March 6, 2025 • 45 mins
Over the summer Lisa sat down with local interior designer, and author, Erin Gates! They discussed her book, Taylor Swift and Erin gave tons of amazing design advice. You'll need to hear what she has to say!
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hey, Welcome to Lisa's book Club, a podcast where I
interview best selling authors from the New England area, pulling
back the curtain on what it's really like being a
best selling author. They're guilty pleasures, latest projects, and so
much more.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Hey, welcome into Lisa's book Club podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
A few months ago, we sat down with local interior
designer Aaron Gates. She's an author, and we were at
joson Maine, and we couldn't believe when she told us
that one of the Kardashians I think it might have
been Chloe, actually has Aaron.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Gates's book on her coffee table.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
And Aaron told us the whole story behind that, her
love of Taylor Swift, and she gave us so many
great design tips.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
So I hope you enjoy this podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
I'm sitting next to a beautiful woman, our author guest,
local author guest, Aaron Gates is here with us.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Thank you, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
But you're not just an author, you are an interior designer,
you are a blogger, You're an influencer. You have several
product lines which I know jos and Man carries among others. Yes,
within the family, the Wayfair Family so welcome.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Thank you. Thanks, It's exciting.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Aaron walked in and I was just like, wow, she
looks like a supermodel, right, thank you. Absolutely gorgeous inside
and out. The book that I read. You have two
out right now. I know you're working on a third.
This is the book that I read. This is like
the Bible. I feel like this was incredibly written. It's beautiful,
(01:35):
the photographs are beautiful. I could talk to you all night,
but I do have specific questions. So you were just
in London.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
I was. She went to Taylor Swift.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
I did, and I'm just swifty such and she didn't.
She didn't, And I've converted my husband and my nine
year old son and like I can die happy.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
So that's great.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
No, So you saw Taylor Atul, I did, and then
you saw her in London.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
So which one did you like better? Gillette? Gillette?
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Because mostly because I was in the fifth Throw and
she was like in my lap and that was insane,
and it was my first Taylor Swift experience.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
But also it was.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Like hometown, you know, yeah, like more into I mean
London's London was incredible and it's I mean, I flew
all the way there to go see her.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
And she also sat next to du Alipa at dinner.
I did, Yeah, I.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Was Nott Taylor Latner, let's not forget okay, and maybe
liked Twilight.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Yeah, so you had an incredible cup was on.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
The other side and nobody recognized him. Everyone's like to
Alipa and I was like, guys.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
I'm team Edward.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
But Jacob is right there and he was Taylor's ex boyfriend, so.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Yeah, that's a big deal.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
I was actually telling Billy Costa, who's here tonight, and
Justin and Winnie from the Billy and Lisa in the
Morning Show, they're here to support I can't believe it.
Justice here midweek, which is so amazing, and Billy's here
because Billy loves dwo days and pillows. But I was
telling him. But I was telling them this morning. I said,
(03:17):
you know that Aaron Gates, like she basically met Dualipa
and Taylor Latner at dinner and They're like.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
No way, who is this woman coming to the book club.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Yeah, so great's a very random, random happening where I'm
just sitting at dinner and look up and I'm like,
oh my god, oh my god, my husband's like who.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
So let's talk about the book and design. How long
did it take you to write your first book. My
first book took me nine months to write. I had
no children, I had two employees, no one, and so
that was you know, I just sat down at all
the time in the world wrote the first book.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
It was great.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Not to be repeated, but I have to say that
everything in the book is so personal. It's very personal,
which I really liked, and I like the way that
you wrote it in your voice, because you approached it
like we all approach design. I mean, I have to
say I'm I don't know what I'm doing, you know,
when I'm trying to pick out a sofa or whatever.
So I think you approached it in such a really
(04:24):
easy way for people.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
And then you like a lot of personal stories. You
put some family.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Recipes in there when you were talking about how to
redo your kitchen, so it was really beautifully done.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
I think home is like such a personal space, and
that's part of why I love doing what I do,
is that your house really tells your story, or it should.
I think people get very intimidated by working with designers,
thinking they're going to get judged and it's it is
a very elitist field, I will say. So. Really, my
whole angle with my blog and with this first book
(04:59):
was trying to make it feel friendlier and more approachable
and more like a girlfriend giving you advice as opposed
to like somebody dictating from their ivory tower, which throw
pillows you should put on your sofa. And so I
wanted to feel super personal and it was just like
a new thing that hadn't been done yet, and so
it was an exciting, scary prospect to put out there.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
You do a lot on you started out with a blog,
I mean years and years, like in two thousand and seven. Yeah,
so you were on it earl og. Good for you
and you said you posted every day. So how my
first question to you is how has social media? How
has online sort of you can google anything, you can
(05:41):
look at Pinterest for ideas.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Has that helped your field? Because people think they know
what they want when they walk in, or at least
they have pictures of what they like.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
That is the most helpful thing I think is someone
coming to me with like a whole Pinterest board of inspiration.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Is because it's hard to explain.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
What you want and you know the old school way
of going through magazines and come, you know, having tear
outs and right. So like someone can just send me
their Pinterest board and I'm like, oh, I get. I
can see trends. I can see even if they can't
articulate what they want, I can visualize. I had a
client who was like recently, was like, I want to
(06:19):
do chrome in my kitchen and I was like, are
you sure because you send me eighty five pictures of kitchens.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
With brass and I can't help.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
And she's like oh, and I was like, yeah, you don't.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Like chrome, you like brass.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
And sometimes it just takes compiling stuff, so that has
made it helpful. It has been harder because everybody is
inundated with like what's new, what's new, what's new, what's new,
and so you like it's a slow process. So you
like go down one lane where someone's like I really
want this, and then something else comes out and it's
(06:56):
all over social media. It's all over Pinterest, and they're like,
can we pivot? And I'm like not really, Like it's
not like fashion where you can just like toss out
that shirt and buy a new one, which is why
you know, I'm more of a classicist about great design.
But I do think it has helped, I mean marketing
wise for my business huge. I've never paid for an
(07:16):
AD in my entire career. Everything I've gotten is through
the blog, then social media, word of mouth. Like it
is just it's amazing, but it's also kind of evil.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
So you mentioned like it's not like buying a dress
like you know, fast fashion and stuff like that. So
how do you help your client sort of pick the
pieces that are going to stay with them a while?
And then my second question is we talked about this
on the phone the other day. How because it seems
like right now I see a lot of creams and beige's.
(07:53):
So how does the industry or is there like this
one person who decides whatevery color, what the color is
going to be of this year?
Speaker 2 (08:02):
That way? It does? Does that way?
