As a leading interior stylist, creative consultant, and former magazine editor (she worked at ELLE DECOR for more than four years), Mieke ten Have is a true multi-hyphenate. She’s styled the homes of everyone from Serena Williams to Dakota Johnson; collaborated with A-List photographers (Ricardo Labougle; Douglas Friedman; Noe DeWitt) and ELLE DECOR A-List designers (Sheila Bridges; Billy Cotton; Rita Konig) alike; and lent her magic touch to pint-sized apartments, seaside country houses, and everything in between. On October 1, ten Have is adding “published author” to that list of accomplishments, by putting her very first book—Interiors by Mieke ten Have—out into the world. Throughout its pages, ten Have taps into her wealth of design experience to generously share techniques for making your home feel more elevated and alive in any season.
Ten Have is known for her ebullient pattern- and florals-heavy approach, so you can be sure that there is no shortage of whimsical imagery and equally whimsical yet practical descriptions in her latest project. Here, ten Have gets seasonal, sharing four overarching fall decor takeaways (and one major styling no-no!) that everyone from veteran decorators to casual Pinterest scrollers can embrace, thereby creating their own dreamy and idyllic autumnal displays.
Layer Your Patterns
With crisper weather, you’ll likely be reaching for the layers—knitwear, jackets, tights, etc. According to ten Have, the same approach should apply to your home, too, especially when it comes to pattern. The stylist even encourages home decorators to embrace clashing prints this time of year.
“I actually think there’s like a lot of dialogue that happens when you put two different values together,” ten Have tells us, referring to patterns found in wallpapers and textiles. “Sometimes, they’re more revelatory fighting each other than they are looking very similar.”
So how do you go about achieving that perfectly-imperfect look at home? Experiment with textiles (ten Have advises investing in fabrics that feel “luxurious and rich and warm and cozy” like velvet, jacquard, and heavy silk), wallcoverings, and even rugs whose fall-inspired prints bring you joy and add a much-needed element of spunk to your home setup.
Here—in this charming dining vignette—the patterns found in the rug, upholstered furniture, and layered tablecloths would clash in theory… but in practice come together to form a truly lovely display.
Embrace Rich Jewel Tones
We all have different ways of honoring the progression of time, whether it be through intense spring cleaning sessions, room purification rituals, or loading up your pantry with all things pumpkin spice. Ten Have suggests commemorating fall with saturated, autumnal hues. “I really like jewel-toned colors in the fall, like aubergine and rust and orange and saffron,” she tells us.
This opulent tablescape, shown in a chapter on autumnal decorating, is the perfect example. Here, ten Have decided to style with a repurposed silk sari. Its ambers and greens remind her of a bonfire’s dying embers and are thus the perfect harbingers of colder weather to come. Cue the cozy!
Style with Dying Branches
Yes, you read that right. For ten Have, fall is the ideal time to bring home branches with florals or leaves on them that are in a state best described as “dying,” like the dried ones pictured here, which marvelously complement the painting behind them.
“Living things like branches and flowers are often the most beautiful right on the precipice of death,” ten Have tell us, adding that she reserves a special place in her heart for branches that turn all shades of orange, rust, and yellow on their slow journey to withering away.
In terms of how big said branches should be, ten Have subscribes to the “bigger=better” philosophy. “Go for something that’s towering and that sort of plays with the way your eye interprets scale in a room,” she offers.
Kitchen countertops and entryways are both great spots for just this kind of seasonal touch. Ten Have’s favorite fall florals include dahlias (“they’re really so succulent and delicious!”), chrysanthemums, and zinnias (“they hold their shape and weight within an arrangement in an interesting way”).
Make Small-but-Meaningful Swaps
If you want to instantly shift the vibe of your home and make it more aligned to the fall season, ten Have is a believer in the fact that it doesn’t take much. “You don’t have to reupholster a sofa,” she says. “You can do it on a much smaller scale, just by changing some of the accessories.”
Have a tablecloth in a beautiful fall print? Spread it across your dining table. Have a richly-textured throw in storage? Drape it over your sofa. You can even think smaller: ten Have, for her part, will switch her taper candles from white to autumnal colors (like orange or green, seen in this tablescape) ones when the weather starts getting chillier.
As for her ultimate fall decor no-no, ten Have has an immediate response at hand: Don’t pay attention to the trends. “Figuring out what it is that you like, independent of what everybody else likes, is really important,” ten Have says. “You’re not going to see me evolving much with the times. I have a very strong point of view.”
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