When luxury interior designer Anita Lang steps into a new project, she’s not just looking at square footage or finishes. She’s listening for stories, meaning, and the pieces that hold memory.
One client gave her just that: a handcrafted desk he had personally built two decades earlier. It was walnut, worn in all the right places, and heavy with significance.
“As a hobbyist furniture maker, he made a desk 20 years ago… it has this walnut top he personally crafted and a metal base he wielded and gilded. It was so meaningful to him because he built this incredibly successful security business that exceeded his expectations, creating a life, and it all kind of happened from the top with this desk.”
Now, Anita’s task was straightforward. This wasn’t just about fitting the desk into a newly designed office, but also about honoring it, giving it a place of prominence, and creating a space that felt destined for it.
“My mission is to make sense of that desk in his new office… to make it feel perfect, as if he knew the room it was going to go into 20 years later. But it would take some clever strategy on my part to blend his highly sophisticated new house with the handcrafted piece, but I was determined to do it.”
In that moment, design becomes more than aesthetics. It becomes a bridge, between where someone started and where they are now. It tells their journey, who they are, without the need for words, between legacy and modernity: memory and meaning.
That’s the essence of mixing old and new in luxury interior design.
Why Today’s Luxury Clients Seek Meaning Over Matching
That desk wasn’t an outlier. It was a symbol of something Anita, a seasoned interior designer, sees often with her clients: a desire for more than beauty.
They want meaning.
Today’s luxury homeowners aren’t just filling rooms. They’re curating stories. They want their spaces to reflect not only refined taste but personal evolution, what they’ve built, what they’ve inherited, and what they’ll pass on.
“There’s no rulebook. If a piece has a story, we find a way to honor it—whether it’s 100 years old or from last season.”
— Anita Lang
In luxury interior design work, it’s not about matching the drapes to the art; it’s more sophisticated. It’s understanding the expression of a space and using design principles to create resonance in an unexpected way.
This is the new language of luxury: where mixing eras isn’t a compromise, but a signature. Where design reflects not just lifestyle, but legacy.
The Camelback Home: A Legacy Designed Into the Landscape
Few projects fully capture this philosophy than the Camelback Mountain home—a design years in the making, born from vision, patience, and intention.
Before any plans were drawn, Mary Kay and Scott Goodson had a dream—not just of a house, but of a very specific piece of land. The only problem? That land wasn’t for sale.
“They told me they wanted to build on this lot. But it wasn’t even for sale,” recalls architect Brent Kendel. “They were just so convinced they’d get it someday… and they did.”
That clarity of vision became the foundation for the entire design process. With Brent shaping the architecture and luxury interior designer Anita Lang leading the interiors, the team set out to create a home that would feel timeless before it even existed.
Renderings now reveal the depth of that intention. Floor-to-ceiling glass is planned to frame the Sonoran landscape. Clean-lined architecture provides flow and form. But it’s the interior concept—layered, soulful, and personal—that brings the heart into the home.
“Anita is very artistic. She likes the vintage pieces that I like. She likes to incorporate that and art. She’s very particular about curating the art for you.”
— Mary Kay Goodson
In Anita’s design, pieces with personal meaning will sit comfortably beside custom furnishings. A vintage sculpture here. A handwoven textile there. It’s not about mixing styles for effect—it’s about creating a space that reflects the journey that brought them to this point.
They haven’t stepped inside yet—but already, it feels like home.
The Art and Intention of Mixing Old and New
Designing with legacy in mind requires more than an eye for aesthetics—it calls for discernment, restraint, and a deep understanding of what truly matters to the people who will live there.
For luxury interior designer Anita Lang, mixing old and new isn’t a trend—it’s a philosophy. One rooted in emotional resonance and executed with architectural precision.
These are the principles that guide her work:
Honor What Matters Most
Every project begins with what the client values. A handcrafted desk. A vintage pendant. A piece of art from a formative moment in life. These are not just objects—they’re anchors. Anita’s process ensures they are never treated as afterthoughts, but as foundational elements. She will see them with fresh eyes and surprise her client with the transition to their new dream home.
Balance Through Contrast
Rather than forcing pieces to match, Anita uses many design principles to harmonize the diverse. A sculptural modern sofa may sit beside a hand-carved antique chest, not to compete, but to complement each other’s character using the skills of scale, proportion and proper composition.
Unify Through Tone and Texture
Designing Across Time Without Disruption
In homes that blend pieces from different periods—like a mid-century armchair next to a contemporary stone table—the question isn’t whether they “match.” The question is: do they speak the same language?
For interior designer Anita Lang, that shared language isn’t defined by style or decade. It’s characterized by tone, texture, and scale.
A warm walnut grain might echo the richness of a nearby bronze sculpture. A hand-troweled plaster wall can soften the sharp lines of a modern steel frame. A woven textile can combine the palette between a vintage bench and a newly commissioned rug. This is material storytelling, not match-making.
The result is a room where everything feels at home, even if nothing came from the same showroom, city, or century.
This approach isn’t about visual quiet—it’s about visual balance.
Anita doesn’t aim for every piece to speak the same note. Instead, she composes a chord. One that blends old and new, organic and refined, soft and structured.
When done well, nothing feels out of place.
Every piece belongs—not because it matches, but because it matters.
And that’s what makes the space unforgettable.
Craftsmanship as the Common Denominator
Whether it’s a newly commissioned piece or a family heirloom, it must meet one non-negotiable standard: exceptional craftsmanship. Quality is the thread that ties everything together.
Lived-In Elegance: A Designer’s Signature, An Architect’s Perspective
Architect Brent Kendel had long admired luxury interior designer Anita Lang’s work. When the opportunity finally came to collaborate on the Goodsons’ home, he quickly understood what made her stand out.
“She’s able to capture both the soul of a client and the soul of the structure—there’s always this layering, this refinement, this lived-in elegance that makes the new feel timeless and the old feel current.”
For Brent, what stands out in Anita’s design approach is the way elements relate to one another—not just visually, but emotionally.
“There aren’t a lot of things fighting with each other… they all kind of leave space for each other to sing their song, but cohesively… every piece collaborates with the other to kind of create that whole mood.”
It’s a quiet harmony. Nothing feels forced. Nothing shouts. Instead, each choice is intentional, supporting the architecture while adding warmth, depth, and meaning.
Designing a Home That Reflects a Life Well Lived
The most unforgettable spaces aren’t the ones that follow trends. They’re the ones that carry a story.
At IMI Design, mixing old and new is never a formula—it’s a feeling. A handcrafted desk that launched a career. A vintage sculpture that still inspires. A future home designed with memory in mind.
This is what today’s luxury interior design clients seek:
Not perfection. Not novelty.
But meaning. Intention. Legacy.
And that’s what interior designer Anita Lang delivers—with restraint, reverence, and an eye for the things that last.
Because true luxury isn’t about more.
It’s about what matters.