Speaker 3 (08:05):
How do you get like the pantone color of the
year on that No, not that one.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
No, I think it's well.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
I mean fashion and interiors are just they're just linked
forever in history and will be forever. So fashion does
predict what interiors trends will be.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
So like I'll look at.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
Runways, you know it'll be like you know, Resort twenty
twenty six or whatever, and you see that there's a
trend and where they got that from.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
I have no idea.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
I mean, there are trend forecasters that get paid to
pick colors and stuff. But you can start. You can
look ahead at future like fashion runways or collections and
kind of guess like, oh, Chartruth is going to be big,
and you'll see it trickle down.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
To interiors really quickly. These days.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
I think it's everything is happening so much faster. And
I think also with you know, with my clients, if
somebody is a hard time articulating to me what they like,
what colors they like, what they don't like, we will
say like, well, what do you wear, what do you
love to wear? What colors do you buy all the time.
Let's go in your closet. Let's see what is hanging.
If I go in a closet and it's all black,
(09:14):
beije and linen, I'm gonna be like, I don't think
you want, you know.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
A sharkch or sofa? Right makes sense?
Speaker 3 (09:21):
If I go in and there's just color and pattern everywhere,
I know that that's somebody who's gonna be comfortable living
in color and pattern in their home. But you know
you have to kind of mix like timelessness with trend,
invest in the classics, spend a little bit less in
the stuff that's going to transition and be in be out.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
So we talked about going into your closet, So you're saying, so,
go into your closet, look at what your clothes are.
That will help you pick a color palette a palette.
So what is the most important piece that people should
invest in if they've got five thousand and dollars?
Speaker 3 (10:01):
We always, always, always say where you spend most of
your time will be your sofa. It will be where
you watch TV, where you hang at night that is,
and it's something you sit in you feel you touch.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Unlike art, I mean art.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
You know you can buy high, you can buy low,
or rugs or side tables or accessories. Those you're not
like cuddling up with as sofa has to withstand daily
use abuse look pretty. So we're always saying, like, buy
the very best sofa you can. Second to that would
be beds and dining tables. Those are the big ticket spend.
(10:43):
Once spend well, it'll hurt one time. Just rip the
band aid off. It's better than buying bad twice. That's
always when someone's like struggling with the price, I'm like.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Is that what you love?
Speaker 3 (10:56):
It's classic buy it now, because if you buy the
half priced take that you only kind of like because
it's half price, you're gonna buy another one. You're gonna
buy that table you liked originally, and you're gonna spending
a lot more money.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
It's very, very true. It's very true.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Well, so in my next book, well, I've done it too,
I've done it too well.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
In the book, you talk about these sort of design fails,
and then you've had a couple. Oh yeah, of course.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
So what do you do if, like you didn't measure
correctly for the sofa, the sofa comes to the house,
it does not fit through the door.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
Right. It happened to me at least three times, even
though I've checked. There are furniture doctors who can come
to your house and they will somehow. I don't watch
it happen because I'm scared, but they somehow cut it
into pieces and put it back together in your space
and it looks exactly the same. Thank god for those guys.
(12:00):
There's also Facebook marketplace.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
Now, yeah, that's true, And.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
I saw stuff on my Instagram if anyone's looking for
when I mismeasure, no, I mean there's a lot of
resale opportunity. If you've made a mistake, admit the mistake.
Don't try to live with something you really don't like
or doesn't fit and try to sell it. Recoup some losses,
learn the lesson the hard way. We've all done it.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
Are there any sort of design pet peeves that you have?
Speaker 3 (12:30):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (12:30):
My God, like, give me your well, I have so
many right, so much like your What are your top three?
Speaker 3 (12:36):
Top three? Number one would be rugs that are too
small for a room. If I come into a room
and there is what we call rug island, which is
when there's a very tiny rug in a living room
with a coffee table on it and nothing is touching it,
that's rug island. Your rug is too small. You need
your rug to You need all your furniture, your seating
furniture to have two legs at least on your rug. Okay,
(13:00):
it makes a room look bigger, so go as because
you can with rugs. It makes everything look bigger. The
second one, and I told you this is going to
be on my headstone. Hang your drapes as high to
the ceiling as possible. It will make your ceilings look
so much taller. There is nothing that shortens the room
more than hanging a rod right above the molding on
(13:20):
your window. Hang it two inches below your crown. Get
some drapes that are extra long, take them to your
dry cleaner, have them to tell them how many inches
to take off. Easy piece. You don't have to do
custom if that's not in your budget.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Just it really is like it changes a room, It
really changes the room.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
The other one is people buying too small furniture, people
being scared of scale, especially in small places, and buying
full size furniture even in tiny rooms and tiny spaces,
makes it actually feel bigger. It's higher, but trust me,
and rooms without furniture and them look so much smaller
than they actually are. And so if you come in
(14:01):
you're like, this room is so small, and then you
put a king bed in there, and you're like.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Wait a second, can't have a night's dance? Like all right, it's.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
If you don't have Like if you are walking into
your living room tonight or your TV room, whatever you
call it, and you're like, you know what, I need
a little refresh right, and I don't really want to
spend a lot of money. We have our resident pillow
guy in the back. I see him at back there,
Billy Costa.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
And the only way I got him to support your addiction.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Was because he's addicted to pillows and duvets. And I said, Billy,
there are a lot of pillows at josin Maine, so
you have to come. Yes, thank you guys again for coming,
all of you, Billy, Justin, Winnie and producer Riley. But
to Billy's point and to your point, because you talk
about it in the book, pillows like there is an
obsession with it, and there can never be too many pillows, right.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
I mean there, I mean they're cavvy, but there's always
more than my husband would like.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
I'll just put it that way.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
You know, there's I always want them in pairs on sofas.
I want, you know, a big lumbar on the bed.
I love, I love, I love pillows. So what's the
rule of thumb though for pillar pillows?
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (15:18):
Just sort for me if I'm doing a sofa or
a sectional, well, so I'll start with the sofa is
like you have a bigger pillow in the back, usually
like a twenty two incher Okay, twenty four maybe if
it's a really big deep sofa and then you have
like a twenty inch pillow in front. The back is
usually a pattern or a smaller nut. Pattern is a
solid or a smaller scale or a texture.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
Yeah, I actually have some example texture here.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Here we be you could be my vana we have
I am so this is These are off from josin
Maine available. This is actually this fabric Adrian told me
is from a it's from a local company.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
Awesome, this fabric which is really awesome.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
So I usually do a solid or a texture in
the back and then a pattern in the front. And
you have to mix scale like texture like this, so
mixing texture scale size of pillow in sectionals. I do
(16:18):
pairs in each corner on a bed. I really like
a big lumbar. Throws are also like awesome to a
hide stains on your sofa. You can tuck them in nicely.
