Home Interview Bailey Elaine Hue Gah

If cozy vibes are your thing or you are at all curious about what it takes to start a home goods brand, read on for some insightful information from the founder of the brand HueGah - Bailey Elaine.

Tell us about yourself:

My name is Bailey. I am an artist. I work in tech as my day job. I just moved to L.A. I started Huegah Home this past October. I have my art portfolio and I started to talk to suppliers and look at design for home stuff. I was photographing them with my art work because I wanted better photos with my art portfolio. Everyone was saying: “oh my god I want that!” So I thought maybe I should use my art as the style for a home store. I really love interior design. I know a lot of people like interior design whether they’re interior designers or not. I moved into my apartment in New York a couple years ago. This was in the pandemic and I was bored, with nothing to do. I redid the whole thing. I really like that and I think a lot of people do. But you don’t have to be an interior designer to enjoy that. It took a couple months. I built a wall. I repainted everything.

About Hygge:

I discovered this word because I was on a work trip last year in Copenhagen and we have family friends there. I kept seeing this word and I could not pronounce it because of how it is spelled—HYGGE. I rarely don’t understand how something is pronounced. The word makes so much sense to me: cozy energy. When you go somewhere at a restaurant or at home, it’s not sleepy, but it’s cozy and sort of romantic. Even if you’re by yourself. It makes you want to wake up every day, or just happy to be in a room. I thought that really described my style and it described the feeling you get when you design a room or decorate in a place that you love.

I spell huegah how you say the word Hygge. It is a Danish word and it is used everywhere. We don’t have a word like that in English.

Favorite elements of hygge:

Everything is timeless. A lot of the pieces bring joy. They can fit in any home. A lot of them are statement pieces. Favorite word element is cozy. Good energy. Positive energy. You don’t want to leave the place. I lived in New York for a long time. My favorite nights would be if we (my friends and I) were at a nice restaurant or whatever and had good energy. You get another drink because you don’t want to leave. That’s how I want someones home to feel. A lot of people have dinner parties now. Or they have people over. I want someone’s space to make it feel like you don’t want to leave.

Top 3 Home Interior essentials:

1. Good lighting. In my shop you can find a lot of different lighting fixtures whether it be for the wall or table or whatever. I have a lot of candlestick holders, things like that. If you don’t have good lighting from the outside, making good lighting.

2. Natural elements of stone, linen, whatever it is.

3. Having some special pieces, not so generic. Something that means something to you.

Favorite romantic comedy interiors:

In Mad Men, I loved the different time periods that it went through. I loved seeing everyone’s home and office spaces and how it changed over time. It is not a romantic comedy, but there is romance and to me it is really funny and interesting. That is definitely one of my favorite series and it really inspires a lot. During different time periods you still have things today that might resemble something from that time period or was designed in that time period. It just goes to show how important timeless design is.

There is a scene from Mad Men where they had a house party, and they had the couch that was in the middle of the room, but it was built into the floor. I just loved that scene. The best part is that their space was made for entertaining. It was just so cool. I think people are trying to do that now with their space, have it better for entertaining in the home rather than going out. People realize it’s just as fun entertaining than going out. They’re equally as great. The culture for a while was to go out and that stopped for a bit.

Advice for a minimalist:

Have some things minimalist and for some things don’t be nervous about color or anything like that. If you want to be minimalist and not have much, maybe have a little bit of color. And vice versa for someone who is a maximalist. It makes such a difference when you don’t have clutter or things with words on them. Books are fine, but you don’t realize how things might look until you put everything away.

I’d say I am in between a minimalist and maximalist. In New York, I was more of a maximalist. Now that I have more space, I try to be more minimal.

Tips for making the home more romantic:

Candles. It’s such a small thing, but if you line your walls with fake candles in a hallway or in front of a mirror, it really makes a difference in the home. It’s kind of spa-like. It looks nice and it doesn’t look fake.

3 things learned since starting Huegah:

1. Listen to yourself. You will know if you enjoy what you are doing because it won’t feel like work. It is important to take a break, go for a walk. If you like what you are doing, you should acknowledge that and continue to pursue that.

2. Customer service is very important. It’s one of the most important things. You might not have a good product, maybe people don’t like it and that’s totally fine—it helps you actually. It is important to have good customer service. Even if something goes wrong, if you give good customer service they will most likely be a returning customer.

3. Always follow your personal choices. Don’t do things because you think other people will like them. I stand by that with my products and when I was in sales working for a fashion company, you wouldn’t suggest something you wouldn’t wear yourself or you wouldn’t have in your own home. Brands do this, but they always try to think they’re leaving out these people when they do this. You start to lose your brand when you don’t pick things that you don’t like yourself or that you would not choose.

Advice for other female entrepreneurs:

Don’t be afraid to make big decisions, but at the same time start small. Don’t be overwhelmed. If you just think about the end goal you’re not going to start. You’re not going to get there. I started something so small; I just did candle stick holders. Even if I sold something for $20, I’d think that’s amazing. Even if someone liked a photo –that is amazing. If you can do that 1 time, you can do that 200 times. I always hear men are better at taking risks, but something I saw the other day is that women are more calculated. We calculate risks more. That is not a bad thing. Women should trust their sense of risk-taking more.

Do you romanticize your life:

I definitely do. Related to home, if you drink coffee or tea in the morning every day, don’t drink from whatever cup. Love every single cup you have. You’ll enjoy cooking more. Every day, treat yourself like that.

Some ways to make a home a cozy sanctuary:

Lighting. It’s very important and I don’t think its focused on enough. If it’s night