Nara Smith Doesn’t Want To Be Your Sad Beige Tradwife

Nara Smith has a lot on her plate. More even than mothering four small children and feeding her 12.6 million TikTok followers videos of herself whipping up everything from chicken and waffles to bubblegum from scratch—while wearing Chanel. All day, the model and food influencer has been shooting back-to-back videos at Condé Nast in New York City to promote her new cookbook, Homemade.

As soon as the 25-year-old has a break from the action, she kicks off her heels and sits barefoot in her dressing room. She had a late night, she says, baking banana bread. Something went wrong with the loaf, so she had to scrap it and start over. Looking at her, you’d never be able to tell. On top of the fact that she’s in full hair and makeup, Smith is so naturally stunning that even the fuzzy blanket draped over her black gown looks like a chic accessory.

After Smith purposefully distanced herself from the controversial “tradwife” label that became synonymous with her self-made brand on Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy podcast this summer, there’s newfound interest in hearing what she has to say. In real life, her speaking voice sounds less polished than the one she uses to narrate the viral videos that show her cooking in couture from the comfort of her Connecticut kitchen—where the deliberately neutral background makes her over-the-top outfits pop. Instead of slow and breathy sentences, Smith rambles with ease about how she yearns for old-fashioned fixtures like dinner bells and laundry chutes. Still, there’s an undeniable warmth to them that feels smooth like butter.

There was a time she wanted a house “without any color,” Smith says, even citing Kim Kardashian’s spotless Calabasas compound as inspiration. “Give me all the creams, the whites, maybe black here and there, but I wanted it very minimal with the least amount of furniture because I get overstimulated a lot.” But after she and her model husband, Lucky Blue Smith, purchased their current home two years ago and embarked on an extensive gut renovation (more on that below), she’s changed her tune. “Surprisingly, as I’ve evolved and gotten to a point where I can actually design my own house, I’ve found myself going in the exact opposite direction with all the color. Obviously, I want it to be cohesive in colors that I actually enjoy,” she says. But she’s not afraid of a little whimsy. (In fact, she has a two-year-old daughter named Whimsy Lou.)

Along with 80 original recipes, fans can expect glimpses of the house within the pages of Homemade. Naturally, we were craving more details about Smith’s aesthetic taste. Below, she shares a sample of her current design philosophy.

How would you describe your interior design aesthetic at this current moment in time?

Nara Smith: I like that you said in this current moment in time because it’s ever evolving. Right now I describe it as “English-cottage-grandma-chic-lived-in.” To me that means wallpapers and textures and colors and different shapes and dimensions and heights. Old and new pieces. I want to feel like I’ve lived in my house for years and it’s not just something I threw together on a random day.

For many parents today, there’s so much debate around color. The spectrum goes from kindercore to "sad beige mom". Where are you in your journey with decorating a house for kids?

I want to have fun with it, and I also want to create a house that they’ll remember when they grow up. A huge part of that for me is creating magic in everyday things. Having fun patterns, finding a nook that we can turn into something magical, using colors that they’ll remember, or different textures of rugs. Anything that makes it feel lived-in and has those little moments of whimsy. That’s really important to me, for them, but also for myself and for remembering back to this time of their life and mine.

In your videos, you speak with so much fondness about your grandmother. What is one of your earliest design memories in her house?

I just remember the wall-to-wall plush green velvet carpet that she had in her house everywhere. And then also the oil painting of herself hanging over her piano. I’m gonna take a picture of our family and have someone paint it in oil and hang it in my house. I think that’s so special and fun.

You’ve been renovating your house. Is it almost done?

I bought the house around two years ago, and we thought we were gonna just tweak it, not fully renovate. We thought it would take a few weeks and we’d be in by Christmas because we bought it in November. Once we started messing with the house, it was one thing after the next, and before we knew it, 10 months had passed and it ended up being a full reno. It turned out perfect, we moved in September, but then that December we had water damage so our whole kitchen needed to be gutted and redone.

It was a blessing in disguise because I’m the most indecisive person, and when I saw the counter stone that we picked for our kitchen installed, I despised it. So then we had a reason to change it. We picked a new counter stone that I feel so happy about and designed it in the way that I wanted to. When I first bought the house, I was working with interior designers that were not honoring my choices and were pushing me in directions that I didn’t want to go. When we had that second go at the kitchen I was really glad.

