Signature homes without the stress. You grant approvals. We handle the rest.
GUT RENOVATIONS FULL-HOME FURSNIHINGS NEW CONSTRUCTION KITCHEN & BATH DESIGN
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Radical
individuality is the ultimate luxury.
We design delusionally distinctive homes for high achievers in NYC, Houston and beyond.
We design delusionally distinctive homes
for high achievers.
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Your home should look like you, not like anyone else's. And that's why the ones you'll find here are as distinct as the people who live inside them. No run-of-the-mill. No rinse-and-repeats. No replicas. Only reflections of their most authentic self and expressions of their wildest fantasies.
That's our idea of true luxury. A home so spectacularly unique that it's impossible to recreate.
Marc Houston
Founder + Creative Director
20+
years of
international
industry experience
12
project
cities
3950
average
project
square
footage
16
average
months
for full gut
renovation
31%
average
increase in
property
value
0
prisoners
taken
Luxury doesn't scream,
it seduces.
Less neon, more nuance. From first impressions to fine details, every surface demands interaction and drips with pure imagination.
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Your home should look like you, not like anyone else's. That's our idea of true luxury. A home that's impossible to recreate. And that's why the ones you'll find here are as unique as the people who live inside them. No run-of-the-mill. No rinse-and-repeats. No replicas. Only reflections of their most authentic self and expressions of their wildest fantasies. Our homes aren't mainstream—they're masterpieces.
Marc Houston
Founder + Creative Director
"The designer is skilled in discovering the nuances of a building and its spaces and using these as points of interest to highlight and celebrate."
FEATURED IN
We're an NYC and Houston high-end residential interior design studio building bespoke homes that boost your experience, your equity, and your ego.
YOU DESERVE BETTER THAN STATUS QUO.
Essential Value
Optimization
Visual and functional cohesion informed by opportunities and constraints.
Curation
Hand selected, premium finishes, fittings, furniture, art, and decor.
Customization
Limitless personalization through site-specific design tailored to your profile.
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Convenience
Full-spectrum service from first ideas to fully-realized home.
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Transformation
Revolutionary spatial identities crafted for elevated, easy living.
Advocacy
High-touch, dedicated client care and owner representation.
Security
Expertise to avoid the risks of navigating complex unfamiliar processes alone.
All of the benefits.
None of the friction.
Time. Privacy. Peace of mind.
Life's true luxuries.
We guard yours fiercely while delivering all the perks you never even considered. Here's what you can expect with an MHLI partnership:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
All of the benefits.
None of the friction.
Time. Privacy. Peace of mind.
Life's true luxuries.
We guard yours fiercely while delivering all the perks you never even knew you needed. And leveraging over two decades of industry experience, we've perfected the recipe for sophisticated living. Here's what you can expect with an MHLI partnership.
Convenience
Full-spectrum service from first ideas to fully-realized home.
Optimization
Visual & aesthetic cohesion informed by opportunities and constraints.
Access
An exclusive global network of elite builders, artists and artisans.
Customization
Elegantly executed, site-specific solutions tailored to your profile.
Curation
Hand selected premium finishes, furnishings, art, and decor.
Advocacy
High-touch, dedicated client care and construction representation.
Security
Expertise to mitigate the risks of navigating unfamiliar processes alone.
Transformation
Revolutionary spatial identities crafted for elevated, easy living.
Smarter process.
Simpler choices.
Superior living.
We know you're out there slaying dragons, stacking accolades, and commanding your industry. And when you return from hopping time zones on red-eyes or inking that IPO, you want to drop anchor in a safe harbor. Step into a vision that fuels your ambition. Enter a castle of unparalleled distinction. Find sanctuary for your grandest dreams.
That's why we've made iconic residences for modern living our specialty, with a clear, simple, proven path to get there. We craft a fantasy of how you want to live then engineer it for how you actually live. Your signature homes without the stress. You grant approvals, we handle the rest.
Different from them means better for you.
