About Michael Payne, Inc.

A Full Service Design Company Based in Los Angeles

We offer design services that embrace every aspect of your home’s interior design. We create beautiful and timeless living spaces, focusing on safe, eco-friendly, comfortable, and inviting environments that meet the client’s individual needs and style. Since a home’s exterior plays a vital role in the enjoyment of the interior, we also offer design services for the creation of a beautiful, integrated low maintenance outdoor environment. Our services can embrace complete homes, from initial design concept to completion, as well as design consultations and everything in-between. We offer design drawings, including floor plans, elevations, furniture layouts, lighting plans, finish schedules, cabinetry drawings, and custom design of furniture, cabinetry, rugs, and lighting fixtures. If you can imagine it, we can design and execute it.

About Michael

Michael Payne, the original host and interior designer of HGTV’s Designing For The Sexes, obtained a bachelor’s degree in physics and mathematics from Southampton University in England. After ten years in the computer industry, during which he was transferred from England to the United States, he pursued a career in interior design and graduated from the UCLA interior design program in 1980.

While attending UCLA Michael gained design experience working with a Los Angeles-based design firm specializing in high-end design with national and international clients. He founded Michael Payne, Inc. in 1980, offering interior design services to clients on a national and international basis. In addition to his interior design business with private clients, he has licensing arrangements with various companies to design contemporary furniture, bedroom furniture, mirrors, and sculptured wall art. He was a spokesperson for Exciting Windows and Shaw Carpet and is currently representing Lowe’s. He also taught an interior design seminar at UCLA. In October 2007 Michael was nominated for a Pinnacle Award for his Max line of children’s furniture.

Michael is a member of the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) and is a Certified Interior Designer in the State of California.

In addition to Designing For The Sexes, Michael has been on numerous network television programs and radio stations throughout the country. He has also been the featured speaker at various national home shows, design events, museums, conferences, corporate events, and charity functions. Many newspaper and magazine articles have been written about him and he authored Let’s Ask Michael in 2003.

Michael and his wife live in Los Angeles. Michael has completed seven marathons and numerous 10K races. In addition, he is an avid bicyclist and practices yoga. His interests include photography, gardening, and automobiles.

Let's Ask Michael

You Asked Him, Now He's Answering!

Let's Ask Michael Book Cover
Barnes & Nobles

Through e-mails, internet chats, and attendance at his seminars, Michael’s fans have directly asked him to solve their most difficult design dilemnas. His book delivers the answers they seek in a style that captures Michael’s trademark wit and charm. Each page is packed with beautiful full-color pictures that literally bring his answers to life. Questions range from the common to the outrageous, providing for always informative – and often amusing – reading.

Charlie & Fannie

Bedroom
Read The Page

Madeline

Marble Kitchen With Vase
Read The Page

Vaness & Ben

Green Wall Living Room
Read The Page
Copyright @ 2022 Michael Payne, Inc. All rights reserved.
Dear Michael,
My wife and I are in the process of redoing our master bedroom, and are considering opening the ceiling. What are the advantages of doing this, and should we be mindful to fill the space with different types of furniture? I’m worried opening it will create a completely different feeling in the room that will make our old furniture look out of place.

Charlie and Fannie | Wilmington, DE

Michael’s Response:

Opening up the ceiling dramatically affects the occupant’s experience in the room. Most people live in a world of ceiling heights between 8 nd 9 feet, so one’s spirits positively soar upon entering a cathedral, hotel atrium, airport terminal, or other space with lofty ceilings of 50 feet or more. In a home, ceilings of approximately 20 feet or more are becoming increasingly popular.

High ceilings in the home present new challenges. Maintaining a consistent temperature in a room with high ceilings presents a difficulty because you rish heating the ceiling rafters instead of your feet. Fans do an excellent job of keeping the air circulating, as do vents in both the ceiling and the floor.

Effectively lighting large spaces often requires utilization of nearly every form of lighting appliance. Recessed lighting can be used whether the ceiling is flat or angled, but it’s not terribly cozy, and they also create a large amount of glare. A chandelier can work beautifully, as it will cast light up onto the ceiling as well as fill the room with light, and bedside table lamps are crucial for filling the room out with light. Dedicated picture lights are typically the best means of illuminationg art. All lights in the room should be on individual dimmers.

Bedroom

The beautiful bedroom pictured at left is a fine example of scale. The soaring ceiling, amplified by the heavy, hand hewn beams creates a volume more cozy that cavernous. The tall four poster bed fits perfectly in the space, as do the towering carved display cabinet, the large leather chair, ottoman, and huge mirror. The impersonal feeling large rooms often impart can be diminished by countering size with size.

Dear Michael,

I always love rooms that have a lot of stone work in them … they look so sturdy, so stalwart, and sensible. I’m redoing my kitchen, and I don’t want to be afraid to spill some soup or drop an egg for fear of ruining the space. How do you suggest, Michael, I work a heavy stone theme into my new kitchen?

Madeline | Brentwood, CA

Michael’s Response:

You are fortunate to love a material that is both practical and beautiful, and your kitchen is the perfect place to enjoy all of its virtues. There are at least four places where stone can be used. The first is counters, which would ideally be sealed marble or granite, but could also be a sealed limestone or soapstone. The second place is the backsplash, which can either be the same as the counter’s material, or a contrasting material. Third, if you have a hood, you can consider covering it with stone, and it can pick up the colors of the splash, colors of the wall, or something completely different. Finally, the floor can be finished in any of a multitude of stone sizes and variations. Slate is particularly practical because it does not show dirt, is non-skid, and comes in a wide range of neutral colors. If you have a breakfast nook, consider something unique like a marble mosaic top.

Marble Kitchen With Vase
Dear Michael,

I just got back from a trip with my husband to South Africa and now am inspired to recreate the Serengeti. We are about to redo our home office and I would like to use this theme in the room. I want nature tones, animal prints, and everything else that will remind me of the trip.

My husband does not share my vision. He thinks animal prints are tacky and that we should redo our office in a conservative style. Can you help me with this debate?

Vaness and Ben | Aurora, IL

Michael’s Response:

There is ample room for compromise here. I can fully understand why your husband believes an office should be conservative, because nearly every office in our society adheres to a conservative ideal. I can also understand why you would want to recreate a lasting memory of your fabulous trip. As with most interior design dilemmas, you can have both.

Make the cabinetry throughout the room a richly stained wood and maximize the efficiency of the space. It can be less office-like by the use of cabinet pulls, and accessorized by native baskets for holding office supplies and waste. Animal prints can be used on the sofas, chairs, pillows and throws. If used sparingly, they will avoid appearing tacky. The walls of this room can be adorned with pictures of your trip or art reminiscent of the experience. Finally, find a beautiful animal-themed table to finish off the room. I have seen them in a variety of animal themes, such as lions, elephants, and monkeys.

Green Wall Living Room