Is Going Oversize the Key to a Cozy Room? DISC Interiors Says Yes
Words by Morgan Goldberg
Photo by Sam Frost; Design by DISC Interiors
For Krista Schrock and David John Dick, creating a sense of coziness is key to a successful home.
The interior design duo behind Los Angeles-based firm DISC Interiors, prioritizes warmth throughout their work with layers of feel-good textures and earthy color palettes of deep reds, rusty oranges, and creams. When they’re renovating historic Spanish-style houses, they take special care to maintain the inviting original character. And for new builds, they incorporate architectural details and vintage decor to mimic the soul of an old home.
“Krista and I really love homes that are cozy and super warm,” David says. “We love pushing design forward, but we always come back to the question, ‘Is this a room that we want to hang out in? Is it great for a family?’ We're always thinking about function, as well as style, and mixing different time periods together.”
With the launch of their Showroom edit, Krista and David have shared the design secrets that help them achieve this cozy aesthetic, from their go-to brands and the items they always buy vintage to the finishing touches that bring a whole space together.
How we curated our Showroom edit
David: We looked for timeless pieces that spoke to our design philosophy. We always use natural color palettes. I wouldn't say we're a bright and colorful firm. We tend to lean more towards earth tones, browns, and beautiful sage greens. We were really thinking about what items our clients would gravitate towards and what would we be excited to show them.
Photo by Sam Frost; Design by DISC Interiors featuring an Agnes Nightstand
The brands we’re loving right now
David: Over the years, we’ve been creating furniture for our projects. We started to sell them on Instagram and we saw that there was a big demand—people were really excited about our pieces. We started with nightstands and expanded into larger case goods, like dressers and ottomans, with plans to do more furniture. We sell to designers all over the U.S. and that's really grown into a big part of what our firm does, and we're really excited to expand on that.
Schumacher does beautiful wallpaper. Armadillo is an Australian-based rug company we love to work with. They make really beautiful, textured, and durable rugs in earth tones. We've been friends with Glenn and Grant of Lawson-Fenning for a long time. They're an iconic LA brand—and we just designed a capsule collection for them. We continually shop their own furniture line, too. We met Fern when we were shopping in upstate New York, and we really loved their woodworking,materials, and craft. So we were excited to highlight them.
What makes a room feel cozy
Krista: Layering really great fabrics and textures that feel good when you touch them makes a room feel cozy. Properly-scaled furniture that is a little bit oversized makes a room feel more inviting. It becomes a place where you want to let yourself go and just relax and enjoy yourself.
Photo courtesy of DISC Interiors featuring an Agra Rug
The piece that always anchors a space
Krista: One thing that really makes a room feel anchored is a very nicely-sized rug. A lot of times, people misconstrue rug sizing. Something a little bit larger scale, that all or most of the furniture can sit on, really helps to actually make a space feel bigger. It feels properly-sized for the room. To me, that's a very grounding item.
Our favorite colors to use
Krista: We've been using a lot of eggplant, wine-y, Merlot, oxblood, and terracotta red colors. We've been going in this direction of a lot more warm tones. Browns for sure, definitely creams, but those red colors keep continually popping up in our projects. Gray has been such a popular color for so long and we just want to do the opposite of that. It goes back to that feeling of coziness. All of those colors evoke a feeling of warmth that those gray, cooler colors just don't.
We also use lots of green tones because we live in LA and we've got these incredible surroundings. We pull from nature. It’s that indoor-outdoor living. Muted shades of green really lends itself to that—nothing really super bright or shocking. We try to create spaces that have a very serene feeling, and I think these colors evoke a calmness a lot of our clients are looking for in their houses these days.
Photo by Sam Frost; Design by DISC Interiors
How we mix colors and textures
David: One thing our clients always say is, ‘We love your homes. They don't look very decorated.’ Krista and I don't love rooms that feel overdone. The same goes with color and textures. We make sure that everything flows together naturally and doesn’t compete—that one room's color doesn’t fight with another room's color. We think of that balance and how those elements all work together.
What we always buy vintage
Krista: Lounge chairs and rugs are big ticket vintage items that we use time and time again, especially when clients want a soulful, layered, calm feeling. Vintage lighting is so unique and a lot of manufacturers don't make those styles, so we try to bring in as many vintage lights as possible. Little accent pieces, like side tables or small chests, are perfect for entryways or special areas where your eye lands.
Photo courtesy of DISC Interiors featuring a Jin Nightstand
What we always buy new
Krista: We always do new sofas and sectionals. We don't really use vintage sofas ever, just because of the larger scale of LA homes. They don't allow for smaller vintage seating. We make a lot of custom beds for our clients. And a lot of people don't love vintage dressers or desks because the mechanisms don't work or the drawers don't slide properly.
A no-fail element that every space needs
David: I would say lamps. I just want to have soft, warm light.
The finishing touch that always elevates a room
Krista: Once a client moves in, we bring in little accessories like vintage hooks, great textiles, pillows. Art really can finish the space, too, and really make a room complete. We encourage clients to buy a lot of books, especially if they have a lot of bookcases. They help a home feel lived-in and they're great conversation pieces.
My go-to recommendations that clients love
Krista: We definitely recommend our book, Portraits of Home_, _which came out two years ago with Rizzoli. That was super exciting for us and featured projects that we had designed. We have to have a copy in every home.
Photo courtesy of DISC Interiors
Shop DISC Interiors' Showroom edit or book a consultation to get personalized advice for your space.