One Day with Mieke ten Have

ONE DAY WITH | MASTERS & MUSES | WORLD OF CABANA

New York-based interiors stylist and decorator Mieke ten Have is known for her refined eye and intuitive layering of spaces. She sits down with Cabana to discuss the rhythms and rituals of her day—from juggling work commitments and constant travel, to looking after her five cats and sharing treasured meal times with her family.

INTERVIEW BY BUSOLA EVANS | MASTERS & MUSES | 11 NOVEMBER 2025

Stylist Mieke ten Have's home in New York's Hudson Valley © Ari Kellerman.

There’s no typical day for me because I am on a plane almost every week. In the past two weeks alone I’ve been in Chicago, Florida, Texas and Boston either for styling jobs or installing design projects. But home is in the Hudson Valley, right on the border of Connecticut. If I am there I will usually wake up at 6.30am. I do it naturally – I have a seven-year-old and a three-year-old so there are no lie-ins.

We have no window treatments in our bedroom because the view is so beautiful. It is west-facing, so the sun doesn't really come in through the windows but we get a soft light that trickles through the other side of the house.

I usually read the news on my phone in bed before I get up. Then it’s getting my kids ready for school and dropping them off at 8am. We have two dogs – Hank, an old Corgi and a half-terrier, half-labrador puppy Mookie – and five cats. I realise that sounds insane but in my defence I didn’t seek out five cats. They are strays that kept showing up at my house and I am such a bleeding heart I take them all in.

We moved from Manhattan, where I grew up, eight years ago. I never really pictured myself having my home in the country, but I'm one of those people that needs to be either in the middle of a big city or in the middle of nowhere, nothing in between. 

Mieke at home in the Hudson Valley © Ari Kellerman

I fell for our home the minute I walked in the door. It's a converted barn and I loved the unbelievable height and original beams. What drew me to it was this juxtaposition between utter simplicity and grandeur. I really enjoy having nature around and living where we do has grown on me emotionally and visually.

I have the arduous task of feeding five cats. I do this when I am back from dropping the children off, and have taken Mookie for a long walk – Hank can’t go too far these days. Breakfast for me consists of two fried eggs in lots of butter, although I often end up finishing the children’s yogurt fruit smoothies that I blend for them most mornings.

My office is in Salisbury, Connecticut, 20 minutes from my house. My business is bifurcated right now because I'm doing a lot of interior styling for magazines, designers, architects and home brands. But I'm also doing so many more full-scale decorating projects. So I'm trying to calibrate these two sides of my business, which is a hard balance as I’m being pulled in so many different directions. But I do love both.

A lot of my time in the office is meetings and catching up. Most of my creativity is when I'm travelling, and looking at art and antiques, so office for me is administrative time where I have to go through the more mundane tasks of running a business. What's great about styling is that you show up and produce beautiful images and that's really gratifying. With design, there's way less instant gratification but ultimately, it's very rewarding to have ideas about something and watch them happen.

© Frank Frances

Lunch depends on the season. I love my garden and sometimes I'll work from home in the summer because it's so nice to duck out and water the flowers and tend to the beds. I love all that. Then in the winter, I find it's helpful to get out of the house. 

If I'm at home, I'm the queen of making an elaborate salad. I often do a mix of fennel and radicchio and then add toasted almonds or pine nuts, some roquefort or sliced apple or pear. I'm very particular about slicing everything. And then I like to add white balsamic vinegar, olive oil and salt and pepper. I always say I’m going to make a quick salad but it takes 20 minutes.

I have an antique dealer friend who often brings shipments over from Europe. I'll often go and see what pieces she has. I'll also go to a couple of really good auction houses near me that are totally under the radar. If there's an interesting auction, I always like to view the pieces in person. 

I like having dialogues between different time periods and different places on earth. I think that's what always yields the most interesting interiors. I'm a huge textile person, so we're constantly calling in samples so I do spend a lot of time in the office really looking at colour and fabric samples together.

Place setting styled by Mieke ten Have © Frank Frances 

If I am shooting a styling job, the day can be terribly long. But when I'm at home, I try to be finished with all my calls and meetings and be available to pick up my kids between 4 and 5pm so I can spend the afternoon and evening with them.

I really enjoy cooking in the evening when I'm home. I find that it really takes me out of my day. I don't have a go-to dish, but The New York Times is my go-to for recipes. We like a lot of Asian-inspired food, Thai especially. And sometimes we'll do something really simple like grilling a steak with a beautiful salad and some vegetables. I love to make roast chicken and my husband makes an incredible homemade pizza. We're very food-oriented so dinner is always elaborate and we like eating together as a family.

If I do any work in the evenings, it's after I put my kids to bed. I like to be in bed by 9pm so I'll get into bed with my laptop and finish a couple things I didn't get to during the day. But I try to be offline in the evening because it helps to unwind after a long day.