Instagram Stories: Orlando Soria

Orlando Soria's impeccable interiors will make you wish he was your designer, but it's his addictive and hilarious Instagram feed that will make you want to be his BFF. After getting his start as HGTV star Emily Henderson's savvy sidekick on Secrets From a Stylist, he's forged his own way—with a little help from social media—as the founder of the beloved blog Hommemaker, and West Coast Creative Director of online decorating service Homepolish. The upstart, which has more than earned its buzz, dismisses the uppity reputation of interior design in favor of accessibility, a mission Soria just so happens to practice and preach. His refreshingly real—and pee-your-pants funny—Instagram is like a detox from the overly curated feeds of many lifestyle gurus, complete with sprawling, confessional-style captions about the joys and struggles of renovating his new home (#OrCONDO) and caps-locked dispatches about the latest and greatest in design, styling travel, food, art, and hot guys.

THe Improper 'Grammer

"My posts are definitely off the cuff. Having them be playful and crazy is important to me because I've never been a fan of people who act perfect without irony. Like a lot of "lifestyle" Instagrammers and bloggers, one of my icons is Martha Stewart, who I think adds an ironic edge to what she does. If you watch her old TV show she totally makes jokes about her divorce and just acts real. That makes her more interesting to me than someone who's saccharine and sweet to everyone."

THe Design Philosophy

"My goal with decorating is to make spaces feel as natural and individual as I can. I'm not a big fan of living in froofy, designy places. What I try to do with clients is figure out what appeals to them on an aesthetic and emotional level and make their space look like that. So if they're super bookish and academic, they might respond to a space that looks like a professor's brownstone on the Upper West Side."

THe Signature Hashtag

"I'd have to say #victim is my favorite hashtag. It started as an inside joke with my friends, but people have really taken to it. To me it's just a way of poking fun at people who can’t see that their problems are totally trivial in the scheme of things. Naturally, as I've been working on my own condo renovation recently I've had the urge to whine about it, and I always catch myself and remind myself not to act like a #victim about something that ultimately is such a huge luxury." 

The good, the bad, and the Naked

My favorite thing to Instagram is my beautiful home state of California. I love going to new parts and sharing them with my followers. My biggest Instagram pet peeve is gay guys who pose shirtless for no reason whatsoever. They'll be standing in front of the new Whitney Museum in New York, or standing in front of the Eiffel Tower, and I'll be like 'WHY ARE YOU SHIRTLESS?' That is not to say I'm 100% anti-selfie. I post them sometimes to remind people who's behind the voice that's SCREAMING at them.