Inside Emma Chamberlain's Updated Home: Letting a House Grow With You
VOGUE JAPAN
Emma Chamberlain returns to the house she previously showed on camera and walks through what has changed. Her central idea is that a home can't be finished on move-in day. You learn what it needs by living in it. Over several years, she says, she has been "slowly but surely filling in the blanks," and the tour is a record of those additions: flea-market and vintage finds, pieces she designed with West Elm, family art, and a few objects she admits she doesn't really use.
Filling in the Blanks Over Time
Chamberlain's first example is a small one: a sponge holder in the kitchen. She says she had no idea she needed it when she moved in, but she eventually grew tired of how that spot looked without it. For her, this is how a home comes together. You don't know at first what you need or where things should go, and that becomes clear as you spend time in the space.
Many of the pieces collected since then are flea-market or vintage-store finds, and she calls the process "kind of a journey." Some are practical as well as decorative. A jar that looks like it's there for show is actually her "sweet treat jar," full of snacks.
Eclecticism With a Through Line
Chamberlain describes her taste as eclectic. She mixes pieces from the '60s, '70s, '80s, and '90s, and jokingly adds "medieval times." She says that once she leaned into that mix, it "magically had a cohesion because the through line was me." What ties the house together, in her view, is her own recurring interests rather than a single period or style.
Several of those interests come up again and again. Birds are her favorite category of animal. Granny Smith apples appear everywhere, both as a motif and as actual fruit. She insists the apples aren't there just because they look cute: she eats them, and she estimates there are about 200 in her kitchen at the moment. Apple-themed objects include a small cart, an apple-shaped cup she pictures using to pour lemonade on a summer day, an apple-scented item, and later a basket in the bedroom that turns out to be another apple.
She also frames the house as a balance between playfulness and some elegance, and says that balance reflects her personality: she enjoys playfulness but also "maybe a little bit of elegance."
The Entryway
Chamberlain says the entryway has changed a lot, and although it may seem like a minor thing, she considers its flow very important. When you walk in, you should be able to drop your keys and glasses right away and have that spot still look good. Her glasses go on a pigeon-shaped holder.
A new shoe bench has been added as a place to sit and put shoes on. She laughs as she admits that its drawer is currently empty.
Designing Pieces With West Elm
The bench belongs to a collection Chamberlain made with West Elm, and she calls seeing her own designs in her house "kind of a magical moment." She describes how the work was divided: she brought "cute little ideas," and West Elm handled the actual design. By her account, the company said yes to about 90% of her requests and told her the remaining 10% were physically impossible.
One throw pillow from the collection is printed with images that match several of her tattoos. These include an apple, a lighthouse, a bird, and a small cottage that she says is the house she grew up in. She hopes the symbols, which are personal to her, will mean something to other people too.
A Room Full of Buttons
Buttons are another obsession, and she has one tattooed on her arm. The living room holds a button candle (she jokes that it "smells exactly like buttons"), a button pillow she calls her favorite pillow ever, a button tray, and button coasters. She acknowledges that the room is "particularly buttony" and promises the motif thins out elsewhere in the house.
The Game Table and a Return to Hosting
The addition Chamberlain is most excited about is a game table in the living room. She admits that while designing the room she expected it to look gorgeous but go unused. She now describes it as a space for gathering and socializing, and it has no TV. She says she would never have thought of putting a table in a living room. The idea came from her mother, who saw the table in the West Elm collection and said it belonged in the living room as a game table.
Nearby is a piece she loves but had no place to use as intended, so she turned it into a "game dresser" for storing games. She says she went through a hosting phase a few years ago and then drifted away from it, and she announces that she will be hosting game night in 2026. Above it hangs a painting she recently received that she calls something of a family heirloom. It shows men playing games, which she says fit the room well.
The Gallery Wall
After years of work, Chamberlain says her gallery wall is done, then corrects herself: there are still gaps, but she now considers it a complete collection. One piece has been there since the start and will probably stay forever. Her father, whom she describes as an artist, made it for that wall.
She also hung a self-portrait she painted herself. She is blunt about it: it isn't good, but she finds something funny about it, and she needed something for that spot. Otherwise, she says, she wouldn't have hung it.
The Den: A New Couch and a Former Drum Set
In the next room, where her cats are playing (and hissing), Chamberlain points out a new couch. During the previous tour, she explains, the couch there was a rental because she didn't have this one yet. She calls it "the couch I was always meant to have" and says it's a relief for viewers to finally see "the truth." She uses the room for movie nights and video games, and it holds small objects she says she simply had to buy when she saw them.
The room used to have a drum set right in the middle, "as though I'm a full-time musician." She says she isn't, and that she is "actually awful" at drums, though she enjoys playing. A few guitars remain because, as she puts it, one day the music will flow out of her, and she just doesn't know when.