They look very custom also great with dogs.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Dogs and kids, and they're great gift too. Who spilled red?
I mean that's like a nice thing.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
Great gift and this feels like amazing incredible and like
these pillows like I was, this one's this feels really
nice one and this one's fifty three dollars, like, so you.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Don't have to go crazy, and this is totally doable.
And I will.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
Say warm tones, way way way in warm tones, warm tones,
which I said I would ever decorate in purple and
pink and red and guess what I'm doing all of those?
Speaker 1 (17:06):
All right, all right, so now we know that we
have to hang our drapes high. You also set in
your book, don't buy a furniture set.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Yeah, no, can you be more specific on that? Love?
Are we talking dining room sets? What are we talking about? Well?
Speaker 3 (17:23):
Both, Okay, the worst offender is a bedroom set because
you don't want to buy everything.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
It's easy.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
I understand why people do it. But whenever I come
into a client's home and they have a set, I
break it up. I'll take the bed and put different
nightstands with it. I'll take those nightstands put them with
a different bed. Because it just looks like you walked
into a store and said I don't want to think
creatively out of the box.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
It's not.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
It doesn't look custom to you. It doesn't look personal.
It looks like a catalog or hotel. So I will
I'll do sometimes I'll do nightstands that coordinate with a dresser,
but the bed is a polster to the bed is
a totally different material. Or I'll do a bed, you know,
like a bed, and then everything's separate.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
I've never done a matching, but can like, like regular
people like, can we do this?
Speaker 1 (18:19):
Yes, Like I don't even know it, but it's like,
just do that, Like how can we start?
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Like what's a good starting point?
Speaker 3 (18:27):
A good starting point? I would say start with your bed.
That's the biggest, you know thing in a bedroom would
be your bed. I love an upholstered bed. I'm not
a huge woodbed person. So if you start with a
postered bed, it can just be a solid linen or
a solid color. It can be whatever you're drawn to.
And then I like to mix like a wood finish
(18:47):
and then a painted finish, so like white night stance
and a wood dresser wood night stance, and they can
be any wood finish. They can be light, dark, whatever.
And then maybe the dresser is more of a paint.
It could be a color, could be blue, could be white,
could be beige. But I think mixing up the finishes.
I like having upholstery, wood and painted or glass all
(19:09):
in one kind of room and mixing it up.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
And she's big into white duvets.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
Yes, that's all she buys all I buy wine.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
Because a lot of people, I'm sure are scared of that. Right.
You said your husband doesn't really like.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
He hates them because he's like, well, then you can't
use self tanner. And I was like, I have a
bedding line. I will get as many duvets as I
want to get, and I will just keep replacing them.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
Stop. But you can bleach.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
I mean you can bleach, although don't do it when
you have a contrasting border on your bedding.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
No, you can't do that, right, No, But it just
looks crit to me.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
It just feels crisp, like hotel like it just always
kids rooms all do colored. My son is a chambray duvet,
but my four year old has a white duvet with
a green border. I just I just it looks so
welcoming and clean and crisp.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
And I don't know, it's why you like the hotel
bed Yeah.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
Right, And my new favorite thing is sending my duvet
to the dry cleaner and having it pressed. It's like
my new I just started doing it for photo shoots
and I came home and I was like, oh my god,
it's like I'm at a hotel.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
It's amazing. That's a hot tip. It's good, it's great.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Is there one room in a home that's the most
important room that you should really focus your energy on?
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Your kitchen? The kitchen? H really?
Speaker 3 (20:32):
I mean I feel like everybody lives in their kitchen.
I feel like if you whenever I'm in someone's home,
I'm like, where do you spend ninety percent of your time?
It's kitchen, family room. It's right there. Like in my house,
it's the same thing. Like we spend all of our
time in our kitchen, in our family room. And so
I think that's where I focus most of the budget.
(20:53):
When I'm redoing a house, will be primary bathroom, bedroom,
family room.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
I don't know about you guys, but we live in
New England and we have a lot of smaller, you know,
New England style colonial homes with that tiny little dining
room you know what I'm talking about.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
Which in my house we never use. I know, what
can we do about that?
Speaker 1 (21:15):
How can we reimagine the space or how can we
use it more.
Speaker 3 (21:19):
We've had clients turn formal dining rooms into offices, into dens,
into playrooms. I've had because they're usually right off the kitchen,
and if you don't have a family room in open
concept kitchen family sometimes the dining is the closest space,
so you turn it into like a family room den.
(21:41):
But I am a big proponent of a formal dining room.
I will okay, I know, oh their old fashioned, but
I barely use mine.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Yeah, I love it so much. It just makes me happy.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
I don't know, it's when you do use it, it
just feels I feel.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
Like a grown up.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
Finally forty five that they have a dining room.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Renters a lot of people renting apartments and they want
to make their apartment feel like them, like them, like themselves.
What are some good tips you can give someone that's
easy to do, that's not gonna make the landlord mad well.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
I mean, I'm gonna say, paint, even though I know
some people are scared, but you can always repaint and
it makes such a difference, like even in non renters,
like just changing your paint color and please test, test, test, test, like, yeah,
every time of day, every wall, put up a tester
before you commit, so you don't have to do it twice.
(22:39):
Because what's on that chip is not how it's gonna
look on your wall.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
It's so true, your not any different.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
I always go, if you like what's on the chip,
look at the one above it. That's a like a
shade lighter. That's what you actually want, because it's gonna
look darker on your wall than it looks on the chip.
But I think, like painting and just committing to repainting
before you leave, there are so many amazing things for renters.
Now's there's like stick on tile, there's for floors and backsplashes.
(23:09):
There's like ways you can refinish countertops that are removable.
I think like changing the hardware in a kitchen is
a huge thing that you can do. You can go
to home depot and get great looking hardware for not
much money, take it with you when you leave, you know,
change it out. I think there's so many you know,
adding drapery. I know it's like drilling holes, but you
(23:31):
can fill those in easily. Like that's not something that's
going to keep you from getting your security deposit back.
So try to make it as personal as possible and
then just know you're going to do a little work
before you leave.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
Yeah, these are all really good ideas. I have so
many questions.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
All right, So you talked about paint colors in the
book she has she lists her you have, Like, what
twenty thirty paint colors that are your go tos? What
would be the one paint color that everyone should have
in their home, Like is there a specific design or white?
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Like is there a white people like you use? We
don't know about.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
No, I'm sure a lot of pain I would say
for this area, my most used color is Benjamin Moore
white dove.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
There's a reason we all use it. Yeah, that's good,
it's great. It's great.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
It's great for Milberk, Capito tree. It's like a slightly
off weight, it's not like really stark. That's the one
we use the most, simply white being the second. And
then for a neutral, I use Benjamin Moore winds Breath
or Classic ray all the time as a light neutral
(24:48):
that's not too warm, not too cool, right in the middle,
not too dark, very refreshing, very subtle. Paint everything that
color in the main hallways and living areas and it'll
look great.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
The stream will be available and kiss oneaway dot com
so all of these you can go back and watch
it and you can just you know, write down notes after.
