You're listening to Life Kit from NPR.

Hey, it's Mariel.

You ever scroll through Pinterest or Instagram and see an AI-generated image of some super cozy room,

you know, the one with the wraparound couch that could fit an entire football team,

and the roaring fireplace and the floor to

ceiling glass walls that reveal a view of the snowy mountains just beyond. This is a fantasy. You don't

have a fireplace. You don't live next to a mountain. You actually live in a 700 square foot apartment

or something like that.

Now, this doesn't mean you can't love your home, the one you currently live in.

But Vern Yip, who's an architectural and interior designer, says getting there is not about picking the trendiest paint color or renovating the whole place all at once.

I mean, design for me is a real tool to maximize the quality of your life,

to ensure that the surroundings that you spend the most time in

really make you feel the way that you want to feel.

Vern hosts a design show called Home Reimagined.

You may also know him from his time on trading spaces.

And he just published a book called Color, Pattern, Texture, because those are the power

tools designers use to create meaningful spaces.

But what's meaningful, that depends on who you are.

I think I use the example in the book of growing up in a very sort of traditional Chinese household.

My parents fled China during the Cultural Revolution, which was when communism came into China, and they were able to only take a handful of things with them.

And I grew up in a very humble household. My parents worked

really, really hard and gave up a lot to come to this country. But they surrounded us with the

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