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The owner of EJ Interiors is Emily Johnston Larkin who earned her degree at the University of Oklahoma. Working with residential and commercial interiors, Emily’s designs provide a fresh look with bold patterns and energetic color palettes. Emily is also the Founder and Executive Editor of Material Girls, a blog featuring design inspiration from coast to coast, which was recently named one of House Beautiful magazine’s “sites we love.”
Biography
Born and raised in Dallas, this style guru grew up with an equally savvy mother whose affinity for decorating—and then redecorating—the family home resonated with her creative daughter. “My biggest design influence—hands down—is my mom,” she says. “I always hear her voice echoing in my head, saying, ‘a room is never finished’ and ‘buy what you love.’” With Mom’s ringing endorsement, Emily headed off to the University of Oklahoma to study interior design in the College of Architecture. After graduation, Emily worked for a few design firms, but she soon realized that sitting in a cubicle just wasn’t for her. With encouragement from her soon-to-be-husband, she walked away from her boxy confines and launched EJ Interiors in spring 2007. The kudos started rolling in immediately, as clients sang the praises of this color-loving designer, who describes her style as “classic modern with a unique twist.”
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Emily loves mixing clean-lined, modern pieces of furniture with antiques and vintage finds to create an interesting juxtaposition of styles. The rooms are always polished and pulled together, but she can’t resist throwing in unique “wow” elements that are great conversation starters. Case in point: the bland TV-room-turned-swanky-lounge she recently completed for a young couple. She replaced the dated carpet with glossy black-and-white tile in a checkerboard pattern and installed a banquette covered in malachite printed fabric with pink velvet bolsters. The pièce de résistance? A metallic cowhide rug—after all, it was Texas!
Truth be told, she enjoys every aspect of her chosen field—though one part holds a special satisfaction. “My favorite part of the business is the ‘room reveal’ at the end of an installation,” says Emily. “I love watching the reaction on the clients’ faces when they see their new room for the first time. That moment is the whole reason we do what we do!”
Material Girls Blog
Is a one-of-a-kind interior design blog that features tips and advice from real designers on the latest trends and fashions for the home, topped with a sprinkle of pop culture.
Written by self-described “material girls” – each passionate for fabrics, prints, and any kind of design materials – Material Girls is the corner of the web where we chat about all things interior design, including recommendations on where to shop, and tips on finding the best deals in your city. Every day, the girls blog about what’s in and what’s out; what’s hot and what’s not. All of this we do to help you design perfect spaces in your home.
Material Girls serves up local design info in five major cities: Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles and New York. We hope that you’ll join so many others in making Material Girls your frequent resource for design inspiration.
A self-professed “magazine junkie,” Emily is constantly perusing design publications, tearing out ideas she likes and filing them away in binders organized by room. She loves to travel and stays in different designer or boutique hotels each time to experience the interiors of other cities, countries, and cultures. And as if designing and traveling isn’t enough to keep her busy, she also contributes to a blog with the catchy name Material Girls, which she produces with designers in five major cities, counting her own Big D.
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