I just want to mention that. So let's talk in
the book. You talk a little bit about wedding registries,
you talk about nurseries. We have our emas here. I
don't know if Courtney's still here. We have our book
club baby and she has in the back. Have have
(25:25):
nursery designs changed at all?
Speaker 3 (25:28):
I think people have gotten way more, way less juvenile
in their nursery designs. It's less like wallpaper borders and
cutesie you know, like cartoon animals. It's much more transitional
because you want, you know, when you're designing the space,
at least when I design nurseries, which is like my
favorite thing to do, you want it to feel like
(25:49):
they can grow with the child, at least up to
a point, so you can add cutesy things in, like
through art and prints and sheets and duffed animals and
all of those things, but keeping the room kind of
a space where you could strip all that back and
it would be a great guest room, or it would
be a great you know, older kids room, so you know,
(26:12):
I designed these rooms always to kind of grow with
the kids, and there's ways their loves change every five minutes,
so you can't, you know, if you design a whole
room after like I don't know, cocomelan like it's gonna
change next week and then you're screwed. So you know,
add like a little print and a little stuffy.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
In your very good wedding registries.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
So you hated the china that you registered for back
in the day, I think we can probably all really right.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
Still in my basement. Anyone wants it.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
So what are the trends in that, like what can
you how can you sort of help someone who's getting
married or you know, I started.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
Thinking about hired to start to pick someone's wedding client
of mine, yes, which was actually like smart of her bedding, china, dishware,
you know, glassware. She's like, you've done my house here,
what are we putting in here? And I was like,
oh yeah, like yeah, I'd say, like don't be afraid. Well,
(27:13):
when it came to like I know, people don't do
formal I don't know if people still do formal wedding China.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
I don't think so. I don't think so. I wish
I had.
Speaker 3 (27:22):
I was like nervous and I just got very basic
like something and didn't go for something really cool and
interesting that I would feel felt really special. I don't
think people are doing that anymore. I would say, just
again like timeless, classic basics, like you've got to you know,
don't go to trendy with other stuff. Register for high
(27:43):
end stuff that maybe you can't afford yourself, that someone's
gonna treat you to. Really nice duvet, really nice billy,
really nice towels, really nice you know, like linen napkins.
You're not gonna buy those for yourself, so like they're
nice to have, even if you only use them twice.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
Here, what about hostess gifts?
Speaker 1 (28:05):
Because I know we get all get invited to people's
homes and you're like, you're tired of bringing the same
types of things. So what can you add to the
bottle of wine? The seller is wine. I see a
lot of things here at jos and Maine that would
be awesome hostess gifts.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
I just got the cutest hostess gift from a girlfriend
who brought me a bottle of wine Vintage and four
vintage cocktail glasses and little vintage linen cocktail napkins like
that she found in an antique shop and they weren't expensive.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
Really wanted to impress you.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
She's my photographer, so she knows me, but like, no,
I know, but it was really lovely and thoughtful, like
just in it doesn't have to be vintage. But like
if you buy a bottle of wine, get a really
cute like wine stopper and tie it with a ribbon,
or get like you know.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
Or get like a chiller like a little cutting board.
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
There's ways to just like package together little things. I
always think like little linen cocktail or funny cocktail napkins
are fun.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
And you can buy them in bulk too, right, so
you have them ready? Yes?
Speaker 3 (29:09):
Yes, I do actually really like doing that, buying cute
little linen cocktail napkins and having them like right, ready
to go, and then you just.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
Tie it on to that bottle of wine. It's great.
Off you go.
Speaker 3 (29:19):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
Now I kind of want to switch gears a little
bit and talk about you a little bit. So we
talked about like you don't have time to watch TV,
but do you have a favorite design show that's on
right now that if you had time you would be watching.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
There aren't any oh h h No, I would never
do TV. I don't. I haven't really, you know.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
I'm more of a podcast magazine girly, but I don't
watch GG like I don't watch design shows because I
just get really mad.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
Well, because is it because they're not real?
Speaker 3 (29:55):
It's not true. I mean, the numbers are always like
three times smaller than they to be. The timeline is
totally impossible. It just like makes my job so hard.
That's what they're trying to convince people that you can
do a kitchen renovation in six weeks, and you cannot.
You cannot, let me tell you. Sometimes they do it
in twenty four thousand dollars.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
Like that's just not a thing. Like property Brothers are liars.
Speaker 3 (30:19):
Yeah, I love and I love Chip and Joanna, but.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
Maybe in Waco, but not in New England. Baby. Yeah,
it's so true. Twenty grand does not get you as
far as you wish it would. It doesn't. And you're right,
the timelines, it must make your job so much harder.
Speaker 3 (30:37):
Yeah, they're like, what do you mean it's gonna take
six months? And like that's how long it takes to
gut and renovate a kitchen and a bathroom, Like that
really is like you have to account for mistakes, you
have to account for delays, you have to account for
finding crazy stuff in your walls.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
That you didn't know was there.
Speaker 3 (30:52):
You know, it's just you have to build in those
added times and those added budget items.
Speaker 2 (30:58):
It's just not true. So I just can't. I can't it.
Just I get so strong. Oh, I totally get it.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
Uh Well, I want to ask you this question because
you brought up sort of the timelines and the contractors,
so I think we can all relate here that if
you've ever hired a contractor, God bless you, if you
have one that you've been totally happy with and they've
showed up hanging on and they've finished the job. But
(31:30):
there are a lot that don't, and it's frustrating. And
I feel like you could talk to anyone in this
room and everyone has a story right about this person
just made me right, right? So are there any tips
going into a new project, Like how can you maybe
help this not to happen as much?
Speaker 2 (31:49):
So I think? And why does it happen?
Speaker 3 (31:51):
It's really I don't know. I'm I don't like talking
on the phone or like reaching out to people. I
don't know, but checking references is actually a must with
contract and builders and asking those clients that they've recommended,
what were some things that frustrated.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
You about the process.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
What do you think they're really good at, what do
you think they should be could be better at, so
that you know, going in like they're not great with communication,
and setting some kind of preferred communication standard, which is email,
is it text? Is it a weekly meeting in person?
I think you know, when the with the build process,
communication is the ultimate key, and it's it makes or
breaks relationships because that's where everyone gets upset or you know, disappointed.
(32:33):
And I think after COVID and dealing with builders that
had hired subcontractors that weren't up to snuff because they
were so slammed they were just hiring whoever they could.