Exclusive Access
Skip the queue to world-class artisans and dealers, limited-edition works, and custom capabilities. Our creations are free of retail and wholesale, mass-produced, to-the-trade furnishings to ensure your home reflects your exacting standards, status, and sensibilities.
Expert Leadership
Align your scope, timeline, sequence, and investment from the start. Our proprietary Essence Extractor discovery system delivers consistent results and proactively mitigates endless revisions, late-stage changes, cost overruns, and unnecessary project delays.
Effortless Experience
Make informed decisions confidently while we manage project complexities quietly and throughly on your behalf. Our streamlined design phase and white-glove service are built to actively defend your time against disturbance and your investment against inferior execution.
View Before
Boreum Hill Townhouse
"He is a visionary, an artist, an executor who delivers results far beyond anything you could have imagined. "
At the Helm
Marc Houston
Founder + Creative Director
I'm here for the renegades.
The mavericks.
The rebels.
Marc Houston
Founder + Creative Director
The spaces you see here are alive in my imagination long before they take shape in reality. And I've learned through hard work, grit, and fearlessness in the face of risk that rewards captured in the unknown far exceed results achieved through convention. After 20 years in this industry, I'm undeterred by the limitations of tradition, possibility, or expectation. That's why I'll always confidently swing for the fences. My instincts have been honed by charting a course before others can envision it and enduring the resistance of the current. That's where the magic is bottled. And that's how iconic homes are made.
Exclusive Access
Skip the queue to world-class artisans and dealers, limited-edition works, and custom capabilities. Our creations are free of retail and wholesale, mass-produced, to-the-trade furnishings to ensure your home reflects your exacting standards, status, and sensibilities.
Expert Leadership
Align your scope, timeline, sequence, and investment from the start. Our proprietary Essence Extractor discovery system delivers consistent results and proactively prevents endless revisions, late-stage changes, cost overruns, and unnecessary project delays.
Effortless Experience
Make informed decisions confidently while we manage project complexities quietly and thoroughly on your behalf. Our streamlined design phase and white-glove service are built to actively defend your time against disturbance and your investment against inferior execution.
Convenience
Full-spectrum service from first ideas to fully-realized home.
Optimization
Visual & aesthetic cohesion informed by opportunities and constraints.
Access
An exclusive global network of elite builders, artists and artisans.
Customization
Elegantly executed, site-specific solutions tailored to your profile.
Curation
Hand selected premium finishes, furnishings, art, and decor.
Advocacy
High-touch, dedicated client care and construction representation.
Security
Expertise to mitigate the risks of navigating unfamiliar processes alone.
Transformation
Revolutionary spatial identities crafted for elevated, easy living.
Our transformation equation:
Smarter process + Simpler choices = Superior living
We're not personal shoppers. We're shapers of entirely new universes. And leveraging over two decades of industry experience, we've perfected the recipe for sophisticated living in iconic residences. Our strategy is simple and clear: craft a fantasy of how you want to live then engineer it for how you actually live. Your signature home without the stress. You grant approvals, we handle the rest.
"I had absolutely no clue how to furnish my apartment or even lay it out. In a matter of seconds, Marc blocked the entire space out. He assembled precisely the right ingredients to turn my blank, awkward apartment into a true showpiece."
How we're different
Luxury doesn't scream. It seduces.
From first impressions to fine details, every surface demands interaction and drips with pure imagination.
(01)
Discovery + Alignment
(02)
Concept, Spatial + Design Development
(03)
Coordination + Execution
(04)
Installation + Resolution
You may think you only need furniture. We know that your dream home demands much more. Sure, our design will boost your long-term equity and stun your guests into silence, but most importantly, our process has been honed over 15 years to ensure your experience with us is world-class and your home fits your life perfectly.
