Rebekah Zaveloff is an interior designer whose creative approach blends the nuanced art of storytelling with the immersive experience of hospitality design. Over the past two decades, she has built KitchenLab into a renowned design firm, which later expanded to include Imparfait Design Studio, showcasing her multifaceted design expertise.

With a rich background in fine arts from the University of California, Los Angeles and the School of the Art Institute in Chicago, Zaveloff’s design philosophy is deeply rooted in her artistic training. Her education in painting, printmaking, photography, and film cultivated a process-oriented approach that emphasizes layering and detail—a skill she masterfully translated from her collage work and set design experience into interior design.

But it is her hospitality background, gained through years of working on restaurants, that is the main influence on her residential design perspective. Zaveloff understands that great design is about creating memorable experiences, focusing on subtle elements like lighting, music, and spatial flow that transform a space from merely functional to genuinely captivating.

Alongside her husband Nick Nichols, she has built a design practice that goes beyond aesthetics, creating environments that tell stories and invite people to linger. Her work has been featured in numerous publications including Elle Décor, House Beautiful, and Forbes, cementing her reputation as an innovative designer who sees spaces as living, breathing narratives.

In this interview, Zaveloff shares insights into her unique approach to residential design, drawing parallels between hospitality, set design, and creating homes that encapsulate both boutique-hotel elegance and personal authenticity:

Hospitality influences on residential design

DNN: Let’s begin broadly. How has your past career in hospitality and set design influenced your approach to residential interiors?  

RZ: In absolutely every way possible. I never had a job working for another firm in residential design, so everything I’ve learned and bring to the table comes from these two influences.

For remodeling projects, we have maybe one or two presentation days at the stone supplier or tile showroom, or at Soho House, and then after that a lot of our meetings with clients are on site at the house.

That creates a really different vibe – everything isn’t being selected in a vacuum, it’s a collaborative effort and we’re often taking cues and inspiration from the existing home. This helps to create a more layered and collected-over-time look. On new construction projects, we approach things relatively the same way because of our long history of renovation. 

Creating an atmosphere and ambience is totally influenced by spending so much time in the restaurant business. For me, design is always about how a space feels, not just how it looks.

The lighting, the comfort of the seating, and the layout of a room being conducive to entertaining and communing with friends and family. When it comes to set design, it’s about creating a narrative and making a space feel like the characters that live there – it has to be authentic or it’s not believable.

A set is another character in a movie or tv show; it’s the backdrop of the characters’ lives and it matters that it’s done right.

DNN: Beyond aesthetics, the process of designing one’s personal residence versus designing for a corporate hospitality client has its differences – Are there any elements of the hospitality design workflow that you brought with you into your residential work?

RZ: It’s so different. What we don’t do is a standard FF&E package for all the bedrooms or public spaces like you might see in a hotel. Each space in a residential project is highly personal.

However, when you’re doing a 14,000 SQFT house with 14 bedrooms and bathrooms, you need to think about these rooms flowing and relating to one-another. We might approach this by saying that all the bedrooms will have different beds and side tables but we’ll use tile from the same manufacturer or artisan.

Each will use a different color palette or have variations on a theme. There will always be unifying elements. That unifying principle is what we take from the hospitality workflow. That all said, I didn’t actually work in hospitality design, but our lead designer, Bonnie Hopp, did. My experience comes from waiting tables :). 

Favorite furnishing vendors

DNN: What are some of your favorite vendors for furniture, fabric, lighting, art and accents that you return to over and over again? Any that do a good job of straddling both residential and hospitality design worlds? 

RZ: We consistently source fabric and wallpaper from Peter Dunham, Serena Dugan, McLaurin Piercy; hand painted terra cotta from Tabarka tile; J. Tribble for furniture style vanities; and zellige tile for bathrooms.

For lighting, we regularly turn to Urban Electric, Visual Comfort, and Hudson Valley Lighting, and for vintage rugs and new rugs: Amadi Carpets, Loloi and Jubin. We spec vintage as much as possible but for furniture we do a lot of Verellen, Lee and Rowe; Alfonso Marina and Noir for casegoods; and Made Goods for bedside tables.

 

DNN: You advocate for homes that evoke feelings and hit every sensory note. Can you elaborate on how this multi-sensory approach aligns with the boutique hotel experience? 

RZ: When you walk into a well-designed boutique hotel your senses are hit with a multi-layered ambience: the smells, the lighting, the color and texture. We try to create that experience for our clients, from making sure there is a “best seat in the house” in multiple spots so that no one feels like they’re being left out, and by making sure the side door entrance is just as special for the homeowner as the front door (which is typically used by guests). Moreover, people really underestimate the impact of dimmed lighting and good music. 

DNN:You emphasize the importance of scent and sound in setting a mood. How do you incorporate these often-overlooked elements into your residential designs? What are some other overlooked elements that are imperative for elevating the design? 

RZ: Scent is one of those things that transports us. It immediately can take you to a place of relaxation if you do it right. For scent, we’re big fans of Aroma360 diffusers.

Always having music on, especially classical or jazz, sets a mood that makes your home feel like you’re on vacation or at a nice restaurant. I’m so surprised that more people don’t listen to music all day – I couldn’t live without it.

Dimming the lights, not using overheads and relying more on sconces and table lamps is also something that people forgot to tell in their day-to-day as well, but it makes such a big difference. 

DNN:As a designer catering to residential clients, how do you navigate the balance between creating a “boutique hotel feel” and maintaining the personal, lived-in aspect of a home?

RZ: Layering fabrics, pattern, color, and using lots of artwork on the walls to help disguise the clutter of everyday life

DNN: For fellow designers looking to incorporate more boutique hotel elements into their residential projects, what would be your top three pieces of advice? 

RZ: Get out of the studio and spend time in the home once all of the key pieces are in (especially at night). Sit in every chair and sofa. Is there a table to put down a drink? What’s the lighting like? Never underestimate the power of a black lampshade for mood. 

DNN: Do you have a favorite project or one you’ve found particularly rewarding? 

RZ: Oy, that’s a hard one! So many are rewarding for different reasons. Our Bayside project was a joy to work on because we got to live in the house during install so I could really analyze every nook and cranny. 

DNN: When I ask designers to describe their dream project 9/10 times they say a boutique hotel. Having been there, done that, what is your dream project?

RZ: Ha! That’s too funny! I’m working on a few dream projects right now that I’m beyond excited about. We’re adding a guest house to our Bayside project, and we’re working on two large homes in Chicago that are like mini-hotels with 12+ bedrooms and bathrooms. We’re also working on a property in California that is like a boutique resort with multiple dwellings on the property.