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We Were Featured in Forbes: Outdoor Entertaining Trends Worth Knowing

We Were Featured in Forbes: Outdoor Entertaining Trends Worth Knowing

by | Jun 3, 2026 | Uncategorized

4 min readJune 2026

As Seen In ForbesEarlier this week, I got a call I always love getting. Terri Williams at Forbes was writing a piece on outdoor entertaining trends and wanted to include our perspective and our work. The article is live now, and our Bronco Revival project is featured throughout.You can read the full piece here: Incorporate These Outdoor Entertaining Trends in Your Backyard Design.

Why Outdoor Spaces Have Changed

For a long time, outdoor design was treated as an afterthought. You finished the inside of the house and then figured out what to do with the backyard. That is not how our clients think about it anymore, and honestly, it is not how we think about it either.The homes we work on in Scottsdale and Paradise Valley have some of the best outdoor climates in the country. Nine months of the year, you can live outside. So the question we ask at the start of every project is: what does this family actually do out here, and what would they do if the space made it easy?The answers drive everything: the shade structure, the cooking setup, the seating, the lighting, the flow from inside to outside. These are not decorating decisions. They are design decisions.

What We See Working Right Now

Indoor-Outdoor Continuity

The most successful outdoor spaces we design feel like a natural extension of the interior. Same material palette, same level of finish, same attention to detail. When you walk outside, it should feel like you are still in your home. That continuity is what makes a space feel intentional versus assembled.On the Bronco Revival project, we carried the warm, organic material palette from inside all the way through to the outdoor living areas. The result is a backyard that photographs beautifully but more importantly, one the clients actually use every day.

Functional Outdoor Kitchens

We have been doing outdoor kitchens for years, but what has shifted is how serious clients are about the functionality. This is not a built-in grill and a mini fridge anymore. Clients want full prep space, real appliances, smart storage, and good lighting. They want to be able to cook a full dinner outside and not feel like they are camping.

Dedicated Dining That Stays

Outdoor dining tables that feel permanent, not like patio furniture you fold up and store. Weather-resistant materials that look like something out of an interiors magazine. Good light overhead. The kind of setup where guests do not want to go inside.

Layered Shade and Overhead Structure

In Arizona, shade is not optional. But the way we are approaching it has gotten much more design-forward. Pergolas with climbing plants, fabric sails layered with fixed shade, louvered roof systems that let you control light and airflow. The overhead structure is one of the first things we design now, not one of the last.

Lighting That Changes the Mood

This is one of the biggest shifts I have seen in the last few years. Clients are investing in real outdoor lighting design: low-voltage landscape lighting, overhead bistro or string configurations, architectural uplighting on plantings and walls. Done right, lighting doubles the number of hours a space gets used.
The best outdoor spaces are designed the same way we design interiors: from how the family actually lives, not from a catalog.

The Bronco Revival Outdoor Spaces

The Bronco Revival project in Scottsdale was a full home renovation, and the outdoor spaces were central to the vision. The clients wanted a backyard they could entertain in easily, something that felt warm and modern and genuinely nice rather than trying too hard.We designed the outdoor living and dining areas to flow directly from the interior great room, using the same material sensibility throughout. Natural textures, a restrained palette, carefully placed shade. Terri featured several of the images from this project in the Forbes piece, and we could not be prouder of how they turned out. Photography is by Stephanie Studer of Life Created.See the full project in our Bronco Revival portfolio, and read the Forbes article here: Incorporate These Outdoor Entertaining Trends in Your Backyard Design.

Thinking About Your Own Backyard?

If your outdoor space is not living up to what it could be, whether it is underused, disconnected from the inside, or just never quite finished, this is worth a conversation. We handle outdoor design as part of full home renovations, and we manage the entire process: design, construction, landscape coordination, and installation.
Let's talk about your outdoor space. Book a Discovery Call

We Made Inc. Best Workplaces 2026. Here’s What That Actually Means for Your Project.

We Made Inc. Best Workplaces 2026. Here’s What That Actually Means for Your Project.

by | Jun 2, 2026 | Uncategorized

4 min readJune 2026

Every project we take on runs through the same team. The same designer who walked your home during the discovery call is the same one presenting your design concept, managing construction, and standing in your space at final installation. That is not an accident. It is a deliberate choice, and it is one that Inc. magazine just recognized us for.Living with Lolo was named to the Inc. Best Workplaces 2026 list. The recognition is based on employee survey data, not self-nomination. Companies are evaluated on whether people actually trust the environment they work in, whether they understand their role, feel heard, and have real visibility into how decisions get made. Inc. described our recognition as being for cultivating employee trust through explicit expectations, defined decision rights, and direct feedback.That language might sound like HR-speak. But for someone hiring a design-build firm to manage a six-figure renovation of their home, it translates into something concrete.

