Welcome Home: Local Living: Episode 3: Layer by Layer

From the bones of a room to its finishing touches, interior designer Kate Miles believes unique layers are what make a space feel like home.

Audio Interview and Story by Josh Walker | Photograph by Ruta Smith

Kate Miles remembers a lot about her childhood home in New Jersey, but somehow it’s the little unexpected things, when they all come together, that leave the most lasting impression: the lower ceilings and divided rooms of the small Colonial, the little closet tucked off her bedroom and, especially, the Persian rugs her father loved.

“My dad was half Iranian, and so he had a love of Persian carpets,” she recalled. “I always remember it feeling very warm.”

There were floral upholstered pieces (it was the 1990s, after all) and a handful of other quirks that come with a well-lived-in home. More than any individual detail, though, she remembers how it all felt. It was cozy, she said with a smile, and all those idiosyncrasies and uniquely collected layers made it feel like home.

Years later, that feeling is something she looks for in her professional work. Today, known throughout Charleston under her brand, Kate Miles Design, she approaches a room by starting with its “bones.” Before the stunning furniture, textures, patterns, pillows, artwork, and accessories you’ll now find in her Old Village Mount Pleasant shop, she considers the walls, windows, ceilings, lighting, paint, millwork, and unique details that establish how a space functions and feels.

“A lot of times, we start from the outside in,” she said. “Those are the kinds of things that I instantly look for.”

Miles’ father had a passion for renovating houses and also a particular eye for molding and woodwork. As she got older, she watched her parents work on their Kiawah Island house with Charleston interior designer Tammy Connor and builder David Moffly. Miles, who had initially envisioned a career in fashion and even interned with Nicole Miller in New York, found herself increasingly drawn to the building and design process.

“New York City is wonderful, but I just felt like it wasn’t really for me,” she said. “Design and fashion, I think, correlate a lot. When I saw my parents going through the process, I just really loved it.”

She loved watching spaces take shape and considering their unique purposes in someone’s life, and there’s a certain symmetry to where that path eventually led. Moffly, who became a family friend, helped Miles renovate the historic Pitt Street building in the Old Village that now houses her shop. She also spent a month interning with Connor after graduating from college, beginning a mentorship that has continued through the years.

Before the shop, Kate Miles Design began in 2017, sparked by a neighbor’s request for help choosing paint colors and updating lighting and hardware in their kitchen.

“I was like, ‘Great! This is my opportunity to be creative again,’” she recalled, having taken some time away from work after her son was born. What began with a few clients and a home office eventually grew into the business she has today, and the storefront has given her something particularly useful as a designer: a place filled with the finishing touches that provide the final polish that makes a house feel like a home.

She and her team can help clients see, feel, and experience how certain pieces tie a space together, rather than asking them to imagine it. “People can’t always see that,” Miles said. “It’s nice to be able to take that stuff over there, show them, and then they’re like, ‘Oh wow, the room feels complete.’”

There are principles behind good design, of course, but there is also that elusive quality that makes a collection of individually beautiful things feel right together. For Miles, it’s not a single ingredient. “I think all the layers, to me, are what make it kind of stand out and all kind of flow together,” she said.

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Welcome Home: Local Living is a Charleston Home + Design series that explores what makes a house feel like home through conversations with the people who shape the way we live. Each installment goes beyond products and projects to uncover the experiences, ideas, and personal connections that influence how we design, furnish, and experience our homes. For more information or to participate in the series, contact josh@newhomecharleston.com.