MHLI
Radical individuality is the ultimate luxury.
MHLI © 2026. All rights reserved.
Signature homes without the stress. You grant approvals. We handle the rest.
GUT RENOVATIONS FULL-HOME FURSNIHINGS NEW CONSTRUCTION KITCHEN & BATH DESIGN
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![[CLAIRE-ESPARROS]_StudioMHLI_75ABond5721.jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7ec4a2_cb13e8a4d3974387ade1d476f572b207~mv2.jpg/v1/crop/x_417,y_0,w_4248,h_7859/fill/w_111,h_206,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,blur_2,enc_auto/%5BCLAIRE-ESPARROS%5D_StudioMHLI_75ABond5721.jpg)
RADICAL INDIVIDUALITY IS THE ULTIMATE LUXURY
PREMIERE RESIDENTIAL INTERIORS | NYC • HOUSTON
SCROLL TO DISCOVER
RADICAL INDIVIDUALITY IS THE ULTIMATE LUXURY
GUT
RENOVATIONS
FULL HOME
FURNISHINGS
NEW
CONSTRUCTION
KITCHEN & BATH
DESIGN
NYC & Houston residential interior design boutique specialized in fully-customized, done-for-you primary residences, estates, vacation homes and legacy properties.
SCROLL TO DISCOVER
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THE DESIGNER
Is SKILLED IN DISCOVERING
THE NUANCES OF A
BUILDING AND ITS SPACES
AND USING THESE AS
POINTS OF INTEREST TO
HIGHLIGHT AND CELEBRATE.
WE LIVE IN A WORLD MUDDLED
BY MEDIOCRITY. IMITATION HAS
DISPLACED IMAGINATION.
AUTHENTICITY DROWNED IN A
SEA OF UBIQUITY. QUALITY
SUCCUMBED TO QUICK WINS.
AND MASS APPEAL BANISHED
ALL MAGIC AND MEANING.
YOUR SUCCESS IS LEGENDARY.
YOUR HOME SHOULD BE, TOO.
YOU DESERVE BETTER THAN STATUS QUO.
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![[CLAIRE-ESPARROS]_StudioMHLI_75ABond5721.jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7ec4a2_53a2bf4503e04db2b2832beab439edaf~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_147,h_206,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,blur_2,enc_avif,quality_auto/%5BCLAIRE-ESPARROS%5D_StudioMHLI_75ABond5721.jpg)
THE MHLI EXPERIENCE
SIMPLER.
SMARTER.
UNMISTAKABLY
BETTER.
Convenience
Full-spectrum service from first ideas to fully-realized home.
Optimization
Visual & aesthetic cohesion informed by opportunities and constraints.
Access
An exclusive global network of elite builders, artists and artisans.
Customization
Elegantly executed, site-specific solutions tailored to your profile.
Curation
Hand selected premium finishes, furnishings, art, and decor.
Advocacy
High-touch, dedicated client care and construction representation.
Security
Expertise to mitigate the risks of navigating unfamiliar processes alone.
Transformation
Revolutionary spatial identities crafted for elevated, easy living.
We know you're out there slaying dragons, stacking accolades, and commanding your industry. And when you return from hopping time zones on red-eyes or inking that IPO, you want to drop anchor in a safe harbor. Step into a vision that fuels your ambition. Enter a castle of unparalleled distinction. Find sanctuary for your grandest dreams.
That's why we've made iconic residences for modern living our specialty, with a clear, simple, proven path to get there. We craft a fantasy of how you want to live then engineer it for how you actually live. Signature homes without the stress. You grant approvals, we handle the rest.
Don't gamble with your future. Let us take you there in style.
Different from them.
Better for you.
Exclusive Access
Skip the queue to world-class artisans and dealers, limited-edition works and custom capabilities. Our creations are free of retail and wholesale, mass-produced, to-the-trade furnishings to ensure your home reflects your exacting standards, status, and sensibilities.
Expert Leadership
Align your scope, timeline, sequence, and investment from the start. Our proprietary Essence Extractor discovery system delivers consistent results and proactively mitigates endless revisions, late-stage changes, cost overruns, and unnecessary project delays.
Effortless Experience
Make informed decisions confidently while we manage project complexities quietly and throughly on your behalf. Our streamlined design phase and white-glove service are built to actively defend your time against disturbance and your investment against inferior execution.
View Before
Boreum Hill Townhouse
Essential Value
Optimization
Visual and functional cohesion informed by opportunities and constraints.
Curation
Hand selected, premium finishes, fittings, furniture, art, and decor.