Half Office, Half Hangout
Chamberlain has turned part of the space into a half-office, half-hangout area. She works from home and liked the idea of another cozy place to sit with her laptop. Her other desk is in her podcast recording studio, which she calls boring and skips entirely.
She uses the new desk for many things. She says she has been journaling daily, sometimes paints watercolors, and makes things from clay, such as a small glasses holder. She notes that she paints a lot of self-portraits, calls this a "huge red flag" about her personality, and says the proportions are always off. She says she finds it odd how much of her art is of herself, doesn't know why she does it, and jokes that she'll report back if she ever raises it with a therapist.
The Bedroom: A Mossy Garden, More or Less
In the bedroom, she shows a new ottoman at the foot of the bed. She wanted something soft there, and she especially likes a small side pocket that can hold a book or the TV remote. She says she loves little details like that. Its mossy green color matches the mood she is aiming for in the bedroom, which she describes as a soft, mossy garden. She immediately admits that the room doesn't really look like one and has pops of red, but says it still feels outdoorsy to her.
A Vanity for Enjoying Skincare
Another new addition is a vanity she describes as the one she wished she'd had as a kid. It is separate from her main makeup vanity. This one is for slowing down and enjoying her skincare routine: putting on a headband, opening the small drawers, taking out her products, and putting the day's earrings in a little tray. She calls it an "energy" as much as a function.
A nearby corner used to hold a small tree and, for a while, a little table. She describes it as having been more of a visual moment. It is now what she calls a special corner for her.
A Home as a Relationship
Chamberlain ends by describing the home as always a work in progress, and compares it to a relationship in which you learn over time how to work together. Living in a house, she says, teaches you where you like to spend the most time, when light comes through each window, and where a desk makes sense or doesn't. It also answers questions like whether you'll really keep playing the drums, or whether that was just something you did out of boredom during COVID. Her takeaway is to let the home "grow with you."
She closes by predicting that things won't change for a while and suggests the next visit might be in about three years.
Hey AD, welcome back to my house. I've changed a few things around here. I'll show you around.
I feel like over the last few years, I've been slowly but surely filling in the blanks in this house. I feel like that's the only way to do it when you first move in. You don't really know what you need, what should go where. It's like that sort of comes to you as you live in a space. And so over time I've been sort of figuring out what I am missing.
For example, this little sponge holder. Are you kidding? This is so cute. But I didn't know I needed this when I first moved in here. But I was kind of sick of this vibe. I didn't like that.
And a lot of the pieces I've collected since moving in here have been flea market finds, vintage store finds. It's kind of a journey. And that's why I'm so happy you're back. Look. You think this is just for show? There's sweet treats in there. This is my sweet treat jar.
I like to find myself through being eclectic, mixing and matching. I love so many different things from so many different eras. 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, medieval times. Who knows? But when I sort of tapped into that, I found that it magically had a cohesion because the through line was me.
I do love birds. Kind of my favorite category of animal, I would say. I just love them. I also love Granny Smith apples. This is not like, "Oh, this is here cuz it's cute." I will eat all of these apples. That's actually true.
Cute little cart. Close your eyes, it's a summer day. And I'm pouring out a glass of lemonade for you in this cute little apple cup. Just imagine how you'd feel if that happened to you. Think you'd enjoy it.
I do really like playful items. I'm trying to strike a balance of beauty, perhaps elegance in the home with playfulness because that's who I am as a person as well. I enjoy a playfulness, but I also enjoy, yeah, maybe a little bit of elegance perhaps. Hey. Yeah, I'd say that. Why not?
Another apple thing. And it smells a little bit like apples, as if it doesn't already smell like apples enough in here because there's I think 200 apples in my kitchen right now.
This area of my house has changed so much. It's random, but the entryway flow is so important. You need to be able to throw the keys down, throw the glasses down, lightly place the glasses on a cute little pigeon glasses holder. There's something about just being able to walk in and just throw stuff down, but have it also be cute. That's so important.
Also, new addition. New addition. A little shoe bench. Imagine me putting my little shoes on right here on this cute little bench. And then there's actually nothing in this drawer right now. [laughter]
But this is a new piece for my collection with West Elm. It's really exciting. I'm putting pieces that I made into this home. It's kind of a magical moment. We're kind of breaking it in together. And to be back with you and we're here. And now there's pieces in my home that I got to design with West Elm cuz they're way better at the actual design stuff than me. I just have cute little ideas and I'm like, "Hey, can you do that?" And they were like, "Yeah," to 90%, and then to 10% they were like, "Emma, that's physically impossible."
This cutesy little pillow has a lot of little fun things on it, but a lot of these things are also tattoos that I have. An apple, apple, we have lighthouse, there's a lighthouse, a little cottage, that's the house I grew up in. We have birds, I have a bird. They're special to me, but I think hopefully they can find meaning to others as well.
I'm also obsessed with buttons. Have a button tattooed on my arm. Button inspired. Button on a candle. Smells exactly like buttons. You won't believe it. Oh my god, my favorite pillow ever. Button pillow. Also, button tray. Like, does Emma have any other things that she likes? There's also button coasters. This room is particularly buttony. I promise the buttons will sort of phase out.
