Designer Kristin Keyes Proves Buying Secondhand Is the Secret to Better Interiors

For interior designer Kristin Wiens Keyes, sustainability and a sense of community responsibility are at the heart of everything she does. She founded Kristin Keyes Interiors (KKI) with one goal in mind: to change the way Nashvillians think about designing their homes. And boy, has she done it. She doesn’t just mix a few vintage or pre-loved pieces into her spaces; she works with them almost exclusively. 

“Great interior designers have always used one-of-a-kind vintage and antique pieces in their work, but our approach is more radical: We aim to source every single item secondhand,” she explains.

For example, if a client likes a sofa from a particular retailer, Keyes and her team will hunt down a secondhand version, have it professionally cleaned, and install it in front of a priceless piece of art or custom library wall. The same goes for materials like wallpaper. “We’ll see who’s selling their leftovers and build a design around what we find,” she says.

Keyes secondhand-first interior design process makes her firm unique among many of her peers — and it’s a big reason why she earned a spot on Apartment Therapy’s New/Next Designer List for 2026. Her total commitment to sustainability is something she hopes will echo throughout the entire industry, and she’s on a mission to prove eco-conscious interiors aren’t about sacrificing style or settling for less. 

With thrifting and antiquing enjoying an all-time high right now, Keyes’ holistic approach takes sustainable design to the next level — and she’s proved it works. “I design this way because it’s spectacularly fun,” she says. “But I also design this way because it’s the right thing to do — for our clients, our community, and the planet.”

Just think about it: There’s more than enough stuff in the world already to create a beautiful home without being responsible for the carbon footprint that comes along with starting from scratch. While the cyclical nature of trends would lead many to believe otherwise, what’s shiny and new one moment will almost certainly be out of style in a few months’ time. Call it capitalism at its finest — and not only does this hurt your bank account, but it also generates an incredible amount of waste. For Keyes, using upcycled and recycled materials and furnishings has brought her an unexpected sense of freedom, allowing her to break free from the design expectations of what’s “on trend” according to the big retailers. Instead, she focuses on creating spaces that feel deeply personal without excess consumption. 

Her approach to interior design isn’t just about sustainability, though. “The idea that shopping secondhand is a trade-off is such a common misconception,” Keyes says. “I’ll die on this hill: Rooms designed around secondhand pieces look better.” For Keyes, then, shopping secondhand is an advantage — never a lesser-than solution. 

Her finished rooms speak for themselves; they’re unique, personalized, and collected. They can’t be copy-pasted into another home, and they don’t look like they’re straight off a showroom floor either. That’s the whole point. Designing secondhand first leads to spaces with soul. “Our rooms have that collected look because they are literally collected, piece by piece, from any style or era that suits the project,” Keyes says. “I don’t believe ‘timeless,’ per se, is actually possible, but I do think rooms designed secondhand-first have more staying power. They’re timeless-ish.”

When Keyes developed her secondhand-first model, she knew she needed a unique workflow, especially for sourcing materials and finishes. The traditional design plan model just doesn’t work when you’re dealing with the secondhand market. So the KKI team uses a “project plan” approach instead. Essentially, the room’s design is broken into a six-week schedule, where each week is focused on a different aspect of the room’s design. 

“We start with what our clients already have because the pieces already in someone’s home are always the lowest-waste option,” she says. Questions that come to the fore for her and her team are things like: Are there heirloom or sentimental pieces they’d like to work into the design? Is there something they bought recently that they’d love to use?

From there, Keyes’ team gets to work sourcing spectacular secondhand finds to bring the overall vision to life. Each week, the client gets to choose their favorite pieces while the KKI team does all the heavy lifting, including negotiating prices, procurement, delivery, and any repairs, refinishing, or cleaning required.

To say it’s a fine-tuned system is an understatement. Keyes and her team have perfected their signature six-week project plan approach and built out a dream network of sources: talented artists, vintage and antique dealers, and tradespeople that help make the process seamless. 

For example, her wallpaper installer can help stretch a small batch of vintage wallpaper to finish a space. The trusted team at the local lamp shop repairs their preloved lamp bases and dresses them up with fresh shades and finials. Her go-to secondhand dealers can help source the perfect item for a project. “I can’t overstate how much we need people who want to go the extra mile to find things, fix things, and make things work,” she emphasizes.

That said, Keyes notes that the majority of their sourcing is done by the KKI team on Facebook Marketplace. “We can find almost anything on there!” she says. “Facebook Marketplace is a great way to curate a set of items, share them with clients over email, and, sometimes, get crazy good deals. Marketplace sellers come from all walks of life, and we genuinely enjoy meeting them, hearing their stories, and helping them make a little money.”

When it comes to what’s next for Keyes and KKI, she’s truly just getting started. In addition to her design services, she’s busy creating online resources for those who love her signature secondhand-first approach but prefer to do it themselves at home. “We call them like-minded DIYers,” she says. “We’ve developed a digital workbook that teaches our exact studio process so people can design their spaces with pre-loved pieces — anywhere and on any budget. You can preview it on our website.”

Her firm is also focused on a new offering: bathroom renovations! They just finished their first client bath this past spring. So if you’re in Nashville (or the surrounding areas) and are looking for a secondhand-first bathroom project, be sure to give Keyes a call. 

Overall, Keyes is passionate about creating beautiful spaces in a sustainable, community-minded way — and inspiring others to do the same. She doesn’t want to gatekeep and hopes she can spread her firm’s philosophy far and wide. 

Other adopters of some version of her methods — within the industry and in the general public — is the goal. Perhaps Keyes herself sums it up best: “My greatest wish is for my work to inspire others to design their homes with preloved pieces — and to make them look cool as hell.”