Customization
Limitless personalization through site-specific design tailored to your profile.
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Convenience
Full-spectrum service from first ideas to fully-realized home.
_edited.jpg)
Transformation
Revolutionary spatial identities crafted for elevated, easy living.
Advocacy
High-touch, dedicated client care and owner representation.
Security
Expertise to avoid the risks of navigating complex unfamiliar processes alone.
ESSENTIAL VALUE
ALL OF THE BENEFITS.
NONE OF THE FRICTION.
Time. Privacy. Peace of mind.
Life's true luxuries.
We guard yours fiercely while delivering all the perks you never even considered. Here's what you can expect with an MHLI parternship.
HE IS A VISIONARY, AN ARTIST, AN EXECUTOR WHO
DELIVERS RESULTS BEYOND ANYTHING YOU COULD
HAVE IMAGINED.
HILARY P., BROOKLYN, NY
Marc Houston
Founder + Creative Director
AT THE HELM
I'm here for the renegades.
The mavericks.
The rebels.
After 25 years in this industry, I know that rewards captured while exploring the unknown far outweigh results achieved through convention. I've honed my instincts by charting a course before others can envision, enduring the resistance of the current, and creating entirely new realities from hard work, imagination and grit.
That's how iconic homes come to life.
My design entrepreneur journey is textbook: 1) pay your dues at top notch London and NYC firms, 2) bruise your knuckles in the various pots of interior design, lighting design, furniture design, product design, and project management, 3) get fired on a boss's whim or recruited to a more prestigious firm and, 4) repeat ad infinitum.
While spinning in that unsustainable cycle, I quickly tired of churning out cut-and-paste projects to satisfy metrics, profits and principals' egos. More importantly, in my roles I couldn't connect directly with clients, find out what makes them tick, and learn about their curiosities, fears and aspirations—the critical components of the intensely personal and sacred crusade that is building a home.
I founded my studio to bring the very best the world has to offer to those who recognize quality inherently, revere ingenuity and, like me, run from mediocrity. To inspire those who crave a revolutionary experience of home that captures their unique essence, not a showroom concept recycled for the masses. To design for one-of-ones, not everyone.
For 15 years I've helped CEOs, film directors, TV personalities, real estate developers, private equity managers and beyond to capture their most authentic expression in homes that exceed their wildest imaginations. In that time, I've learned that a bond of mutual trust is essential to fuel the personal excavation and limitless vision from which truly signature spaces are built. I want to partner with those for whom only the rarest and the finest will do—who insist on not just different, but distinct.
SIMPLER.
SMARTER.
LET'S GET PERSONAL
SPACE TRANSFORMATION & LUXURY LIFESTYLE SPECIALIST
I'm a proud Bostonian (less the accent) with severe wanderlust.
Among the cities in which I've taken up residence, London solidified my affinity for Indian food and my Italophilia. On that note...
Italians do it better.
And by 'it', I mean everything. Italy is both heaven on earth and mecca of enduring style. Expect Italian-designed furnishings to show up in your design presentation.
Distance biking and weight training keep me sane.
I'm a speed junky who enjoys my 30-mile loops around Manhattan and Houston and pilgrimages from Boston to Ptown. A Dolomites bike tour and a luxury gym project are on my bucket list.
I cut my teeth selling lighting to architects.
My first design job while attending the UofMD was at a contemporary lighting showroom in Washington, D.C., where my innate interest in interiors exploded. I still geek out on lighting, which means you'll benefit from my encyclopedic knowledge of the coolest fixtures on the planet.
My mother was my principal.
And I wore a tie to school from first grade. The takeaways: attention to detail (and grammar) was ingrained in me from youth, and I feel equally at home in a Full Windsor as I do a hard hat.
As an ex-Evangelical and recovering cult member...
Not much phases me. Comparatively, gut renovations are a walk in the park.
Inside the studio...
There's likely a mix of 90's hip hop, film scores, Motown, tango, Chopin, and Tori Amos playing. She's my personal Jesus.
Outside the studio...
You can find me bingeing historical, biographical, and war documentaries or happily sweating over a stove. I'm a whiz in the kitchen and select clients have been invited to my admittedly fabulous dinner parties.
In another life...
I'd direct music videos or compose film scores. For now, designing baller homes absolutely lights my fire.
I WANT TO PARTNER WITH THOSE WITH WHOM ONLY THE RAREST AND THE FINEST WILL DO. WHO WANT NOT JUST DIFFERENT, BUT DISTINCT.
