Grace Mitchell Designs One-of-a-Kind Rooms for Kids
By STACY MOSER | Photography by BRIAN McWEENEY
When interior designer Grace Mitchell embarks on a home renovation, she says the first step is to embrace life’s crazy messes. She specializes in fun, unexpected, customized rooms designed to reflect the personalities of the family that lives in them.
“If you walk into a home and it’s perfectly put together, that’s just not real life,” she says. “My home is not perfectly put together all the time, that’s for sure. When I start the design process for a family, I want to see how they really live. I check to see what things are out on their table or on the floor, what things are important to them and their kids.”
Grace is the host of HGTV’s new interior design show “One of a Kind,” filmed in Central Texas. In each episode, she transforms homes by delving into a family’s history and personality. And, with four young children of her own, she acknowledges that creating special rooms for little ones is a favorite project.
“Before I come to the house, I tell the family not to clean up for me. Sometimes I’ll even ask to look in people’s refrigerators or closets! I want to know who they are and, many times, you can’t see that when you walk in the door. These days, people look at Pinterest and in magazines and they just want to copy what they see, but it’s not who they really are.”
She explains that her kids’ room designs serve a main purpose—to appeal to children’s interests and imagination. “When you walk into a child’s room when I’m done, I want the room to reflect what makes them special. I want you to think, ‘Oh, these kids are really interesting!’”
Grace points out that parents often feel they should fill a room with furniture, but what kids really want is space. “I design areas where kids have room to spread out and do things like make forts. I also want the space to inspire them creatively.”
She says she’s always loved to design. “Ever since I was a little kid, I was sewing and making things. My dad used to joke that he should’ve bought stock in Kleenex and Scotch Tape because I made things with them all the time. My Barbie dollhouse was tricked out!” she laughs. “I made little duvets out of Kleenex and even monogrammed them.”
Grace’s affinity for kids led her to become a language therapist for deaf children after college. “I would go into people’s homes and help parents learn to communicate with their children,” she says. “Then my husband, Kent, and I started having kids. That’s when I really invested my time and energy in my home. I started a website and wrote about the renovation work I was doing. Then people began asking me to help them with designs and it just evolved from there.” Now, Grace leads viewers through her process to renovate boring, outdated homes on her TV show, which premiered in March 2019.
A friend of Grace’s, Jen Woodhouse, a military spouse who lives on Fort Hood, fondly recalls times she’s spent with Grace discussing interior design projects for children. “Grace and I became instant friends when we were both chosen to participate in a 2016 Better Homes & Gardens Stylemakers event. In my business, The House of Wood, I offer online tutorials to inspire people to build furniture and tackle home-renovation projects. Plus I have children—so Grace and I have a lot in common. Since there are so many opportunities to source design materials in this area, she goes to places like Round Top and Waco all the time.”
Grace’s own home in Fort Worth was built in 1919 and has been a renovation project for years. She says she listened carefully to her children’s input when she renovated their bedroom. “I was thinking of painting their bunk beds and beadboard white,” she says. “And my kids were horrified! They said it wasn’t nearly colorful enough. So I showed them shades of blue and they picked the darker, richer color. They were totally right!” she laughs. “They out-designed me. That color really makes the room special—it looks like them.”
HGTV.com/OneOfAKind
Grace’s Tried-and-True, Kid-Friendly Design Tips
The Power of Paint: “For a long time, it was trendy to use flat paint everywhere. It’s beautiful if absolutely no one is touching your walls ever. When it comes to kids, you have to be able to wash the walls, though. Kids run their hands all over the place. I always tell people that paint needs to be Magic Eraser-approved. What did we do before Magic Erasers? But you can’t use one on a flat-paint wall. It ruins it. When it comes to sheen of paint, I choose at least eggshell and nothing less shiny than that.”
Kid Patina: “I don’t buy furniture that I’m not okay with what I call a ‘kid patina.’ Especially when it comes to upholstered furniture—I make sure it’s slipcovered with washable fabric. There’s even velvet now that you can literally clean with bleach! For example, Crypton makes so many beautiful fabrics that are perfect for kids.”
Tables: “When I was growing up, you did not touch the dining room table! But with kids, the table is likely to be banged up eventually. I like tables made from reclaimed wood or something rustic that’s already a little bit beaten up. You can ‘fancy up’ the chairs if you want a modern look, but get a table you can live with. Not many people use a formal dining room in their home any more, so the dining space is typically in or near the kitchen, where you and the kids need to be able to use it. My table is a laundry sorter, a sewing table or where I lay wallpaper out. It fills a lot of roles. Buy furniture that you’re 100 percent okay with when it develops a ‘kid patina.’”
Last-Minute Basket: “I have a large, pretty basket in each of the main rooms of my house. When I know somebody’s coming over, or I just want the room to look nice really fast, I can throw everything that doesn’t belong in the room in the basket and sort through it later. That way the room looks cleaned up and nobody will ever know it was a mess and there’d been a herd of monkeys in there five minutes ago! It’s great for my kids because they know how to help pick up easily by throwing everything in the basket.”
