Bobby Berk on the Design Style He 'Can't Stand' and What Emerging Trend He's 'Infusing' Into His Home Right Now

Bobby Berk doesn't just want your home to look great—he also knows how important it is to make your spaces work for you . And for Berk, that means a few things: no farmhouse style (unless it's done right), no all-white kitchens and no dumb appliances.

Smart design means making your home feel like a haven and a place you (and guests!) want to be, and the best designers know that beyond your finishes and color palettes, convenience and practicality are a huge part of making your dream home come to life.

The Queer Eye alum spoke with Parade about his favorite smart home devices from Amazon in connection the SIY/Smartify It Yourself campaign and how they've changed his life in multiple ways, some of which are honestly super moving and others that are brilliant for uses you wouldn't necessarily expect: You can train your Alexa to brew your morning coffee and even to adjust your lighting to help you sleep better at night and feel more energized when you wake up.

"There's really not a smart device I don't have or I wouldn't have," he tells us. When you see the genius tips and tricks he has for using them—and his opinions on design trends that need to go—we bet you'll agree.

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What smart home feature has been the most life-changing for you?

"I think the one that's been most life-changing for me and my mother has been Ring cameras . My father passed away last year , and at 70, she's living by herself for the first time in the country, and she was honestly terrified, being alone in the middle of nowhere. So I went out and I set Ring cameras around the perimeter of her house, and now she feels more secure. She gets notifications whether it's a cat, or a skunk, or a raccoon or a person.

"She also knows that I'm always watching, which makes her feel more secure enough to stay in that house after my father passed. She'll go out on a walk and she'll be out a little longer than normal, and I'm like, 'That's an awful long walk!' and she's like, 'I love that you know that, because I was scared to go for a walk because if I'm gone, nobody knows, but you know that!' From 1,000 miles away, I'm able to give her peace of mind."

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What smart features do you love most in your own home?

"I also love the Ring cameras because I like to be able to know what's going on. We just like everything! We have the Ring alarm system , Phillips Hue , which is a light bulb connected to Alexa. We use the Alexa for music all the time—anytime I leave and my dog stays home, I'm like, 'Alexa, play relaxing dog music!'

"Obviously, the Dots , which are great. You can get smart plugs which makes stupid appliances smart—so I plug my old-school coffeemaker into a smart plug that connects with Alexa, and in the morning I say, 'Alexa, rise and design!' And Alexa turns on my coffeemaker and the lights in the kitchen to a specific, energizing hue of light, which is a vibrant white light.

"Amazon also has a collection of cameras called Blink , and they're two-inches by two inches square. They're great because you can pop them up anywhere, and they're so small we can just throw them in a drawer when we're not using them. When we go out, I'll pop them up around the house so we can watch my dog when we're not home."

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Are there any current design trends that you absolutely would never use in your home?

"I'm definitely sick of the all neutrals and definitely sick of the all white kitchen. When we bought our current house—which is a mid-century, but she had some abusive relationships in the '90s—somebody had put an all white kitchen in. Although we weren't ready to remodel the kitchen yet, because we want to do everything at once, I painted the kitchen cabinets black. I'm like, 'I can't!' I can't live with an all white kitchen. It is just not my thing. So, yeah, I really hope I never see all white kitchens again. They're really popular with builders out here. In LA, builders that flip houses and you walk in—it's just so soulless. And I know they think they're like, 'Oh, we wanted to appeal to everybody,' but I'm like, 'It's really appealing to nobody.'"

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What's your favorite emerging design trend right now?

"I love desert hues. Neutrals, for years, creams were very, very popular, especially through COVID. I think we all just wanted, like, Zen and colorless. But I'm really infusing more color into my home, in the clients' home, using desert colors because I still think 'earth tones neutrals,' but a little more in depth. So I've been using a lot of like Sedona and terracotta colors, cactus greens, desert sand colors. I think that's a really great way to bring some depth and texture and dimension into your home without bright color. I've always been, like, very black and white, then some creams in it, but I've been bringing more Earth tones in which I think really warm up the space."

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Are there any design trends other than the all-white kitchens you don't necessarily hate , but think are on their way out?

"Farmhouse modern! Sick of it, can't stand it, really over it—especially, again, out here in LA. So many builders have either torn down or completely renovated these cute little craftsman bungalows or mid-century homes, and they've turned them into these kind of soulless farmhouse modern houses.

