Design by Oho Interiors | Photo by Judith Kostroski | Shoot styling by Cate Ragan
Hello friends!
We are excited to announce something we've been working hard on: The Curio Spotlight Series! We want to know all about how designers use vintage! For this blog series, we will be interviewing our very favorite interior designers. We'll take a look at how they got started in design, where they find inspiration, how they go about choosing vintage rugs for a design, and so much more.
First up is our interview with Melissa Oholendt, the Founder and Design Principal at Oho Interiors. We adore Melissa's work and we know you will, too. Let's get into it!
Tell us your story! How did you get started in design? How long have you been in the industry?
How much time do you have, all day? Great!
I found a passion for interior design at an early age. I was the 14-year-old using my allowance at the local Barnes & Noble to purchase Traditional Home and Architectural Digest. So it was no surprise that I entered college in 2001 with the intent to get a design degree and be an interior designer.
After a few semesters, I had a conversation with a well-meaning professor who called into question my desires to have my own firm at a time where that was not the norm in the industry and it ended up changing the trajectory of my college path and swiftly changed majors and career intentions in one fell-swoop.
Because not all paths into the design world are linear, it took more than 15 years and a career in finance and then a decade-long stint in photography where my love of entrepreneurship found a home, but by 2019, I was finally ready to reclaim my original passion of interior design and by November 2019, Oho Interiors was up and running.
Then, of course, the pandemic hit and we all found ourselves stuck at homes we didn’t love and that global event really was the catapult for my business, starting with smaller one or two room local projects that afforded me the learning curve of a business that I didn’t go to school for and growing into a (now) six-person design firm with projects all across the United States from California to Texas to Illinois to New York (and of course, Minnesota and Colorado too!).
Design by Oho Interiors | Photo by Judith Kostroski | Shoot styling by Carrie Valentine
How would you describe your design style?
In short, Oho’s Aesthetic is Traditional Design with English and European influences and a deep belief that nothing is too precious.
The deep dive answer is that Oho’s Aesthetic is really formed by five pillars:
- Updated Traditional Design
- Bespoke Function
- English and European Influence
- Elements of Whimsy
- Attention to Detail
While our aesthetic can absolutely flex and flow project-by-project (and architecture style by architecture style) these five pillars remain with every single project we touch.
Where do you find your inspiration?
You probably hear this all the time, but I find inspiration everywhere. It can be the Natural History Museum in DC where I find myself photographing the marble details in the Great Hall or it can be in my own backyard where the color story of Colorado at dusk is a personal favorite (and has made it into quite a few projects at this point!). I find the best inspiration hits when I’m not looking for it.
What is your favorite part of the design process? What is your favorite room to design?
My favorite part of the design process is always the Visual Learning exercise we do with all clients and the Design Direction that is born from it.
It’s such a time of endless possibilities and excitement for our clients but it also is one of the most crucial pieces of our process in defining the overall direction of the project.
In terms of rooms that I love to design, I think a kitchen is right up there as an all-time favorite because it is the marriage of form and function, but I also deeply love designing bedroom spaces as well. There’s something so intimate and wonderful about it.
Let's talk about how designers use vintage rugs! How do you go about choosing a rug for a design? Do you start with the rug or add it after the design is complete? How do you decide between vintage and modern rugs for a space?
The way my brain works is that I need to start with the most dynamic, show-stopping piece in a room -- sometimes that is the rug and sometimes that is a piece of upholstery, like a sofa.
The decision on style of rugs always stems from the areas surrounding the space itself. Often times we have multiple rugs within the same line of sight and making sure we have a cohesion of style, while not duplicating looks, is so important!
We at Oho also love, love, love layering rugs and it often gives us a lot of flexibility when sourcing vintage rugs as we don’t have to buy the biggest one we can find -- we can always layer a great basic jute or sisal under a vintage rug and it contributes to our overall goal in a space.
What is your favorite space you have ever designed?
I truly don’t know if I could name an all-time favorite but I will forever love the kitchen from our Cottagewood Classic project (photo below). It was one of the first large-scale projects that Oho ever took on and while there were a lot of really hard learning lessons in that project, the end result is impossibly classic and so representative of who we are as a firm.
Design by Oho Interiors | Photo by Ashley Sullivan | Shoot Styling by Carrie Valentine
If there is any challenge about the design industry you could change or want improved, what would it be?
Ooof, yes. I think any industry has its challenges that become especially obvious as you live and breathe within it but I think one of my biggest hangups in the design industry is the sustainability factor.
Nothing can or should stay the same forever, but we design for homes and clients with the intent that our designs have staying power for the foreseeable future. We hope that our clients will take the sofa that we painstakingly picked out fabric for and pass that sofa down to their kids or nieces and nephews and that all it needs for a new life might be a recovering of a new fabric because the foundation of the sofa is made to last a lifetime. We want our client’s homes to be filled with artifacts of their lives and their travels and have a balance of new beautiful pieces to accent those treasured pieces instead of just filling spaces because we need to.
It’s why we are so in-touch with our desire to create homes that serve our client’s day to day needs and certainly a part of why we are so passionate about high-quality upholstery and at the core of why we love sourcing antique or vintage pieces -- to create a space that truly cares for our clients and to give new life to something that still has a lot of life to give.
Design by Oho Interiors | Photo by Judith Kostroski | Shoot styling by Cate Ragan
What are your hobbies outside of design?
I want to joke and ask if we are supposed to have hobbies outside of design (I am the person who still watches design shows in my spare time) but I do have hobbies! I promise.
I love to travel to new locations. I also love tennis and gardening and have somewhat recently learned to truly love cooking, despite my many, many failures in all three of those things.
Tell us about your upcoming Haven Workshop!
Yes! I am so very excited to be a Guest Speaker at the Haven Workshop this fall in Sonoma, California!
I will be speaking on Vendor Relationships and Working with Builders and also presenting how Oho does Design Presentations along with a breakout Q&A with my fellow (incredible!) guest speakers.
I spoken to a few past attendees and guest speakers and the common phrase used between both has been “life-changing." I know there are only a few spots remaining as of right now so if you have been on the fence, I would highly encourage you to secure your spot! Investing in education for my business has been the single greatest return on investment I have made - it’s always and every time one million percent worth it.
To learn more about Oho Interiors, check out their website, Instagram, and curated shop with Perigold.