I have to talk about what I'm most excited about in here, which is my new, wait for it, wait for it, game table. Boom! Where was this the first time? If I'm being completely honest, when we were designing this room, I was like, "It's going to be really gorgeous, but I'm never going to use it." This room is all about gathering, being social. There's no TV in here.
It's interesting, I never would have thought of putting a table in a living room. It was actually my mom's idea. She saw this table from the West Elm collection and was like, "That needs to go in your living room and it needs to be a game table."
This little area has changed up a bit. And to be honest, I love this piece so much, but I don't necessarily have the place for it for its intended purpose. So, I was like, "How can I make it make sense?" Well, it's now my game dresser.
I had a hosting phase a few years ago, kind of fell out of it. We're bringing it back. 2026, Emma's hosting game night. This painting is actually somewhat of a family heirloom that I just received, and it's of these dudes playing games. And so it just all really fit.
Speaking of art, I finally finished my gallery wall after years. Actually, it's not finished. There's still some gaps, but this is now a complete collection. I will say though, the one piece that has been on this wall since day one and will be here probably forever. This is a piece that my dad did for this wall. It's just a blessing to have a dad who's an artist.
There is a piece I painted on this wall, and it is bad. Here's a self-portrait. It's not great, but there's something kind of funny about it to me. And to be honest, I just needed something to hang here. Otherwise, I wouldn't have hung it up cuz it's really not that good. Aren't these cute though?
My cats are in here. So if you hear a little bit of meowing or hissing, cuz they like to play. Although it's like, is it playing if you guys are hissing? There he is. What's going on, big dog? All right.
This room, the last time you were here, I had a different couch, and it was a rental couch because I didn't have this couch yet. This is the couch I was always meant to have. It's kind of a relief to have you here. I'm like, now you're seeing the truth. This is great for a little movie night. I've played video games in here. And then there's little things like this. I don't know. Sometimes I'll see a little thing like this and I just have to have it.
I also used to have a drum set in here. It was right in the middle of the room as though I'm a full-time musician. No, I'm not. When I say I'm not very good at drums, I'm actually awful. I enjoy doing it anyway. There are still some guitars because one day the music will flow out of me. I just don't know when.
So, I decided to turn this space into sort of half office, half hangout space. I like this room because it's very cozy and I work from home. To me, I was like, let's just make another spot to sit around on my laptop at. The other desk I have is in my podcast recording studio, which is a very boring room over there. We're not even going to look cuz it's boring.
And so now, here's my new real desk. There's nothing I can't do here. I journal. I've been journaling daily. I have been known to watercolor paint. You'll notice I do a lot of self-portraits. Huge red flag about my personality. And every single time the proportions are very off. Also, I did make this. This is a little glasses thing. So, I could also make things out of clay here, too.
It is weird how much art that I make that is just of me. I don't know why I do that. But anyway, if I talk to a therapist about it, I'll let you know. I know. She hates... She's not... She's more of a behind-the-scenes girl, you know?
Now we're in my bedroom. So, this ottoman is a new addition. I wanted something soft to have at the end of my bed. What I love about this piece is this little pocket. You can put a book, remote control for the TV. I love little things like that. It's just this gorgeous mossy green color.
I feel like the energy I'm trying to cultivate in my room is kind of like a soft mossy garden. It makes sense to me. You might look at my room and say this is not a soft mossy garden. Cuz it's not. There's pops of red. It doesn't quite feel like that. But to me, I don't know, it sort of feels outdoor to me. I love this basket. It's actually, if you look at it, it's another apple.
So, this I love. This is my new vanity. I am so excited about this. This is the vanity that I wish I had when I was a kid. I have another vanity that has all my makeup and all that stuff. This is more so my vanity for, I want to sit down and I want to enjoy doing my skin care.
I just want to soak it up. I want to enjoy it. I want to put on my little headband and I want to open all my little drawers and get out all my little skin care and I want to do all my little things. I want to take out my earrings for the day, put them in this little tray. That's the energy. I actually have to put my earring back in. Cuz, you know. Okay, now we're back.
Before, this area had a little tree and it had a little table for a little while. It was more of just kind of a visual moment. And now this is such a special little corner for me.
The home is sort of always a work in progress. In a way, it really is a relationship where over time you're learning how to work together. It's kind of the same thing with a home. You know, you're figuring out where you like to spend the most time, at what time the light shines through what window, and where it makes sense to have a desk or where it doesn't. Are you going to play the drums or was that just something you did when you were bored during COVID? You know, and then you figure these things out. Kind of letting the home grow with you. I think that's the sentiment.
Well, thank you for stopping by. It was a joy to have you back. You're welcome anytime. But I don't think things are going to change for a while. So, maybe I'll see you in like 3 years. Cheers.
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