What’s the vibe of the kitchen now?

It’s very minimal, but still homey and warm. I wanted it to be more minimal because that’s the space that I ground myself in, but also work a lot in. I wanted to be able to have my outfits speak for themselves and not get distracted by a very busy kitchen in the back.

That makes so much sense because it’s your stage essentially, but also needs to be functional. What are some of the features that you’re most excited about in the kitchen? Are there any special hidden details?

I have a lot of trash opportunities in the kitchen. There’s a trash can in the island. There’s a double trash can by the sink. Oh, I keep forgetting we have two kitchens, so we have a pebble ice machine—game changer. We have a boiling water spigot so I technically don’t have to boil my water. I’m so grateful for that; I’m really blessed that we were able to do that in the house. A massive fridge because I cook a lot. Again, game changer once you have it.

Do you have any kitchen design icks? For example, NeNe Leakes hates to see a white refrigerator….

I want to start off by saying that kitchens and houses in general are so individual, so whatever I might like someone else might not and vice versa. To me, from a practical standpoint, a tiled counter is a nightmare when it comes to kneading bread, baking bread, cooking, doing anything on that surface because it gets in all the lines in the grout. Also, not having a garbage disposal—that freaks me out. We previously lived in a bunch of rentals, especially when we lived in California, and we didn’t have a disposal. It truly felt like a reward when we got one.

What are your thoughts on fridgescaping?

You know what? Slay. I think that’s cool. I do it sometimes when I have time on the weekends. I’m like, Let me reorganize my fridge and display all my fruits and vegetables and all the things. So sometimes my fridge will look like that. Definitely not always, but then it can get a little crazy when we start putting random things in the fridge…. The framed pictures and flowers, I think there are better places we can put those things.

What about magnets and other decor on the refrigerator?

Growing up, my fridge had a bunch of magnets on it. Now our fridge is not magnetic because we put a panel over it. So if I could, I would.

Butter yellow?

Color of the next 10 years. I freaking love butter. Well, I take that back because it might be different in a week. But color of the year. I love butter yellow. It’s funny that you say that because I want to paint my front door butter yellow. It truly is the most me. It’s a happy color. It’s very warm. It’s so comforting and calming, but it doesn’t do too much. Butter yellow and eggshell blue are so good.

Skirted sinks?

Very cool, very cute, very charming, very girly.

Double island?

I would personally pass on that.

Dark wood cabinetry?

I’ve actually found myself drawn to it if it’s done right. I think with the right counter stone, accessories, and layout it can be very chic and timeless. If it’s done right. But it can also look outdated very quickly.

Table lamps, rugs, books, and artwork in the kitchen in general?

I think it’s kind of cool. It transforms it from a workplace into an area that you like spending time in. I would love a rug under my kitchen table, but it’s not the best choice for me personally. If I could, I would.

Unfortunately, I love having cookbooks in the kitchen.

I keep my cookbooks on my coffee table. I had that in mind when I did the cover [for Homemade]. I think it’s chic, reading cookbooks. I also love a good cookbook stand.

What would your kitchen motto be?

Give yourself grace.

What are three kitchen tools or appliances that you can’t live without?

My KitchenAid and all the attachments. I love my dinner bell and probably my ice maker.

What are your kitchen pantry essentials?

Flour, sugar, yeast. I love a canned bean. Also, totally underrated: canned pineapple. Phenomenal. I prefer that over a fresh pineapple, hot take.

What details are a dead giveaway that someone’s kitchen was designed for aesthetics over functionality?

That is really interesting. My first thought would be marble, but I did play with that idea too, so who am I to judge? A very porous stone—you know no one’s gonna cook in that kitchen if it’s really expensive. A clean stove. You know when you clean your stove, but you can still tell it’s been used? When everything looks too precise and there’s no marks.… Oh, I went to this house once, fake fruit in a bowl!

So you’re anti fake fruit?

The plastic fruit in a bowl? Yeah.

I feel like it would be better to have an empty bowl than a bowl of fake food….

Yeah, that was a dead giveaway. You don’t use the kitchen, do you?

Lastly, what’s one valuable piece of advice for being a good host?

Meet people where they’re at, and don’t stress the small stuff.