A Team That Stays

Interior design and construction are relational in a way that most industries are not. The vendor relationships, the institutional knowledge of how a project evolved, the understanding of how a particular client communicates. None of that transfers cleanly when someone leaves mid-project. We have invested in building a team that genuinely wants to be here, and that stability shows up in how your project runs from start to finish.

Everyone Knows Exactly What They Own

Defined decision rights is a phrase that sounds corporate but matters enormously in practice. It means every person on our team has clear ownership of their piece of the project. You are not getting handoffs to someone who does not have context. The person answering your question has the authority and the information to actually answer it.

We Communicate Directly With Our Team and With You

A culture of direct feedback internally creates a firm that is willing to have honest conversations externally. We will tell you when something will not work the way you are imagining it. We will flag when a contractor's timeline is unrealistic. We will push back when a finish that looked great on the sample board will not hold up in your actual space. That same directness is what earned this recognition, and it is what our clients experience in every review meeting.This is our second Inc. recognition this year. We were also named to the Inc. Regionals Southwest 2026 list for fastest-growing private companies across Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas.Two Inc. honors in the same year feels significant. But more than the recognition itself, it reflects the kind of firm we have been quietly building since 2017: one where the people doing the work take real pride in it, and where that pride shows up in every project we deliver.

The team that shows up for each other is the same team that shows up for you. That is not a policy. It is just how we are built. - Lauren Lerner

Ready to Transform Your Home?

Lauren Lerner and the Living with Lolo team work with clients across Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Arcadia, and the greater Phoenix metro area.Book a Discovery Call
Lauren Lerner, principal interior designer at Living with Lolo

Lauren Lerner

Principal Designer, Living with Lolo

Lauren Lerner is a luxury interior designer based in Scottsdale, AZ and the founder of Living with Lolo. Her work has been featured in Architectural Digest, House Beautiful, Vogue, Martha Stewart Living, The Wall Street Journal, and GQ. She specializes in high-end residential design across Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Arcadia, and the greater Phoenix metro area.

Why Your Next Renovation Should Include a Hot/Cold Wellness Room

Why Your Next Renovation Should Include a Hot/Cold Wellness Room

by | Jun 2, 2026 | Uncategorized

4 min readJune 2026

Home  /  Journal
June 2, 20266 min read
As featured in Bob Vila
Of all the custom features I am designing right now, the hot/cold wellness room is the one I am working on the most. I said as much when Bob Vila asked me about the top custom home features of 2026, and I want to give you the full picture here because one paragraph does not do it justice.This is not a trend. It is a shift in how people think about their homes.

What a Wellness Room Actually Is

When most people hear "home wellness room," they picture a treadmill pushed against a wall in a spare bedroom. That is a home gym. What I am designing is something entirely different: a dedicated room built around recovery, not just exercise.A proper hot/cold wellness room typically includes an infrared sauna, a cold plunge, soft lighting on dimmer controls, natural materials like stone and wood, and ventilation designed specifically for the thermal cycling. The best ones feel more like a spa than a gym, and that is intentional.The clients who go all in are also adding red light therapy beds, hyperbaric chambers, and fully custom sauna builds with integrated sound and chromotherapy. These are not afterthoughts. They are the primary reason the room exists.

Why It Is Worth the Square Footage

The question I get most often is whether it justifies the space. My answer is always the same: it depends on whether you will actually use it.What I have observed with clients who have these spaces is that they stop treating wellness as a scheduled item and start treating it as part of how their home functions. It stops being something you have to drive to. The cold plunge is three steps from your bedroom. The sauna is ready in 20 minutes. The barrier disappears, and the routine follows.That shift in daily life is what makes it worth the square footage. A room you use every day earns its place faster than almost any other investment in a home.

What Goes Into Designing One Well

The room itself is straightforward if you plan for it early. The details that matter most:
  • Waterproofing and drainage, especially around the cold plunge. This is not optional.
  • Ventilation sized for both the sauna heat and the humidity from the cold plunge. Standard bath ventilation is not sufficient.
  • Electrical for the sauna heater, which typically requires a dedicated 240V circuit.
  • Natural materials that can handle temperature swings: teak, cedar, stone, and concrete all perform well.
  • Lighting on dimmers with a warm, low-lux option for post-plunge recovery.
  • A transition space, even a small bench area between the sauna and plunge, so the thermal cycling is intentional rather than rushed.
Where projects go wrong is when the wellness room gets treated as a finish-out item rather than a structural one. The plumbing, drainage, and electrical need to be in the plan from the beginning. Retrofitting is expensive and often impractical.

