Interior designer Scot Meacham Wood thinks every room needs an antique, a strong point of view and a good edit. His own style draws on a Scottish family, a Mississippi childhood and years spent abroad, and the result is traditional design with real personality.
We talked with Scot about where he starts a project, why paint is the easiest way to experiment, how to refresh a room without buying anything, and why he would argue for keeping your grandmother’s furniture.
Key Takeaways
- Scot starts every project with textiles, because fabrics and patterns get the strongest reaction from clients.
- Pay attention to what makes you gasp. That reaction is the concept to build the room around.
- Paint is an inexpensive, low-risk way to experiment with color.
- To refresh a room, take everything out and put back only what you place on purpose.
- Every room benefits from an antique, and family pieces bring history into daily life.
Start With the “Ooh” Moment
When Scot works with clients, they go through tear sheets and fabric swatches together, and he listens for a reaction: “an audible gasp or an audible ooh.” That sound tells him he has hit on something that belongs in the project.
“People respond very viscerally to fabrics and patterns,” he says. Once he has that first big moment, the rest of the space is built around it, balancing texture, pattern, color and finishes.
Why He Begins Every Project With Textiles
Some designers start with a piece of art, a wallpaper or a color. Scot starts with textiles. “We start every project with textiles,” he says. They are one of the biggest and more expensive parts of a project, and they are where clients have that visceral response, so they are a good way of finding something that feels impactful to a client’s own taste.
Experiment With Paint
For anyone working without a designer, Scot points to color. “It’s a can of paint,” he says: thirty, forty, maybe fifty dollars and an afternoon. You can paint, repaint and change your mind, which makes it one of the best ways to experiment and an accessible way of bringing design into your home.
To find your colors, he suggests tearing out images you love or building a Pinterest board. Stack them together in one place and you will start to see a through-line of colors you are drawn to, sometimes ones you had not noticed.
For help choosing, see How to Find the Right Paint Color.
A Style Shaped by Scotland, Mississippi and Travel
Asked to describe his look, Scot traces it to his background. His family is from the Scottish Highlands, so there is a lot of Scottish influence in his work. He grew up in Mississippi, and he describes the room featured in the video as “aggressively Southern.” He was also an Air Force brat who lived in Korea and Japan, which he says gave him a melting pot of cultural influences that he tries to bring to his work.
How to Refresh a Room: Take Everything Out
Scot’s advice for keeping a home fresh is something he does in his own house all the time. Leave the furniture and case goods, but take out everything else: the accessories, lamps, books and flowers. Then place it all back.
“It’s a great way of editing,” he explains. Nothing ends up sitting somewhere just because it landed there six months ago and never moved. Everything is “purposefully, mindfully placed.”
The same approach works for a pantry or a linen closet. Once the towels are out, it is easier to let go of the ones that are no longer in good shape. He is clear that he is not arguing for minimalism, since he loves collecting. The point is to be mindful of what is in your space and why it is there.
More ideas: How to Refresh Your Décor Without Spending a Bundle and 5 Room Organization Ideas That Are Totally Doable.
Why Every Room Needs an Antique
What about people who do not want their parents’ or grandparents’ furniture? Scot says the Southerner in him would push back. “Every room needs an antique in it,” he says, “just to give it some history and some soul and some depth.” A room should hold more than things that came off a truck from a showroom.
He would make a good argument for keeping ancestral pieces because they are important parts of your history and your family, and a way of keeping that lineage present in day-to-day life. As he puts it, if the table you eat on is the table your grandmother ate on, “I think that’s delicious, and it kind of makes the food taste better.”
Related reading: Incorporating Antiques into Your Home with The Antiques Diva, Toma Clark Haines and Best Tips for Buying Antique Furniture.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where should you start when decorating a room?
Scot Meacham Wood starts with textiles and with whatever fabric or pattern gets the strongest reaction from the client, then builds the room around it.
How can I refresh a room without buying anything?
Take out all the accessories, lamps and books, then put back only what you deliberately choose to place.
Should I keep inherited furniture if it is not my style?
Scot argues for keeping at least some ancestral pieces. He believes every room needs an antique for history and depth.