Who we serve
High-net-worth homeowners who value clarity, artistry, and ingenuity. We partner with doctors, lawyers, entrepreneurs, hedge fund managers, TV and film producers, C-suite executives, and other successful professionals with full lives. They're big city dwellers. Worldly aesthetes. And increasingly, they're transplants from the East and West Coasts who want the same artistic, cosmopolitan sensibility in their new location. We work best with those who:
• Recognize design is an investment
• Seek elevated, custom interiors over trends
• Respect expertise, trust and decisive leadership
• Have a significant project and thoughtful timeline
• Share our values and confident, cosmopolitan aesthetic
What we do
Bespoke, done-for-you, high-end residential renovations, new builds, and full-home furnishing projects. These are generally primary and secondary homes, penthouses, pied-à-terres, estates and legacy properties.
Why we do it
Simply, we're here to improve your life. We crave magic or over mass appeal, imagination over imitation, and quality over quick wins. We dream of immersive, transportive experiences that stimulate the senses, summon emotion and stand distinctly above the crowd. We're compelled to bring them to life.
"Marc is not afraid of a challenge and is incredibly resourceful. His ability to synthesize budget, vision, and floorplan pushed the project forward in a very interesting and sophisticated way. "
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![[CLAIRE-ESPARROS]_StudioMHLI_75ABond5927.jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7ec4a2_d5a956ed241e4f058f3057332f5294da~mv2.jpg/v1/crop/x_3622,y_439,w_3840,h_5179/fill/w_519,h_700,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/7ec4a2_d5a956ed241e4f058f3057332f5294da~mv2.jpg)
Boreum Hill
"Marc Houston Designed This Brooklyn Townhouse with a Focus on Art, Color and Whimsy"
Our Signature Service
We do more than design homes. We define spatial identities.
Our brand of luxury merges function and fantasy in one-of-a-kind homes that capture your most authentic expression from the moment you cross your threshold until your head touches your pillow. Success for us is elevating even your most mundane routines into rituals of ease and delight.
Central Park Pied-à-terre
View Before
How do we build iconic homes?
By sticking to our guns.
Who we serve
We partner with high-net-worth homeowners who value clarity, artistry, and ingenuity. Our clients are doctors, lawyers, entrepreneurs, hedge fund managers, TV and film producers, C-suite executives, and other successful professionals with full lives. They're big city dwellers. Worldly aesthetes. And increasingly, they're transplants from the East and West Coasts who want the same cosmopolitan sensibility in their new location. We work best with those who:
• Recognize design is an investment
• Seek elevated, custom interiors over trends
• Respect expertise, trust and decisive leadership
• Have a significant project and thoughtful timeline
• Share our values and confident, cosmopolitan aesthetic
What we do
We provide bespoke, done-for-you, high-end residential design and full-scale implementation for renovations, new builds, and full-home furnishing of primary and secondary homes, penthouses, pied-à-terres, estates and legacy properties. Simply, we're experts at delivering signature homes without the stress. You grant approvals, we handle the rest.
Why we do it
We crave magic or over mass appeal, imagination over imitation, and quality over quick wins. We dream of immersive, transportive experiences that stimulate the senses, summon emotion and stand distinctly above the crowd. We're compelled to bring them to life.
MHLI TIES ALL THE
DAUNTING PIECES OF
DESIGN TOGETHER TO
TURN THE ORDINARY
INTO EXTRAORDINARY.
Marc more than delivered for our space.
He embraced our ideas, took inspiration from our travels,
and challenged our limits to create a space
we now look forward to spending time in.
Back Bay
Boston, MA
Windsor Hills
Los Angeles, CA
Courthouse
Washington, DC
Marina Bay
Boston, MA
West Village
New York, NY
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Central Park Pied-à-terre
View Before
Every experience with us guarantees:
Transformation is our technique.
Signature is our standard.
View Before
You're running a multi-million dollar investment fund, but your home office is more college student than CEO. We've got power moves for power brokers.
View Before
A primary bathroom with a miniature tub, finishes from 1998, and a shower stall that attacks your forehead every morning. We're your best line of defense against bad design.
Our only style is the one we design exclusively for you.
Each of our unique creations reflects decades-honed expertise, dedication to detail, and deep bonds of trust built with our clients to excavate their most authentic expressions in the spaces they hold sacred. We know that these life-changing transformations demand mastery of infinite calculations, anticipation of opportunities and challenges, unwavering focus, and a proven strategy. And just like a couturier structures and stitches with artistry and authority, we tailor your home to the unique contours of your life.
