Atlanta-based interior designer Michel Smith Boyd muses that he sometimes feels like the “bridge between two worlds.” On the one hand, he works with private clients, transforming their homes into customized reflections of their personalities. On the other, he’s a television host and designer who inspires broad audiences to rethink their living environments. And he welcomes the chance to do both.
“My heart is in connecting with clients and making a difference in their daily lives through how they experience their homes, but I can only see a limited number of them,” he says. “With television, I can reach so many more people. In both cases, I want it to be clear that everyone deserves good design.”
That has been Michel’s philosophy since he discovered interior design in the early 2000s and the foundation of his interior design firm, SmithBoyd Interiors, which he started in 2006 while still a junior at the Art Institute of Atlanta.
The Louisiana native had moved from Atlanta to New York City to pursue opportunities in the fashion world when a trip to the famed D&D (Decoration & Design) Building—with more than 100 showrooms of textiles, furniture, lighting, and more—altered his path. “I had no idea that world existed,” he says, adding that he considered attending the New York School of Interior Design. But he still had a home in Atlanta and landed instead at the Art Institute.
Soon after, at a birthday party he threw for a friend, Michel met an executive from The Coca-Cola Company who was impressed with his talent and asked him to plan a party for her. She also became his first interior design client, giving him four spaces in her home to revamp. “I started building a network of C-suite clients in Atlanta before I graduated from design school,” he recalls, adding that for the next five years, all of his projects came from that one connection. “I’m still discovering what a blessing that was.”
Michel is recognized for his ability to tell his clients’ stories through their home spaces and for his signature layering of fabrics, textiles, prints, and color. Over the years, his process has evolved to focus on mood within a space. “The power to establish mood is underrated,” he says. “Your environment has the greatest influence on you outside of your health, and design can make such a positive impact on your life. The mood is the foundation, so everything for me begins and ends with that.”
Because of his high-end clientele, it wasn’t long before network executives took notice of Michel’s design prowess. Yet, when HGTV asked him to participate in Design Star, he turned them down. “I was operating out of fear,” he says, noting that Bravo fortunately came calling with an offer to appear on Buying it Blind, a home renovation show that aired in 2018. When HGTV came back to the table, Michel signed on this time—for Luxe for Less in 2022, followed by Rock the Block. In 2023, he appeared on the network’s Barbie Dreamhouse Challenge. “Television allows me to think with a different part of my design brain, and it has been a privilege to operate in that space,” he says, adding that he recently signed on for another soon-to-be-revealed HGTV show.
That joy also extends to the corporate partnerships he has developed with brands like Z Gallerie, Crate & Barrel, and Neiman Marcus. His product lines include collections of rugs and licensed paintings, many of which are inspired by African art and a Parisian aesthetic. He plans to expand his offerings to furnishings, lighting, and wallpaper.
“Your house should be an environment that edifies you and propels you forward,” he says. “If we work one-on-one, I’ll create it for you. If you meet me through television, I’ll inspire you to do it for yourself. I want to show the power of design and how each of us holds it in our hands.”
This article appears in the Summer 2026 issue of GEORGIA DESIGN.