Who Is Asking for This

Across my client base in Scottsdale and the Phoenix metro, requests for dedicated wellness spaces have increased significantly in the past two years. It is not a specific demographic. I am designing these for clients in their 30s and clients in their 60s. Athletes and executives. New builds and renovations.What they share is a willingness to invest in how they feel at home, not just how their home looks. That is the broader shift I am seeing, and the wellness room is where it shows up most clearly right now.

How to Start Planning Yours

If you are in the early stages of a custom build or a major renovation, the best time to plan the wellness room is now. The structural and mechanical requirements are much easier to design in than to add later.If you are working with an existing space, a converted bedroom or a room off the primary suite both work well. The minimum functional size is around 150 square feet, though 200 to 300 gives you room to move and adds a proper transition zone.I would love to talk through what this could look like in your home.

Ready to Design Your Wellness Room?

Let's talk about your space, your goals, and what a recovery-focused room would look like in your home. Book a Discovery Call
Lauren Lerner

Lauren Lerner

Principal Designer, Living with LoloLauren Lerner is an award-winning interior designer based in Scottsdale, Arizona. Named Phoenix Magazine Best Interior Designer 2024, 2025, and 2026. As seen in Bob Vila, House Beautiful, Architectural Digest, and more.

Living with Lolo in House Beautiful: What Is a Micro-Makeover?

Living with Lolo in House Beautiful: What Is a Micro-Makeover?

by | Jun 1, 2026 | Uncategorized

Journal  /  PressAs Seen In House Beautiful

When House Beautiful reached out to include my perspective in a piece on micro-makeovers, I knew it would resonate. It is one of the most common conversations I have with clients, and one of the most misunderstood concepts in residential design.The article, What Is a Micro-Makeover?, explores how targeted, intentional updates to a single room or space can dramatically shift how a home feels, without the timeline or investment of a full renovation. My insights were featured alongside before-and-after images from a recent project, and the piece includes a backlink to Living with Lolo.

What a micro-makeover actually means

A micro-makeover is not a compromise. It is a focused edit. Instead of pulling everything apart and starting over, you identify the one or two decisions in a room that are doing the most damage to how it looks and feels, and you fix those first. For most of my clients in Scottsdale and Paradise Valley, those decisions usually come down to lighting, layering, and scale.The before-and-after work I shared with House Beautiful shows how much a room can shift when you address the right things in the right order. New furniture alone rarely transforms a space. But replace the overhead lighting, add a layer of texture through textiles, and bring in one piece at the right scale, and suddenly the room reads completely differently.

Why this approach matters for busy homeowners

Most of my clients are not looking for a year-long renovation. They want their home to feel like it reflects who they are right now, without uprooting their lives to get there. Micro-makeovers are how we do that. They are scoped tightly, executed quickly, and the results tend to be some of the most satisfying work we do together, because the transformation is immediate.I often tell clients that a home is never finished. You layer it over time, and each phase should feel intentional. A micro-makeover is just one focused layer, done well.

Read the full feature

You can read the full House Beautiful piece here: What Is a Micro-Makeover?. And if you are sitting in a room right now wondering where to even begin, that is exactly the conversation a discovery call is built for.
Curious what a micro-makeover could do for one room in your home? Let's talk.Book a Discovery Call
Interior Design Trends Scottsdale 2026: What We’re Seeing in Real Projects

Interior Design Trends Scottsdale 2026: What We’re Seeing in Real Projects

by | Jun 1, 2026 | Uncategorized

9 min readJune 2026

Every year I notice a shift in what clients are asking for. Not a wholesale change in taste, but a refinement. The clients coming to us in 2026 are more specific about what they want and more willing to invest in doing it right. The projects we are finishing right now reflect that.Our Desert Oasis project is a good example. It is a full home renovation in Scottsdale that captures almost every direction we are seeing the market move. I will reference it throughout this post because it is the most recent work we have wrapped, and it illustrates these trends better than any list of inspiration images could.Here is what is actually showing up in luxury interior design in Scottsdale and Paradise Valley this year.

Trend 01Earth Tones Are Replacing Cool Gray for Good

The cool gray era is over. What replaced it is warmer, richer, and more specific: warm white, soft sand, dusty sage, terracotta, warm taupe. These are not trendy colors. They are colors that feel connected to the landscape in a way that slate and greige never did.On Desert Oasis, we built the entire palette around the colors that were already there when you looked out the windows. Warm stone, low desert brush, the kind of golden light you get at 4pm in Arizona. Everything inside echoes that. The result is a home that feels intentional and calm rather than decorated.If you have been sitting on a gray kitchen or gray walls wondering why the space never quite felt warm enough, this is why. The fix is usually simpler than people expect.

