Rooms that feel lived in before you move in.
I'm Yilan Dong — an interior designer working only on homes. Natural materials, warm light, quiet detail. Whole-home design, renovations and furnishing, from first sketch to the day the last chair lands.
Six homes, six conversations.
Every project starts with how you actually live in the space — then the plan, the palette and the pieces follow. Click any home to step inside.
A home should be quiet — and completely yours.
I started this studio in 2017 after years of watching beautiful rooms go unused. The sofa nobody sat on. The dining table set for a life that wasn't happening. Good design isn't a look you install; it's the shape your actual days take.
So I begin with questions, not mood boards. Where does the light land at 4pm? Who reads, who cooks, who never takes their shoes off? The palette comes later — almost always plaster, oak, linen and stone, and one thing that surprises you.
The practice is residential only, and small on purpose. A handful of homes a year means I'm on site, on the phone with the fabricator, and in the room the day it comes together.
Studio founded 2017
Four ways to work together.
From a full gut renovation to a single room that never quite worked — every engagement is scoped to what your home actually needs.
Whole-Home Design
Every room, end to end. The most common way clients work with the studio.
- Concept & space planning
- Custom joinery & millwork
- Full furniture procurement
- Installation & styling day
Renovation & Build
Structural work, kitchens and baths — drawn, detailed and coordinated with your contractor.
- Construction drawings
- Finish & fixture schedules
- Contractor coordination
- Weekly site visits
Furnishing & Styling
Good bones already. This is the layer that makes a house feel like your home.
- Furniture plan & sourcing
- Textiles, rugs & lighting
- Art & object curation
- One-day install
Design Consult
A focused session for one problem — colour, a layout, or a decision you're stuck on.
- 90-minute walkthrough
- Written recommendations
- Shoppable source list
- Available remotely
Whole-home projects are scoped as a flat design fee based on rooms and complexity, with trade pricing passed through on all furnishings. Consults are billed hourly.
Five stages, no surprises.
You'll always know what's happening, what it costs, and what's next. Most whole-home projects run sixteen to thirty weeks.
Discovery
A walkthrough of your home and a long conversation about how you live in it. I measure, photograph and listen.
Concept
Floor plans, a material palette you can hold, and a direction to react to. We refine it together.
Design
Every elevation drawn, every piece specified, every price agreed before a single order is placed.
Build
Trades coordinated, deliveries tracked, site visits weekly. You get one point of contact — me.
Move In
Install day: furniture placed, beds made, books shelved. You walk in and it's simply done.
Drag to see the difference.
A north-facing front room that had been used for storage for six years. Same footprint, same windows — new plan, new light.
Gramercy Park Residence · Front room · 14 weeks, concept to install
Yilan Dong
"I'd rather you notice the light than the furniture. If a room makes you exhale when you walk in, the work is done."
My work is warm minimalism with something softer underneath — pared back, but built from materials that age well and reward touch. Plaster that catches afternoon light. Oak that darkens. Linen that creases honestly. Stone with a hand-finished edge.
I founded the studio in 2017 and have kept it residential. Homes are the hardest brief and the most rewarding one: you're not designing for a customer passing through, you're designing for the way someone will actually spend a Tuesday night.
I take on a small number of homes each year and stay personally involved in all of them — the drawings, the site visits, and the last cushion on install day.
- Focus
- Residential only — homes & renovations
- Based in
- New York — projects nationwide
- Established
- 2017
- Engagement
- Whole home, renovation, furnishing
The palette, up close.
Questions, answered.
Whole-home projects are quoted as a flat design fee based on the number of rooms and the depth of the work — most sit between $12,000 and $60,000 in design fees, with furnishings and construction billed separately at trade pricing. You'll get a fixed number in writing before anything begins.
A furnishing-only project runs eight to twelve weeks. Whole-home with renovation is typically sixteen to thirty weeks, driven mostly by lead times on custom pieces and any permitting. You'll have a dated schedule after the concept stage.
No — the studio is residential only, and has been since it opened in 2017. Homes are a specific craft, and staying inside that lane is what lets me be this involved in each one.
Yes. The studio is based in New York and takes homes nationwide — travel is built into the fee for out-of-state work, with a minimum of three on-site visits. Design consults are available fully remote.
Almost always, and I'd encourage it. The pieces with history in them are usually the ones that make a home feel like yours. Bring them to the first walkthrough and we'll design around them.
Yes — single rooms are a good fit for the Furnishing & Styling or Design Consult services. If the room is part of a bigger plan, say so early and we can phase the work rather than rushing it.
Tell me about your home.
A few details is all it takes. I reply to every inquiry personally within two business days.
Let's talk about it.
Replies within two business days
9am–6pm ET
Whole-home projects nationwide · consults remote
Two whole-home commissions remaining
