Simone Harouche, Kim Kardashian’s stylist, it was a sort of mid-life crisis, when she turned her back to her steady job and entered the realm of interior design. We all know that fashion and interior design walk hand in hand. In fact, as we know, most fashion powerhouses have their own home collection. With absolutely no formal training, Simone took her home her guinea pig and just let her creativity flow. “I’m having a mid-life crisis of sorts, but I haven’t reached my mid-life point,” laughed Simone. Well, one thing’s for certain: who needs training when you can pull off designs this good?
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Christina Aguilera, Miley Cyrus, and Nicole Richie, among others, have showcased Simone’s fashion work, but many would recognize her first as the stylist who was with Kim Kardashian in Paris the night of that horrific robbery. “After getting off the plane after what happened, all I wanted to do was just come to my house,” remembers Simone. “It always just felt comforting. I never felt weird after that about the security or anything … Just because my house, you know, it’s your safe place.”
The 1920’s Spanish-style home in question is certainly calming and comfortable (and beautiful, to boot). It was Simone’s first solo design project, and she’s since started to take on clients, many who were inspired after visiting her home. In the living room, Simone painted the original Sausalito tiles with white epoxy to keep the colours airy and soft in contrast to the eggplant velvet couch. Custom shelves holding Simone’s reference books also match the wood of the beams above for a neutral effect.
“The joke is like everyone who walks in [that room asks], ‘Are you OK? This is insane,’” says Simone. Insane because who puts a tree swing in a home, and insane because who puts a tree swing beside a glass coffee table when they have two adorable, wee little babies?
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Visitors come around though once they sit on it. “They are like, ‘I really like this. This is really relaxing,’” says Simone. After all, “it’s still an adults house, too.” When designing, Simone believes in honouring a building’s original architecture. Typical to Spanish-style houses, her home is made up of quirky, smaller rooms — such as a tiny bathroom under the stairs, a breakfast nook and a butler’s pantry.
The young interior designer may be learning as she goes, but a lack of formal training opens her up to new ways of thinking, and her work as a stylist informs her design sensibilities. She builds rooms around statement pieces like she would craft an outfit around a statement dress or shoe “so that everything works together in a fluid way.”
Simone worked with interior designer Courtney Applebaum on her last home — “I guess I wasn’t feeling quite confident yet.” — which was more punchy. Think a black library with gold wallpaper. Instead, a sense of lived-in casualness pervades this current home, from her son’s art on the wall to the towering plants tucked into corners. Simone wants guests to feel instantly at ease, but that casualness is not to be confused with a lack of effort or care.
Much of the home’s pieces are also vintage, like the reclaimed tile from Italy in the bathroom and the Philip Arctander “Clam Chair” in the living room. Others are custom-made, including the master bedroom’s nightstands and headboard, a slab of wood Simone bought online from Northern California. It’s one of the great organic and raw moments in the home.