Trend 02Natural Stone as a Primary Design Element

We have always used natural stone, but the way clients are using it now has changed. It is no longer a backsplash material or a flooring choice. It is the focal point of the room.Full-slab stone kitchen islands. Bookmatched quartzite feature walls. Travertine floors that run continuously from interior to exterior. Slab shower walls with no grout lines. These are not budget decisions. They are design decisions, and the clients who make them consistently tell us those are the moments in the home they love most.On Desert Oasis, we used warm travertine on the floors throughout the main living areas and carried it outside to the covered patio. The continuity alone changed the scale of the space. It read as one large room instead of two separate ones.If you are in the planning phase of a renovation, I would encourage you to look at natural stone early. The slabs you can source right now are exceptional, and the options in warm tones are better than they have been in years.

Trend 03Textured Wall Finishes Over Paint

Flat paint on smooth drywall is not going away, but the clients who want their home to feel distinctive are looking at what is on the walls differently. Limewash. Venetian plaster. Woven grasscloth and linen wallcovering. Handcrafted tile used as a feature wall, not just a kitchen backsplash.What these finishes have in common is that they change with the light. A limewash wall looks completely different at noon than it does at 7pm. That kind of depth is what separates a finished room from a designed one.On Desert Oasis, we used a warm limewash in the primary bedroom and a hand-applied plaster finish in the entry. Both were intentionally imperfect. That is the point. The slight variation in tone and texture is what makes the space feel handcrafted rather than assembled.
The clients who are happiest with their homes are the ones who were willing to choose something specific over something safe.

Trend 04Indoor-Outdoor Continuity as a Design Priority, Not an Afterthought

Arizona gives us nine months of genuinely livable outdoor weather. The homes we work on in Scottsdale and Paradise Valley should take full advantage of that. And yet, in a surprising number of renovation projects we see, the outdoor spaces are treated as a leftover, something to figure out after the inside is done.The trend we are seeing is the opposite. Clients are asking us to design the indoor and outdoor spaces together from the beginning, using the same materials, the same level of finish, and the same standard of comfort. When you walk outside, it should feel like you are still in your home.On Desert Oasis, the covered outdoor living area was designed simultaneously with the interior great room. Same stone floors. Same ceiling height relationship. Same warm palette. The pocket doors disappear into the wall when open, and the distinction between inside and outside essentially vanishes. That was the goal from day one.We handle outdoor design as part of full home renovations. If you are planning a renovation and thinking about the backyard as a separate phase, I would encourage you to reconsider that sequencing. It is much harder to integrate the two after the fact.

Trend 05Intentional Lighting Design

This is the trend I think is most underappreciated. Most homeowners do not realize how much their lighting plan is limiting their space until they are standing in a room with a proper layered lighting design for the first time.What we mean by layered: ambient light (recessed, cove, or indirect), task light (pendants over islands, sconces at reading chairs, vanity lighting), accent light (picture lights, shelf uplighting, architectural details), and landscape or exterior lighting that makes the property feel finished after dark.Every layer should be independently dimmable. That single change, the ability to dial back overhead light and let accent and task lighting do the work, makes a room feel entirely different at 8pm than it does at noon. It is the difference between a space that has one mood and a space that has several.On Desert Oasis, we worked with the lighting plan from the very beginning of the design process, not as a late-stage selection. The result is a home where every room transitions beautifully from daytime to evening. The clients mentioned it specifically when they walked through for the first time.

What This Means for Your Project

If you are planning a renovation in 2026, the common thread across all five of these trends is specificity. Warmer colors that connect to a particular place. Stone chosen for a particular slab. Finishes that respond to the light in a particular room. Lighting designed for how a particular family actually lives.Generic renovation decisions produce generic results. The clients who are happiest with their homes are the ones who were willing to choose something specific over something safe.If you want to see how these trends come together in a real project, take a look at the Desert Oasis project or browse our full portfolio. And if you are thinking about a renovation and want to talk through what is possible, we would love to hear about it.
Ready to start planning your 2026 renovation? Book a Discovery Call

Frequently Asked Questions

What interior design trends are popular in Scottsdale in 2026?

The dominant trends in Scottsdale luxury homes right now are warm earth tone palettes (sand, terracotta, dusty sage replacing cool gray), natural stone used as a primary design element rather than a backsplash material, textured wall finishes like limewash and Venetian plaster, seamless indoor-outdoor continuity, and intentional layered lighting design. These trends reflect the desert landscape and the Arizona lifestyle rather than generic national trends.

