How to Thrift the Beata Heuman Look

Get the look of the A-list interior designer, but on a budget

A quick note that I am now sending out the newsletter on Sunday mornings and Wednesday mornings. On Thursdays, you’ll get a bonus — I’ll be going live on the Substack app at 8:30 AM to share my thrift finds (if you join live, you can ask questions and chime in!). A recording of the video will be published on Thursday afternoons. For now, the videos are free for all but eventually, they will be a perk for paid subscribers. So consider subscribing!

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I remember first coming across interior designer Beata Heuman’s work shortly before the pandemic sent us all to our living rooms for a long while. I was immediately enamored, and have continued to be so.

Every room she designs is somehow both cozy (incredibly British, so no surprise her firm is based in London) yet with fun touches of humor and whimsy (she was born in Sweden and the Swedes love their pops of color). Nothing feels too perfect. Rather, a Beata-designed room feels like a place in which you could actually live.

Beata Heuman, ‘Every Room Should Sing,’ (Rizzoli, 2021).

Best of all, her designs never feel too aspirational — too, “Oh I could never pull that off.” Whenever I see a room she has designed I just think, “Oh now why didn’t I think of that?”

Looking at the work of interior designers on Instagram can leave you with a bit of FOMO. After all, hiring a professional interior designer isn’t feasible for many of us. But! There are so many ways to get the look of a professionally-designed home without actually hiring a designer—and without resorting to cheap knock-offs. That’s the idea behind my series Thrift the Look, where I dive into a different design firm’s work, and offer my tips on how to get a similar aesthetic, simply by shopping vintage.

some very Beata Heuman pieces: 1990s David Hockney poster ($25 and there’s only one!) // green pendant light // pink rug // faux orchids in glass vase // quilted pillow

I’ve previously shared how to thrift the look of Pierce & Ward and Kelly Wearstler. Today, I’ve rounded up some of the stuff you should thrift (plus, the colors of paint you might choose, the rugs you might buy, etc.) if you want your space to look similar to a Beata space.

Beata Heuman, ‘Every Room Should Sing,’ (Rizzoli, 2021).