Who it’s for
Want to design it yourself?
Very cool.
If you’re here, you already know it’s POSSIBLE to make a magazine-worthy room from preloved pieces, and you’ve probably found some great secondhand things.
If you’re totally happy with your room, that’s awesome.
But if your project is feeling more amateurish than you would like, keep reading. The difference between a good room and an all-the-way amazing one usually isn’t better finds, it’s what you do with them.
Our workbook, Secondhand-First, walks you through it: one room, start to finished, using the same studio process behind every room on this site.
Before & after
Same bed. Same room. A process apart.
The before photo probably looks familiar: a perfectly fine room that never quite came together. The after is the Green Bedroom, a KKI room. The difference between the two is a process, and the workbook teaches it: plan around what you already own, build the Power Statement, design the shell, then source the preloved pieces that finish it. Your headboard can stay too.
See the full project: The Green Bedroom
Before
After
The Workbook
Secondhand‑First
One room, start to finish — from the room you have to the room you want. Sixty-one pages, eleven chapters, the mindsets and timeline up front, a sizing and scale appendix in back. And it’s not one-and-done: once your first room is finished, you can run it again, room by room, for your whole home.
$197 · instant PDF download
Click any page to read the sample large: the cover, the contents, two prompts, the rug guide, and the bonus gallery wall chapter.
The bonus chapter
The gallery wall, in a real room
Gallery walls are our most requested how-to, so the workbook includes a bonus chapter: step-by-step instructions for a signature KKI gallery wall out of pieces you already have and love. It’s low-waste, because it uses what you own, and high design, because the statement is so strong.
The Green Bedroom’s was drafted on the floor and hung in a couple of afternoons.
Questions
What exactly do I get?
An interactive 61-page PDF with fillable fields, so you can type your notes and save links right in the document, or print it and work by hand.
Is this a course?
No. There’s nothing to log into and no videos to watch. It’s a book you work through at your own pace, in your own room.
Does it work outside Nashville?
Yes. The method runs on Facebook Marketplace, vintage and antique stores, estate sales, and thrift stores, which exist everywhere. There’s also a bonus Nashville Hit List of our favorite local spots, for locals and visitors alike.
How long does a room actually take?
Plan on a few focused Saturdays working the chapters, with sourcing time in between while the right pieces turn up. Think weeks, not months — and definitely not the years the fiddling usually takes.
What’s the refund policy?
Because it’s an instant digital download, all sales are final. If you’re unsure, take a real look at the sample pages first.
The Workbook
Ready to make your room?
Secondhand-First is $197, yours the minute you buy it. The next time someone asks who designed your room, the answer is you.
Get the workbook — $197Full service
Rather have us do it?
Rooms start around $25,000, all in, designed and finished for you in six weeks.
See our pricing