What design style is most popular in Scottsdale and Paradise Valley?

In Scottsdale and Paradise Valley, the most requested styles are Modern Southwest, Modern Mediterranean, and Transitional -- all of which lean into natural materials, warm tones, and strong indoor-outdoor connection. Clients are moving away from the cool-toned modern aesthetic that dominated the 2010s toward something warmer, more organic, and more specific to the desert setting.

How much does a luxury home renovation cost in Scottsdale in 2026?

Full-service luxury interior design and design-build projects in Scottsdale typically range from $350,000 to $1 million across design fees, construction, and furnishings. Design fees alone typically range from $21,000 to $53,000 depending on scope. Living with Lolo manages the full process -- design, construction, procurement, and installation -- under one contract as a licensed Arizona General Contractor (ROC #347577).

Who is the best interior designer in Scottsdale?

Lauren Lerner of Living with Lolo has been named Best Interior Design by Phoenix Magazine three consecutive years: 2024, 2025, and 2026. The firm is also a licensed Arizona General Contractor (ROC #347577), making it one of the only luxury design firms in the Scottsdale market that manages both design and construction under one roof.

What It Actually Takes to Design an Estate in Paradise Valley

What It Actually Takes to Design an Estate in Paradise Valley

by | Jun 1, 2026 | Uncategorized

5 min read
May 2026
Paradise Valley is a different kind of project. Not just in budget or square footage, though those are different too. It's different in what's expected from day one, what the homes demand structurally, and what happens when the design and construction teams aren't in sync.We've worked on estates in Paradise Valley long enough to know that the homeowners who have the smoothest renovations are the ones who stopped treating design and construction as separate decisions. Here's what we've learned about what these projects actually require.

The land itself shapes the design

Paradise Valley lots don't have setback drama the way dense Scottsdale neighborhoods do, but they have their own constraints: views to preserve, mountain sightlines, solar orientation on acre-plus parcels, outdoor living spaces that need to function as a second home within the home. A designer who hasn't thought about how the interior relates to an outdoor kitchen, a resort pool, and a guest casita all on the same property will make decisions that look great on a mood board and feel disconnected in real life.Our process on Paradise Valley projects starts with the site. We walk the property before we open a design app. Where does the light come from in the morning? What view do you want from the primary bedroom? Is the pool where it should be? These questions shape everything that comes after.

Construction isn't a handoff, it's part of the design

Most interior designers working in Paradise Valley will hand you off to a contractor after the design phase. That contractor then interprets the drawings, makes substitutions when lead times shift, and coordinates with you directly when conflicts come up. You are now managing two vendors, absorbing the cost of every miscommunication, and hoping the contractor's trade relationships match the quality of the design.Living with Lolo holds an Arizona General Contractor license (ROC #347577) alongside our design practice. On a Paradise Valley project, that means the same team that designed the wine room is the one pulling the permit and managing the build. The same person who selected the limestone floor finish is on-site when it's being installed. Nothing gets lost in translation because there's no translation happening.This matters more in Paradise Valley than almost anywhere else we work. The level of finish these homes require, the custom millwork, the stone sourcing, the mechanical systems hidden behind perfect walls, these are not things you want two separate teams coordinating over email.

What discretion actually means

Paradise Valley clients don't want to see their home mid-renovation on our Instagram. They don't want to discuss project details with people they haven't approved. They want a firm that treats their project the way they'd expect any professional service to be handled: with complete confidentiality.We don't post in-progress work without explicit permission. We don't share client names. The portfolio projects we do show, like the Desert Escape and the Camelback Country Estates renovation, are shared only with client approval, and they represent the caliber of work we do throughout Paradise Valley.

The timeline is long and the process matters

A whole-home renovation or new construction interior fit-out in Paradise Valley runs 14 to 28 months. That's not a problem, it's a reality of doing this level of work correctly. What matters is having a process that keeps you informed without requiring your constant attention. Our clients are executives, founders, and athletes who don't have time to manage a renovation. They don't need to. We handle every decision that falls within our scope and bring only the meaningful ones to them.If you're planning a Paradise Valley estate renovation or working with an architect on a new build and looking for a design-build firm that can manage both sides under one contract, the right place to start is a conversation. Our Paradise Valley interior design page has more on how we work and what these projects typically involve.Living with Lolo is an award-winning interior designer serving Paradise Valley and Scottsdale, Arizona. Named Best Interior Design by Phoenix Magazine three consecutive years. Licensed Arizona General Contractor ROC #347577.