Just making sure that you're asking, you know, who are
you using have you worked with them before? Who are
you shopping all this workout to? Other than that, I
(32:55):
think on your end, not demoing or not starting your
project until all your materials are in. We're doing a
kitchen right now, and we are not demoing for a client,
and we are not demoing until the cabinets are done
and on site. All the appliances are at the appliance warehouse,
everything's the tiles in. Then your contractor has no excuse
(33:17):
for off days or delays. Everything's there, ready to go.
It's just you can't do everything that way. Sometimes you
have to demo to get the right measurements. But if
you can get as much as possible in for them
before they even start, the excuses go out the window.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
All right.
Speaker 3 (33:35):
It keeps the keeps them on sight because they're not
going to another job, and whence they leave for another job,
getting them back is like pulling teeth.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
So yeah, and it's happened to a lot of us.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
Who's your favorite celebrity, Like your favorite celebrity that has
amazing design sense?
Speaker 2 (33:52):
Oh? God, not Taylor Swift? But I love her. She's
not not design. What's her problem?
Speaker 3 (34:01):
I don't know, No, God bless her. I just I
don't look for her to her for esthetic things. Who
has great taste? I mean, I know people are gonna growan,
but Gwyneth Paltrow does have really good taste? Does she
does her houses? Her houses are just awesome. She hires
great designers. I think she just does have really really
good taste, So she does. She would be in my
(34:23):
top three right definitely. What's your dream project to work on.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
A boutique hotel? Easy?
Speaker 3 (34:33):
I want to do like a twelve to fifteen room
cute boutique hotel. So if anyone knows anyone, Yeah, that's
my dream.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
Yeah, you're getting right out there. Yep, I know you
gotta mat you see the Aaron Gates suite. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
I want to mention that Aaron does a lot of
local collabse. You did one with m Flynn Mariah and
her sister Megan, local jewelry store in.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
The South ND. You do beautiful Yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
So I love that you keep it local. You like
share that, Yeah, like you share your vision and I
love that that you continue to do that.
Speaker 3 (35:08):
I just wanted to mention that to work with other
talented people and not try to just keep it all
under my brain, you know.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
Yeah, No, it's great. I love it.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
You have another book coming out, I do. Can you
tell us a little bit about that? Is there a
working title?
Speaker 2 (35:24):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (35:24):
So it will hopefully come out September twenty twenty five,
which is forever.
Speaker 2 (35:29):
But how does that work? Like do you submit the
manuscript and then they look through it?
Speaker 3 (35:35):
Like? Yeah, so, I mean with the first book. The
first book did so well that a week after it
came out they offered me a second book deal, which
I took. That took a couple of years. That book
came out, they offered me a third. Oh no, I said,
no more books ever, ever, ever, ever, because it just
was such a different process once I had kids in
a bigger business and it was social media had blown up,
(35:57):
and it's really hard because you have to hold your
work back for years. While you work on a book,
you can't share it on social media.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
It has to be.
Speaker 3 (36:05):
My first book had to be one hundred percent never
seen before images. A second book was seventy five percent.
This new book is fifty percent. So they've at least
become more reasonable. But financially, I can make more money
on social media than I can with a book deal.
Sometimes not that one.
Speaker 1 (36:19):
But we'll talk because you said, this one still gets photographed,
like you still see it all over and why is it?
Speaker 3 (36:25):
Because of the YEP, which I had to fight for.
They did not want the stripe spine and that's honestly,
the reason that book has sold so many copies is
because it's odd's graphically, and I predict to them, I
want it. I want people to read my book. But
I also some people just want to buy it because
I think it's pretty and looks nice on their shelf.
It's a whole nother market you have to tap into,
you know.
Speaker 2 (36:45):
Like, where's the coolest place you've seen this book? All
the Kardashians have it. No, woh, that's so cool. That's amazing,
Kelly Wursler.
Speaker 3 (36:56):
Yeah, Joanna Gaines was in like a whole seat, so
she kept you using it.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
In her show, so like that is some brac catalog.
Speaker 3 (37:03):
But it's also like prop stylists love it because it's oh,
it's been on only Murders in the building. My husband
was like positive, He's like, that's your book, and.
Speaker 2 (37:13):
I was like, oh my god, it is. I literally
died when I loved that show. So yeah, that was
like the cool That for me was the callest. Everyone
has to buy just to look at it. Nothing else.
Speaker 3 (37:28):
No, but my publisher was like, you can't read the title,
and I was like, I don't care. I want people
to recognize it. Based on you know, like impact, visual impact,
and I was right, which is great. Now, yeah, but yes,
the third book is called Elements of Timeless Style and
it's about renovating and creating a forever home. So it's
(37:48):
about investing in permanent residence or you know, as permanent
as we can be. I bought my house during COVID
and I, you know, it was instagramming like this is
my forever house. And my pub my editor said, I
know you said no more books, but I think this
house is a book and I was like m And
(38:11):
then they offered me a amount of money.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
That's what they do, and I was like, well, I've.
Speaker 3 (38:16):
Done having kids now, so I'll have time. It's been
four and a half years writing that book.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
But yeah, it's amazing. It'll be worth it. It's awesome. Well,
hopefully you'll come back and do another book.
Speaker 1 (38:27):
I want to take questions from you guys from the audience.
Does anyone have anything.
Speaker 4 (38:35):
So you made mention of the curtains, and I totally agree.
I just wall papered my living room, kitchen, entryway and
a very expensive grass cloth and I had the curtain
(38:57):
hangar come to hang the Roman curtains that I had
custom made, and I anticipated them being up above the windows,
as you mentioned, and he screwed them into the.
Speaker 3 (39:16):
Casing inside mount or outside mount? Are they inside the
window frame or are they outside the window frame?
Speaker 5 (39:23):
They are outside it.
Speaker 4 (39:25):
And he screwed it into the calding, into the molding
so that he wouldn't ruin.
Speaker 5 (39:32):
The Now I should have him. I should have them raised.
Speaker 3 (39:38):
Hopefully the Roman shade will cover whatever hole. I mean,
you can have it patched obviously painted the molding. But yeah,
and it should be wide enough that it's an inch
or so beyond the frame of the window, so it'll
hang over which it is. That's good, it is. You
can fix it. It's fine.
Speaker 2 (39:55):
Have him.
Speaker 3 (39:56):
They kind of they'll have to make sure it's long enough,
you know, when it's full, because.
Speaker 5 (40:00):
It's on a curve as those south end, so.
Speaker 2 (40:11):
It might be harder.
Speaker 3 (40:12):
That was. That's a big wrench in because the curve
might be a different degree.
Speaker 2 (40:17):
Radio like I.
Speaker 5 (40:19):
Won, the wall won't continue any but I.