Our SIGNATURE style is the ONE WE DESIGN EXCLUSIVELY FOR YOU.
Our creations reflect decades-honed expertise, dedication to detail, and deep bonds of trust that allow us to capture your most authentic expression in your most sacred spaces. With the artistry and authority of a master couturier, we tailor each of them to the unique contours of your life.
![[CLAIRE-ESPARROS]_StudioMHLI_75ABond5927.jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7ec4a2_d5a956ed241e4f058f3057332f5294da~mv2.jpg/v1/crop/x_3622,y_439,w_3840,h_5179/fill/w_78,h_105,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,blur_2,enc_auto/7ec4a2_d5a956ed241e4f058f3057332f5294da~mv2.jpg)
Boreum Hill
"Marc Houston Designed This Brooklyn Townhouse with a Focus on Art, Color and Whimsy"
Our Signature Service
We do more than design homes. We define spatial identities.
Our brand of luxury merges function and fantasy in one-of-a-kind homes that capture your most authentic expression from the moment you cross your threshold until your head touches your pillow. Success for us is elevating even your most mundane routines into rituals of ease and delight.
Central Park Pied-à-terre
View Before
The makings of iconic homes.
Who we serve
We partner with high-net-worth homeowners who value clarity, artistry, and ingenuity. We work best with those who:
• Recognize design is an investment
• Seek elevated, custom interiors over trends
• Respect expertise, trust and decisive leadership
• Have a significant project and thoughtful timeline
• Share our values and confident, cosmopolitan aesthetic
Our clients are doctors, lawyers, entrepreneurs, hedge fund managers, TV and film producers, C-suite executives and other professionals with full lives who prefer to fully delegate their project to an expert who'll orchestrate all details on their behalf.
What we do
We provide bespoke, done-for-you, high-end residential design and full scale implementation for renovations, new builds, and full-home furnishing of primary and secondary homes, penthouses, pied-à-terres, estates and legacy properties.
Why we do it
We crave magic or over mass appeal, imagination over imitation, and quality over quick wins. We dream of immersive, transportive experiences that stimulate the senses, summon emotion and stand distinctly above the crowd. We're compelled to bring them to life.
MHLI
TIES ALL THE
DAUNTING PIECES OF
DESIGN TOGETHER
to turn THE ORDINARY
INTO EXTRAORDINARY.
MHLI TIES ALL THE
DAUNTING PIECES OF
DESIGN TOGETHER TO
TURN THE ORDINARY
INTO EXTRAORDINARY.
Select Work
Back Bay
Boston, MA
Windsor Hills
Los Angeles, CA
Courthouse
Washington, DC
Marina Bay
Boston, MA
West Village
New York, NY
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Central Park Pied-à-terre
View Before
Every experience with us guarantees:
Transformation is our technique.
Signature is our standard.
View Before
You're running a multi-million dollar investment fund, but your home office is more college student than CEO. We've got power moves for power brokers.
View Before
A primary bathroom with a miniature tub, finishes from 1998, and a shower stall that attacks your forehead every morning. We're your best line of defense against bad design.
Our only style is the one we design exclusively for you.
Each of our unique creations reflects decades-honed expertise, dedication to detail, and deep bonds of trust built with our clients to excavate their most authentic expressions in the spaces they hold sacred. We know that these life-changing transformations demand mastery of infinite calculations, anticipation of opportunities and challenges, unwavering focus, and a proven strategy. And just like a couturier structures and stitches with artistry and authority, we tailor your home to the unique contours of your life.
MARC IS LIKE YOUR FAVORITE THERAPIST—KIND AND PATIENT WHEN YOU'RE FEELING HESITANT BUT ALWAYS NUDGING YOU TOWARD THAT ONE-OF-A-KIND VISION.
Signature is our standard.
You deserve more than a cut-and-paste space. And because we find our greatest opportunity in impossibility, that's exactly what you'll get.
We're defiantly different.
We'll always ditch the obvious choice for the one-of-a-kind. On this ride, you can expect the thrill of cutting-edge over the familiarity of tradition.
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We're disciplined to detail.
We sweat the small stuff because the details are the design. Every element we select is deliberate. Every puncutation we place is precise.
Worth the wait.
We'll never sacrifice quality for speed or artistry for convenience. Your long-term satisfaction with your home is our priority.
We're defiantly different.
We'll always ditch the obvious choice for the one-of-a-kind. On this ride, you can expect the thrill of cutting-edge over the familiarity of tradition.
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We're disciplined to detail.
We sweat the small stuff because the details are the design. Every element we select is deliberate. Every puncutation we place is precise.