"If farmhouse is done right, it can be very cute, but they've kind of, in LA specifically—or maybe not just LA, maybe all over the U.S.—I feel like we have a certain designer couple that, I won't say their names, that's kind of responsible for this. I think you know exactly who I'm talking about, and you know, good for them! They started a huge trend, but I'm kind of over seeing them. Farmhouses should have so much soul and character, but they've become like these—it's become like the new white box, modern house, you know? They're either just all white or all black, and just no personality, no texture. I'm ready for that to be gone too."

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In terms of democratizing design for everyone, a lot of people are trying to pinch pennies right now. Do you have any tips for DIY upgrading or revamping a design on a budget?

"Smart-ifying it yourself! I think lighting is a really great way to dip your toe in, because lighting has such a huge effect on our moods. You know, like a lot of times, people are like, 'Oh, I I lay in bed for an hour and a half after I go to bed, I'm so unable to fall asleep.' I'm like, 'Well, it's because you haven't set your lighting to a lower level an hour before you're trying to go to bed, and your body just isn't instantly like, 'Let's go to bed!' after I've been sitting under a bunch of bright light. Your body wasn't preparing itself. So setting up a routine, going, 'Hey, Alexa, I'm ready for bed soon,' and Alexa dimming the lights down 50 to 30% so that way your body starts getting ready is a really great way to affect your mood, your sleep, your home, everything.

"When it comes to decor, I think paint is always a really great, inexpensive way to dip your toe in something, and it's not permanent. It's not like going out and buying a new sofa that, you know, for most of us, if we buy that, we're stuck with it for a while. You know, it's paint! Paint, you can change. If you paint a wall and you're like, 'Oh, my God, I hate this,' you can paint it again. It's just another, you know, $20 pan of paint, which, you know, it's money, but it's not a ton . So paint is a really great way to change up your room without having to be married to it, without breaking the bank. Changing your paint will completely change the mood of your house, and you didn't really spend that much money to do it. And it's something that you can do it yourself."

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You've called 2024 your "year of improvement." What's the biggest positive change you feel you've made so far?

"I'm much healthier in 2024. I think if one thing COVID taught us was to take care of ourselves, and, you know, not just work so much. I'm much more mindful (and very demure!) about taking that time for myself. Like, I fast more because fasting is so good for your mental health and for your body. I take a lot more walks.

"For me, it's been definitely taking care of myself more. For the last seven years—well, actually the last 25 years—I did nothing but work. But definitely the last seven years were more in the public eye."

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Do you have any kind of mindfulness exercises that you like or that you have found helpful?

"Taking walks! I think that's a really great way to clear your mind. I know it's kind of cliché, but it really is. It's the time that my husband and I always spend with each other at night after dinner. We always go for a walk, and it's also a great way, we find, to stop scrolling. We're always scrolling so much at home—even if the TV's on, you're still scrolling. So out on a walk, I leave my phone at home. It reduces my screen time for the day, and it's just really a great way to disconnect from everything.

"Whether you're in the country or the city, it's something you can do, and it's free. And you can socialize a little bit just chill. During COVID, when we were living in Austin, it kind of became our little neighborhood thing. We would meet people on the street walking, because that's really all anyone could do. Everything kind of became a routine with us and a few neighbors on the street. So it was great, because it can be just a one-on-one thing, or just yourself if you need to clear your head. It could be a great couple activity, or it can be a great [way to] connect with your friends instead of going out to a bar or a restaurant where you're spending money."

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What are you working on next?

"I have a few new shows that I will be announcing soon. I haven't been able to say what they are yet, but we've been working on it for quite some time. That's what that information will be on soon.

"I have my classic Casa Tierra resort in Palm Desert, Palm Springs, that is always a lot of fun. It's this beautiful home up in the mountains that we rent out with Airbnb, but it's basically your own mini resort. It has three homes on it with three acres, and we just added a 2,000-square foot wedding and events deck and pickleball courts.

"We're in the process of building another property down the street called Casa Mallorca, and it will also be a little private resort with a wedding venue events. So that's been taking up a lot of my time, and it's fun because, obviously, I love doing design stuff, but I'm also a huge fan of hospitality. Eventually, I do want to get into hotels, and so I think this has been a nice little dipping of my toe in hospitality."

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That's amazing. Have you had any bridezillas yet?

"No, no! We've had a lot of great, great people. We haven't had any, luckily. I know sometimes you hear horror stories about guests, but everybody's been pretty great. Our property obviously attracts a lot of fans of the show, and our fans are just awesome."

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