Speaker 2 (40:21):
Ask them to come back and try. Then they can
fix it.
Speaker 5 (40:24):
Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 2 (40:26):
Anyone else you may have to speak up, yeah loud,
thank you?
Speaker 3 (40:39):
Oh yeah, okay, yep, yep, yep. So I actually go
over this in my new book.
Speaker 2 (40:55):
But it's a great question. Let's let's like repeat the question.
Speaker 3 (40:59):
Just so is a big like has a lot of
molding and trim, and I painted everything. The molding, trim, fireplace, mantle,
everything is this pale blue gray color and it's a
very like English British look, and it again helps make
a room look ceilings not taller. It just makes it
(41:20):
look very grand in my opinion. So when you get
to the casing, I'm gonna try to This is the
inside of my living room where everything's painted.
Speaker 2 (41:30):
Here's the flat and then the other side.
Speaker 3 (41:34):
You stop it on the edge, and then that flat
part in the middle of the case opening is white,
and so is the other side.
Speaker 2 (41:44):
No, no, no, no.
Speaker 3 (41:45):
I have lots of painted trim in my house, and
that's always the rule is keep the color just to
the inside of that the casted openings, and then that
flat part and the opposite side are the same color.
And that's that's how you transition it. I know it's confusing,
it's it's a little strange.
Speaker 2 (42:03):
Good question.
Speaker 6 (42:06):
Hy yep, yep, yep, yep, oh yep.
Speaker 3 (42:41):
A buffet sideboard, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (42:54):
Yeah, it's tough. So it's basically, what do you deal
with the family heirloom? Yeah, that you don't like it,
I don't like it anymore.
Speaker 3 (43:04):
Yeah, I think if the sentimentality is gone, it's free
to go. Like, if it's something that just pains you
to get rid of, make it work.
Speaker 2 (43:14):
But if you really don't like it.
Speaker 3 (43:16):
I mean, I've done this with my own I'm not
a sentimental person when it comes to objects, and I've
gotten rid of all sorts of things. I sometimes do
it with my husband's at work. I highly recommend that
he came home one day and he's like, well, happened
to the sideboard that's on the cut this one that
we got for seventy five dollars out of flea market,
(43:37):
And I like protected it with my whole body while
he went to the ATM and I sold it for
a lot of money and he was like, and I
was like, I sold it and.
Speaker 2 (43:48):
He got over it.
Speaker 3 (43:49):
So sometimes it's a matter of just like showing them
what it looks like. But maybe it's like, hey, let's
try moving it out and see how you feel like
not getting rid of it, just moving it out into
the next room or into the drive way or whatever
and then taking a baseball bat to it.
Speaker 2 (44:02):
I don't know, you can do it. You can do it.
Speaker 3 (44:07):
I don't know, or being you know, it's your grandmother.
It's not if it were his, that's a whole different situation.
Speaker 2 (44:13):
But it's your family piece.
Speaker 3 (44:17):
So like, maybe show him some options online of like
what else there is and how you can put those
same objects in other storage places and how it would look, and.
Speaker 2 (44:29):
Or offer it to another family member.
Speaker 3 (44:31):
Yeah, I'd be like, Oh, my sister really wants it.
He'd be like, you don't have a sister.
Speaker 1 (44:40):
Is there another quick quick question right here, what a
right tyler would for a kitchen close.
Speaker 3 (44:49):
Would other than I've done, like a large scale checkerboard
marble floor or marble looking tile that looks amazing in kitchens.
But other than that option, I have yet to. I
mean it's coming like, there are a lot of things
coming back that are interesting, like more of like torazzo
(45:10):
stuff and different kinds of tiles. I just like the
grout lines. I just I don't know in a kitchen.
It makes me concerned. I love wood floors in a kitchen.
So if given the option, ninety nine percent of the
time I'll do wood.
Speaker 2 (45:25):
Yeah, that makes sense. One other quick question.
Speaker 3 (45:28):
Yep, Benjamin Moore whales gray. It's beautiful. It's like not
baby blue, It's like a grown up light blue kind
of gray. Although right now I'm really wanting to repaint
the whole room blush, but I won't.
Speaker 1 (45:43):
Hey, thanks for listening, and don't forget This Saturday, we
do a bonus chapter where we talk about everything we're reading,
everything we're watching, so definitely check that out this Saturday
Hey, Welcome to Lisa's book Club, a podcast where I
interview best selling authors from the New England area, pulling
back the curtain on what it's really like being a
best selling author. They're guilty pleasures, latest projects, and so
much more.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Hey, welcome into Lisa's book Club podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
A few months ago, we sat down with local interior
designer Aaron Gates. She's an author, and we were at
joson Maine, and we couldn't believe when she told us
that one of the Kardashians I think it might have
been Chloe, actually has Aaron.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Gates's book on her coffee table.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
And Aaron told us the whole story behind that, her
love of Taylor Swift, and she gave us so many
great design tips.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
So I hope you enjoy this podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
I'm sitting next to a beautiful woman, our author guest,
local author guest, Aaron Gates is here with us.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Thank you, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
But you're not just an author, you are an interior designer,
you are a blogger, You're an influencer. You have several
product lines which I know jos and Man carries among others. Yes,
within the family, the Wayfair Family so welcome.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Thank you. Thanks, It's exciting.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Aaron walked in and I was just like, wow, she
looks like a supermodel, right, thank you. Absolutely gorgeous inside
and out. The book that I read. You have two
out right now. I know you're working on a third.
This is the book that I read. This is like
the Bible. I feel like this was incredibly written. It's beautiful,
(01:35):
the photographs are beautiful. I could talk to you all night,
but I do have specific questions. So you were just
in London.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
I was. She went to Taylor Swift.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
I did, and I'm just swifty such and she didn't.
She didn't, And I've converted my husband and my nine
year old son and like I can die happy.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
So that's great.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
No, So you saw Taylor Atul, I did, and then
you saw her in London.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
So which one did you like better? Gillette? Gillette?
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Because mostly because I was in the fifth Throw and
she was like in my lap and that was insane,
and it was my first Taylor Swift experience.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
But also it was.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Like hometown, you know, yeah, like more into I mean
London's London was incredible and it's I mean, I flew
all the way there to go see her.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
And she also sat next to du Alipa at dinner.
I did, Yeah, I.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Was Nott Taylor Latner, let's not forget okay, and maybe
liked Twilight.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Yeah, so you had an incredible cup was on.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
The other side and nobody recognized him. Everyone's like to
Alipa and I was like, guys.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
I'm team Edward.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
But Jacob is right there and he was Taylor's ex boyfriend, so.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Yeah, that's a big deal.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
I was actually telling Billy Costa, who's here tonight, and
Justin and Winnie from the Billy and Lisa in the
Morning Show, they're here to support I can't believe it.
