Photography by Shelby Tauber  

Interior designer Noel Pittman believes no two rooms should feel the same.

Last year, she launched a popup in Inwood Village, followed by her first permanent shop near Lovers Lane a few months later. 

Situated inside a cottage just steps away from her home, the globally-inspired shop doubles as her office, design workspace and collection.

“It’s helped me when designing because I need to see it all out physically,” Pittman says. “It’s been one of the best things that’s happened.”

After studying interior architecture at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, she lived in New York before moving to Los Angeles, where she started working on ground-up residential projects. But Pittman was drawn to Texas with a second project, a ranch where the client’s ecstatic reaction to the final look was filmed by her mother.

“People in the South and in Texas tend to like their houses more decorated and they host more,” Pittman says. “The culture of design is a little bit different than other places in the country.”

She brought her coastal style with a Lone Star twist, incorporating leather textures, western decor and rustic patterns.

“A lot of people really loved my house in LA and the California look, and there’s no reason that can’t be incorporated here,” she says.

Pittman’s historic home in Hancock Park gained acclaim in the design industry for its mix of textiles, custom fabrics and vibrant colors. In 2022, Verdana and Southern Living featured her 1920s California home and her work on a Dallas home was mentioned in Architectural Digest.

To capture her unique style, she sources her pieces from traveling all over Europe. Her deep love for Spain, Portugal, France, Italy and Morocco is obvious. She gravitates towards Moorish and Spanish Colonial influences. She recently went to Paris and found items at a flea market that she’s shipping back. In Italy, she picked up ceramics she brought back right before the pop-up. She frequently imports Moroccan ceramics. She finds antiques from places like Spanish lebrillos, scouting auctions and estate sales.

“I’d like to see people embracing antiques and traditional elements and knowing that it doesn’t have to be fussy or old-fashioned looking,” she says. “I do think that there’s a return to that.”

Layering textures, colors and prints is a common theme in Pittman’s designs, blending Texas vernacular with a California treatment.

“I just slowly start to layer in all these elements that make a place feel really like it’s what feels good when you walk in because it’s layered enough and there’s enough interest,” Pittman says. 

When Pittman works with clients, she runs through atypical questions in order for the house to feel like home. A main priority when collaborating with clients is to stay true to their personality and capture their interests.  

“The client’s personality enhances a project because it brings in a different level of feedback and it can make it something even richer if you’re just doing it on your own in a vacuum,” she says. “I always love to get to know the people and try to make the house speak to them.”

In 2022, she was one of a few select designers to design a room at Kips Bay Decorator Show House, an annual challenge that brings interior designers from all over the nation, tasked to makeover one room. The application process asks all designers to curate previous designs and a short description of themselves. 

“I figured it was such a long shot, but why not?” Pittman says. 

Pittman transformed a usual utility room with her signature style. 

“I realized if I really want to showcase myself as a designer, I am just going to do what I would want in my own house and like what I would actually want to live with and actually enjoy and what I think really represents me,” Pittman says about the challenge. “If you’re a designer, even a utility space, you’re like there’s an opportunity it can be a room.”

So far this year, Pittman has several projects lined up, including a cabin in Colorado and houses in Dallas, giving them a Spanish Colonial touch.

“I’ve made friends in the industry,” she says about Dallas. “While it’s been challenging overall, it’s also been cool because it’s really broadened my horizons.”