Signature is our standard.
You deserve more than seen-it-already spaces. And because we find our greatest opportunity in impossibility, that's exactly what you'll get.
Worth the wait.
We won't sacrifice quality for speed or artistry for convenience. Your long-term satisfaction with your home is our priority.
FAQ
WORKING WITH MHLI
We specialize in high-end residential interiors, including primary residences, vacation homes, penthouses, estates, and legacy properties. Our work primarily involves full-scale renovations, new construction, and comprehensive furnishing projects, though we selectively accept furnishing-only engagements when aligned.
Our approach is rooted in exceptional craftsmanship, definitive artistry, and the pursuit of innovation. Every project begins with understanding how you live, entertain, and retreat, resulting in interiors precisely calibrated to feel both elevated and deeply personal. We favor longevity over trends and believe true luxury is as radically individual as it is effortless.
While our work is recognizable for its refinement and attention to detail, we don't impose a signature look. Each home we design is a distinct reflection of its owner, architecture, and setting. Our role is to translate your vision into a cohesive, enduring environment.
We value mutual trust, decisiveness, and open communication. The most successful projects are true partnerships built on shared vision and respect.
PROCESS, EXPERIENCE & COMMUNICATION
Clarity, efficiency, and excellence at every stage are our ultimate aims. We understand the demands of busy professionals and our priority is to ease rather than labor their existing commitments. Our process is highly structured and fully managed for the full project life cycle, and we act as your single point of oversight to coordinate with architects, builders, and artisans. You can learn the details of our process here.
Our clients value a concierge-level experience, where decisions are streamlined and thoughtfully curated. We act as owner's agent to guide you through key milestones while handling the details and managing complexity behind the scenes on your behalf. Protecting your time, energy, and peace of mind is our priority. You can learn more about our ideal partnerships here.
You can expect clear, concise, and timely communication throughout the project whether through written updates, mutually scheduled meetings, or direct contact. Emergent communication is made through a private, team-managed digital forum while weekly updates are furnished via email.
INVESTMENT & FEES
We believe transparency and alignment are essential to a successful partnership. Our fee structure reflects our experience, access and results and are customized based on project scope, scale, and complexity. These design fees are clearly outlined in your Proposal for Services prior to engagement, and are separate from an established minimum investment for furniture and materials purchased through MHLI which is a condition for our engagement.
Our clients understand that thoughtful design is an investment in quality of life, property value, and longevity. During our consultation, we discuss expectations, priorities, and typical investment ranges to ensure alignment. We establish financial allocations early and manage them proactively throughout the project while carefully tracking expenditures as the project evolves. Our team provides clear guidance on where to invest for maximum impact and long-term value.
PRIVACY & DISCRETION
Yes. We regularly collaborate with estate managers, personal assistants, security teams, and household staff to ensure smooth execution with minimal disruption.
Discretion is fundamental to our practice. We don't publish client identities or information without explicit permission, and we are happy to work under NDAs. Many of our most notable projects remain entirely private.
GETTING STARTED
The process begins with a brief questionnaire, Clarity Call, and paid consultation with Marc to align on your goals, timeline, and scope. We want to ensure mutual benefit, an experience that exceeds expectations, and results reflective of our portfolio. You can begin the process here.
Before we begin...
Interested? Let's discuss.
Begin with your Discovery Profile.
Click below to share your details.
FAQ
STAY IN TOUCH
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MHLI is a full-service, Black-owned boutique specialized in luxury residential renovations, new builds and comprehensive furnishing projects. Read more
STAY IN TOUCH
Give your inbox something to look forward to.
MHLI is a full-service, Black-owned boutique specialized in luxury residential renovations, new builds and comprehensive furnishing projects. Read more
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Clients We Serve
HOMEOWNERS
Primary Residences & Vacation/Secondary Homes
We attend walk-throughs with your real estate broker to assess prospective properties and advise you in new construction planning meetings with your architect or builder
RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPERS
Single Family & Multi-unit Dwellings
We establish aesthetic direction for premium standalone residences, condominiums and rental units including selection of finish materials, plumbing fittings and lighting fixtures
COMMERCIAL DEVELOPERS
Hospitality, Retail & Workplace
We develop holistic experiential concepts for restaurants, hotels, boutiques and corporate headquarters including brand strategy, furnishing packages and art curation.
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Marc understood my style and what made me feel at home, perhaps even better than I did. Any change that he suggested in the early days felt radical to me, but once I made the leap, he helped me find a sense of freedom in a space that had come to feel more like a museum than a home.