Interested? Let's discuss.
Begin with your Discovery Profile.
Click below to share your details.
Before partnering with us, here are some things you should consider:
WORKING WITH MHLI
We specialize in high-end residential interiors, including primary residences, vacation homes, penthouses, estates, and legacy properties. Our work primarily involves full-scale renovations, new construction, and comprehensive furnishing projects, though we selectively accept furnishing-only engagements when aligned.
We work in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Long Island, Boston's Beacon Hill and Back Bay neighborhoods, Brookline, Newton, Wellesley, Cape Cod, and throughout Greater Houston in River Oaks, Tanglewood, the Memorial Villages and the Heights. If your project is outside of these areas, please share your location details in your inquiry form. Our portfolio includes residences from Washington D.C. to Los Angeles, and we'd be happy to discuss how we can work together.
Our approach is rooted in exceptional craftsmanship, definitive artistry, and the pursuit of innovation. Every project begins with understanding how you live, entertain, and retreat, resulting in interiors precisely calibrated to feel both elevated and deeply personal. We favor longevity over trends and believe true luxury is as radically individual as it is effortless.
While our work is recognizable for its refinement and attention to detail, we don't impose a signature look. Each home we design is a distinct reflection of its owner, architecture, and setting. Our role is to translate your vision into a cohesive, enduring environment.
We value mutual trust, decisiveness, and open communication. The most successful projects are true partnerships built on shared vision and respect.
PROCESS, EXPERIENCE & COMMUNICATION
Clarity, efficiency, and excellence at every stage are our ultimate aims. We understand the demands of busy professionals and our priority is to ease rather than labor their existing commitments. Our process is highly structured and fully managed for the full project life cycle, and we act as your single point of oversight to coordinate with architects, builders, and artisans. Click to learn our process details.
Our clients value a concierge-level experience, where decisions are streamlined and thoughtfully curated. We act as owner's agent to guide you through key milestones while handling the details and managing complexity behind the scenes on your behalf. Protecting your time, energy, and peace of mind is our priority. Click to learn about our ideal partnerships.
You can expect clear, concise, and timely communication throughout the project whether through written updates, mutually scheduled meetings, or direct contact. Emergent communication is made through a private, team-managed digital forum while weekly updates are furnished via email.
INVESTMENT & FEES
Our clients understand that thoughtful design is an investment in quality of life, property value, and longevity. We believe transparency and alignment are essential to a successful partnership, and our fees reflect the value of our experience, access, and results. MHLI charges hourly for all time associated with your project. Additionally, we establish a minimum investment for furniture and materials purchased through MHLI which is a condition for our engagement. We'll discuss your priorities and expectations during your Clarity Call and advise an investment range for maximum impact and long-term value.
Project investment averages $1k per square foot for construction and $650 per square foot for furnishings. Design fees begin at $75k with most projects ranging from $125k - 275k depending on scope, location, and complexity. We manage financial allocations proactively throughout the project while carefully tracking expenditures as the project evolves. Our fee projections will be clearly outlined in your Proposal for Services prior to authorization of our Agreement.
PRIVACY & DISCRETION
Yes. We regularly collaborate with estate managers, personal assistants, security teams, and household staff to ensure smooth execution with minimal disruption.
Discretion is fundamental to our practice. We don't publish client identities or information without explicit permission, and we are happy to work under NDAs. Many of our most notable projects remain entirely private.
GETTING STARTED
The process begins with a brief questionnaire, Clarity Call, and paid consultation with Marc to align on your goals, timeline, and scope. We want to ensure mutual benefit, an experience that exceeds expectations, and results reflective of our portfolio. Click to begin the inquiry process.
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Radical individuality is the ultimate luxury
MHLI is a full-service, Black-owned interior design boutique specialized in luxury residential renovations, new builds and comprehensive furnishing projects. Read more
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