Justice here midweek, which is so amazing, and Billy's here
because Billy loves dwo days and pillows. But I was
telling him. But I was telling them this morning. I said,
(03:17):
you know that Aaron Gates, like she basically met Dualipa
and Taylor Latner at dinner and They're like.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
No way, who is this woman coming to the book club.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Yeah, so great's a very random, random happening where I'm
just sitting at dinner and look up and I'm like,
oh my god, oh my god, my husband's like who.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
So let's talk about the book and design. How long
did it take you to write your first book. My
first book took me nine months to write. I had
no children, I had two employees, no one, and so
that was you know, I just sat down at all
the time in the world wrote the first book.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
It was great.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Not to be repeated, but I have to say that
everything in the book is so personal. It's very personal,
which I really liked, and I like the way that
you wrote it in your voice, because you approached it
like we all approach design. I mean, I have to
say I'm I don't know what I'm doing, you know,
when I'm trying to pick out a sofa or whatever.
So I think you approached it in such a really
(04:24):
easy way for people.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
And then you like a lot of personal stories. You
put some family.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Recipes in there when you were talking about how to
redo your kitchen, so it was really beautifully done.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
I think home is like such a personal space, and
that's part of why I love doing what I do,
is that your house really tells your story, or it should.
I think people get very intimidated by working with designers,
thinking they're going to get judged and it's it is
a very elitist field, I will say. So. Really, my
whole angle with my blog and with this first book
(04:59):
was trying to make it feel friendlier and more approachable
and more like a girlfriend giving you advice as opposed
to like somebody dictating from their ivory tower, which throw
pillows you should put on your sofa. And so I
wanted to feel super personal and it was just like
a new thing that hadn't been done yet, and so
it was an exciting, scary prospect to put out there.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
You do a lot on you started out with a blog,
I mean years and years, like in two thousand and seven. Yeah,
so you were on it earl og. Good for you
and you said you posted every day. So how my
first question to you is how has social media? How
has online sort of you can google anything, you can
(05:41):
look at Pinterest for ideas.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Has that helped your field? Because people think they know
what they want when they walk in, or at least
they have pictures of what they like.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
That is the most helpful thing I think is someone
coming to me with like a whole Pinterest board of inspiration.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Is because it's hard to explain.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
What you want and you know the old school way
of going through magazines and come, you know, having tear
outs and right. So like someone can just send me
their Pinterest board and I'm like, oh, I get. I
can see trends. I can see even if they can't
articulate what they want, I can visualize. I had a
client who was like recently, was like, I want to
(06:19):
do chrome in my kitchen and I was like, are
you sure because you send me eighty five pictures of kitchens.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
With brass and I can't help.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
And she's like oh, and I was like, yeah, you don't.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Like chrome, you like brass.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
And sometimes it just takes compiling stuff, so that has
made it helpful. It has been harder because everybody is
inundated with like what's new, what's new, what's new, what's new,
and so you like it's a slow process. So you
like go down one lane where someone's like I really
want this, and then something else comes out and it's
(06:56):
all over social media. It's all over Pinterest, and they're like,
can we pivot? And I'm like not really, Like it's
not like fashion where you can just like toss out
that shirt and buy a new one, which is why
you know, I'm more of a classicist about great design.
But I do think it has helped, I mean marketing
wise for my business huge. I've never paid for an
(07:16):
AD in my entire career. Everything I've gotten is through
the blog, then social media, word of mouth. Like it
is just it's amazing, but it's also kind of evil.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
So you mentioned like it's not like buying a dress
like you know, fast fashion and stuff like that. So
how do you help your client sort of pick the
pieces that are going to stay with them a while?
And then my second question is we talked about this
on the phone the other day. How because it seems
like right now I see a lot of creams and beige's.
(07:53):
So how does the industry or is there like this
one person who decides whatevery color, what the color is
going to be of this year?
Speaker 2 (08:02):
That way? It does? Does that way?
Speaker 3 (08:05):
How do you get like the pantone color of the
year on that No, not that one.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
No, I think it's well.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
I mean fashion and interiors are just they're just linked
forever in history and will be forever. So fashion does
predict what interiors trends will be.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
So like I'll look at.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
Runways, you know it'll be like you know, Resort twenty
twenty six or whatever, and you see that there's a
trend and where they got that from.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
I have no idea.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
I mean, there are trend forecasters that get paid to
pick colors and stuff. But you can start. You can
look ahead at future like fashion runways or collections and
kind of guess like, oh, Chartruth is going to be big,
and you'll see it trickle down.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
To interiors really quickly. These days.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
I think it's everything is happening so much faster. And
I think also with you know, with my clients, if
somebody is a hard time articulating to me what they like,
what colors they like, what they don't like, we will
say like, well, what do you wear, what do you
love to wear? What colors do you buy all the time.
Let's go in your closet. Let's see what is hanging.
If I go in a closet and it's all black,
(09:14):
beije and linen, I'm gonna be like, I don't think
you want, you know.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
A sharkch or sofa? Right makes sense?
Speaker 3 (09:21):
If I go in and there's just color and pattern everywhere,
I know that that's somebody who's gonna be comfortable living
in color and pattern in their home. But you know
you have to kind of mix like timelessness with trend,
invest in the classics, spend a little bit less in
the stuff that's going to transition and be in be out.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
So we talked about going into your closet, So you're saying, so,
go into your closet, look at what your clothes are.
That will help you pick a color palette a palette.
So what is the most important piece that people should
invest in if they've got five thousand and dollars?
Speaker 3 (10:01):
We always, always, always say where you spend most of
your time will be your sofa. It will be where
you watch TV, where you hang at night that is,
and it's something you sit in you feel you touch.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Unlike art, I mean art.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
You know you can buy high, you can buy low,
or rugs or side tables or accessories. Those you're not
like cuddling up with as sofa has to withstand daily
use abuse look pretty. So we're always saying, like, buy
the very best sofa you can. Second to that would
be beds and dining tables. Those are the big ticket spend.
(10:43):
Once spend well, it'll hurt one time. Just rip the
band aid off. It's better than buying bad twice. That's
always when someone's like struggling with the price, I'm like.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Is that what you love?
Speaker 3 (10:56):
It's classic buy it now, because if you buy the
half priced take that you only kind of like because
it's half price, you're gonna buy another one. You're gonna
buy that table you liked originally, and you're gonna spending
a lot more money.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
It's very, very true. It's very true.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Well, so in my next book, well, I've done it too,
I've done it too well.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
In the book, you talk about these sort of design fails,
and then you've had a couple. Oh yeah, of course.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
So what do you do if, like you didn't measure
correctly for the sofa, the sofa comes to the house,
it does not fit through the door.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
Right. It happened to me at least three times, even
though I've checked. There are furniture doctors who can come
to your house and they will somehow. I don't watch
it happen because I'm scared, but they somehow cut it
into pieces and put it back together in your space
and it looks exactly the same. Thank god for those guys.
