• Do you sit upright or curl sideways on the couch?

• Do you drop your bag by the door or at the kitchen counter?

• Do you prefer lamps or ceiling lights?

• Do you like a firm seat or a soft one?

Design starts with noticing.

2. Watch How You Move Through Your Home

Once you notice how you live, pay attention to how you move.

“We think about every function, how they are going to walk through their home, how tall they are sitting down,” Metcalf said.

Williams adds, “We’re figuring out door swings. We look at a home and at a room as a whole.”

Movement reveals problems that aesthetics hide. Maybe you always avoid a certain corner. Maybe you turn sideways to get past a dresser. Maybe the kitchen feels cramped, but only when someone else is in it too.

Spend a day noticing your steps, your pivots, your pauses. Your home will tell you what needs to change.

3. The Smallest Distances Shape the Biggest Feelings

One Deer Valley couple felt strangely uncomfortable at home. They couldn’t explain it. That kind of tension often comes from tiny design misalignments: the number of steps from the bed to the bathroom, the reach for a light, the path from laundry to kids’ rooms.

For this couple, the bedroom-office combination was disrupting everything.

“The wife always felt like they were sleeping in the office,” Williams said. “The husband felt like he was working in the bedroom.”

They adjusted lighting, rearranged rugs and art, and flipped the desk. It wasn’t a demolition, it was a recalibration.

“It made a different space,” Williams continued. “It changed their mood when they were in the room. They are spending more time there and absolutely love their home, and love having friends over now.”

Sometimes the fix is surprisingly small.

4. Let Your Home Reflect Your Story

Homes can hide people as much as they can express them. Another client, a world traveler, had meaningful treasures stored away in boxes rather than displayed.

“He was the deepest, most interesting man,” Williams said. “In the redesign of his home we were able to bring out so many of his treasures. It changed the way he thought about his life.”

Your home should show your history:

• places you’ve been

• people you love

• objects that carry meaning

Design becomes personal when your life becomes visible.

5. Respect the Bones Before the Decor

Williams and Metcalf always begin with how a home is built, not how it looks.

“We understand how homes are built,” Williams said. “We know a lot about plumbing, electrical, hard surfaces, wood species and how carpet is made.”

Metcalf adds another layer: “We plan for the right acoustics for musicians. We put padding in the walls if a bathroom is next to the dining room. We’ll ask what kind of toothbrush they use. If it’s electric, we’ll put an outlet in just the right spot for it.”

Once those fundamentals are solid, the details matter.

Even a pillow can be a small work of craftsmanship — fabric, trim, cushion — each chosen for feel and longevity. “We love trim,” Williams said. “It makes the pillows so special.”

Their knowledge comes from years of education, study, travel, and curiosity. Museums play a part too. “We like going to museums,” Metcalf said. “And seeing how things were made in the past.”

This January, they attended a show in Paris. “We saw lots of new products and met designers from all over the world,” Williams said.

These experiences sharpen their eyes and they can sharpen yours, too. Notice materials. Touch textures. Study old buildings. Allow your taste to be shaped by real experiences, not just inspiration boards.

A Home That Lets You Breathe

Whether you’re redesigning one room or your entire home, the goal isn’t perfection. It’s alignment. A home should be a reflection of the people inside it — their habits, their stories, their comforts, their routines. It should remove friction, not add to it.

Interior design is less about matching furniture to paint and more about building a place where your daily life feels easier, calmer, and more natural.

It’s about making a home where you walk in, drop your keys, and feel your whole body exhale.