What makes a home feel just as right years from now as it did when you first designed it? For interior designer Brian Gluckstein, it comes down to three guiding principles: prioritize comfort, stay true to your personal style, and embrace a thoughtful mix. These ideas shape Brian’s own approach to design and can help you create a home you’ll love for years—one that feels timeless, personal, and genuinely enjoyable to live in.

1. Make comfort the starting point

For Brian, comfort is always the starting point of a well-designed home. It sets the tone for how you spend time in each room and how naturally you move through the space. Think about the pieces you rely on most—a supportive chair where you read, a sofa that encourages you to unwind, or a dining chair you can sit in for hours without noticing the time.

Lighting plays a big role here, too. Instead of depending on a single overhead fixture, Brian recommends introducing softer layers of light. A table lamp near the sofa, a floor lamp that fills a darker corner, or sconces that cast a gentle evening glow can immediately shift the atmosphere. These small adjustments help create rooms where you instinctively want to settle in.

2. Reflect your own style

Brian believes a home feels most timeless when it reflects the person living in it. Trends can be tempting, but your personal style is a much more reliable guide. One place he often recommends looking for inspiration is your wardrobe. If you gravitate toward colour, consider where richer tones or playful accents could energize a room. If you prefer a calm, neutral palette, lean into that serenity with subtle layers of texture and tone.

Pay attention to what you reach for again and again—a material you love, a piece of art with meaning, or a fabric that makes a room feel grounded. These consistent preferences say far more about your style than any trend cycle. Ultimately, a home that mirrors your tastes will stay relevant far longer than one shaped by outside pressure.

3. Embrace a mix for a more collected look

One of Brian’s most consistent design principles is to avoid making every element match. Spaces feel richer and more layered when they bring together pieces from different eras, styles, and materials. Try pairing a streamlined sofa with a classic accent chair, hanging a contemporary light fixture above a traditional table, or balancing natural textures with smooth, modern lines.

This mix introduces contrast, which naturally adds interest. It also gives your home room to evolve. As you discover new pieces over time, they’ll fit more easily into a space already built on variety rather than uniformity. The result is a home that feels lived-in, thoughtful, and uniquely yours.

For Brian, designing a home you’ll love for years isn’t about following a particular look. It’s about creating rooms that feel comfortable, reflect your personality, and have enough variety to evolve over time. When these three principles guide your decisions, your home is far more likely to feel right—both now and years from now.

Photography by Stacey Brandford