In Her New Book, Mieke ten Have’s Dreamy Interiors Take Center Stage
By Jamie Marshall
Mieke ten Have and her husband, Tyler Graham (the founder of King’s Highway Cider), were on the hunt for a weekend house when they stumbled upon an 18th-century Dutch barn in Millerton. It was love at first sight for the former Brooklynites. “We bought it in foreclosure,” she says. “I didn’t know much about it but I was so captivated by it.”
It had been converted into a house in the 1980s but needed a lot of work. They spent a year renovating the property. In the process they created the kind of home you’d expect to see in a glossy shelter magazine—which is not surprising considering ten Have is one of the country’s top photo stylists. She travels the world creating swoon-worthy interiors for upscale magazines and brand campaigns.
Every room is filled with objects and textiles and collections: silks and velvets and antique quilts, books and ceramics and art, and branches that spread out exuberantly. The effect is mesmerizing and seductive, whimsical and fun. “I don’t like things to be too pretty,” she says.
Ten Have recently published her first book: Interiors Styled by Mieke ten Have, which serves as a master class in her theories of design. The first part examines her four guiding principles through a retrospective of images she’s styled. The second part examines those principles over the course of a year at her house. The project was the next logical step in her storied career. “I am a stylist and an editor and I Iike creating things and telling stories visually,” she says.
A veteran of the magazine world, ten Have worked for Elle Decor and Vogue. “Being an editor was super formative and super helpful in understanding the design landscape from both a trends and a business point of view,” she says.
It also gave her the opportunity to travel the world, covering homes in places like Greece and Mexico and California. And, yes, many were owned by celebrities. She learned the tricks of the trade, like foraging for flowers and shopping at local produce markets. In 2017, ten Have left Elle Decor after a change of leadership. She was seven months pregnant. “My husband said this is the best thing that’s going to happen for you. He was right.”
She says her flair for her work is innate. “It comes down to curiosity and a fascination with history. I think the decorative arts are a good reflection of what was happening in a place and a time.”
Among the many fabulous homes she’s styled over the years, three are particularly close to her heart. Blair House in Washington, D.C., which was recently redone by California decorator Mark Sikes; a former monastery in the South of France; and an estancia in Uruguay. “All three thread the needle of history, personality and authenticity, and being more aligned to a specific place,” she says. “Being in an interior that reflects where you are is interesting to me. A house, to be successful, needs to reflect where it is in the world.”