(12:00):
There's also Facebook marketplace.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
Now, yeah, that's true, And.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
I saw stuff on my Instagram if anyone's looking for
when I mismeasure, no, I mean there's a lot of
resale opportunity. If you've made a mistake, admit the mistake.
Don't try to live with something you really don't like
or doesn't fit and try to sell it. Recoup some losses,
learn the lesson the hard way. We've all done it.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
Are there any sort of design pet peeves that you have?
Speaker 3 (12:30):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (12:30):
My God, like, give me your well, I have so
many right, so much like your What are your top three?
Speaker 3 (12:36):
Top three? Number one would be rugs that are too
small for a room. If I come into a room
and there is what we call rug island, which is
when there's a very tiny rug in a living room
with a coffee table on it and nothing is touching it,
that's rug island. Your rug is too small. You need
your rug to You need all your furniture, your seating
furniture to have two legs at least on your rug. Okay,
(13:00):
it makes a room look bigger, so go as because
you can with rugs. It makes everything look bigger. The
second one, and I told you this is going to
be on my headstone. Hang your drapes as high to
the ceiling as possible. It will make your ceilings look
so much taller. There is nothing that shortens the room
more than hanging a rod right above the molding on
(13:20):
your window. Hang it two inches below your crown. Get
some drapes that are extra long, take them to your
dry cleaner, have them to tell them how many inches
to take off. Easy piece. You don't have to do
custom if that's not in your budget.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Just it really is like it changes a room, It
really changes the room.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
The other one is people buying too small furniture, people
being scared of scale, especially in small places, and buying
full size furniture even in tiny rooms and tiny spaces,
makes it actually feel bigger. It's higher, but trust me,
and rooms without furniture and them look so much smaller
than they actually are. And so if you come in
(14:01):
you're like, this room is so small, and then you
put a king bed in there, and you're like.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Wait a second, can't have a night's dance? Like all right, it's.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
If you don't have Like if you are walking into
your living room tonight or your TV room, whatever you
call it, and you're like, you know what, I need
a little refresh right, and I don't really want to
spend a lot of money. We have our resident pillow
guy in the back. I see him at back there,
Billy Costa.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
And the only way I got him to support your addiction.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Was because he's addicted to pillows and duvets. And I said, Billy,
there are a lot of pillows at josin Maine, so
you have to come. Yes, thank you guys again for coming,
all of you, Billy, Justin, Winnie and producer Riley. But
to Billy's point and to your point, because you talk
about it in the book, pillows like there is an
obsession with it, and there can never be too many pillows, right.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
I mean there, I mean they're cavvy, but there's always
more than my husband would like.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
I'll just put it that way.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
You know, there's I always want them in pairs on sofas.
I want, you know, a big lumbar on the bed.
I love, I love, I love pillows. So what's the
rule of thumb though for pillar pillows?
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (15:18):
Just sort for me if I'm doing a sofa or
a sectional, well, so I'll start with the sofa is
like you have a bigger pillow in the back, usually
like a twenty two incher Okay, twenty four maybe if
it's a really big deep sofa and then you have
like a twenty inch pillow in front. The back is
usually a pattern or a smaller nut. Pattern is a
solid or a smaller scale or a texture.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
Yeah, I actually have some example texture here.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Here we be you could be my vana we have
I am so this is These are off from josin
Maine available. This is actually this fabric Adrian told me
is from a it's from a local company.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
Awesome, this fabric which is really awesome.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
So I usually do a solid or a texture in
the back and then a pattern in the front. And
you have to mix scale like texture like this, so
mixing texture scale size of pillow in sectionals. I do
(16:18):
pairs in each corner on a bed. I really like
a big lumbar. Throws are also like awesome to a
hide stains on your sofa. You can tuck them in nicely.
They look very custom also great with dogs.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Dogs and kids, and they're great gift too. Who spilled red?
I mean that's like a nice thing.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
Great gift and this feels like amazing incredible and like
these pillows like I was, this one's this feels really
nice one and this one's fifty three dollars, like, so you.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Don't have to go crazy, and this is totally doable.
And I will.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
Say warm tones, way way way in warm tones, warm tones,
which I said I would ever decorate in purple and
pink and red and guess what I'm doing all of those?
Speaker 1 (17:06):
All right, all right, so now we know that we
have to hang our drapes high. You also set in
your book, don't buy a furniture set.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Yeah, no, can you be more specific on that? Love?
Are we talking dining room sets? What are we talking about? Well?
Speaker 3 (17:23):
Both, Okay, the worst offender is a bedroom set because
you don't want to buy everything.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
It's easy.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
I understand why people do it. But whenever I come
into a client's home and they have a set, I
break it up. I'll take the bed and put different
nightstands with it. I'll take those nightstands put them with
a different bed. Because it just looks like you walked
into a store and said I don't want to think
creatively out of the box.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
It's not.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
It doesn't look custom to you. It doesn't look personal.
It looks like a catalog or hotel. So I will
I'll do sometimes I'll do nightstands that coordinate with a dresser,
but the bed is a polster to the bed is
a totally different material. Or I'll do a bed, you know,
like a bed, and then everything's separate.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
I've never done a matching, but can like, like regular
people like, can we do this?
Speaker 1 (18:19):
Yes, Like I don't even know it, but it's like,
just do that, Like how can we start?
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Like what's a good starting point?
Speaker 3 (18:27):
A good starting point? I would say start with your bed.
That's the biggest, you know thing in a bedroom would
be your bed. I love an upholstered bed. I'm not
a huge woodbed person. So if you start with a
postered bed, it can just be a solid linen or
a solid color. It can be whatever you're drawn to.
And then I like to mix like a wood finish
(18:47):
and then a painted finish, so like white night stance
and a wood dresser wood night stance, and they can
be any wood finish. They can be light, dark, whatever.
And then maybe the dresser is more of a paint.
It could be a color, could be blue, could be white,
could be beige. But I think mixing up the finishes.
I like having upholstery, wood and painted or glass all
(19:09):
in one kind of room and mixing it up.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
And she's big into white duvets.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
Yes, that's all she buys all I buy wine.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
Because a lot of people, I'm sure are scared of that. Right.
You said your husband doesn't really like.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
He hates them because he's like, well, then you can't
use self tanner. And I was like, I have a
bedding line. I will get as many duvets as I
want to get, and I will just keep replacing them.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
Stop. But you can bleach.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
I mean you can bleach, although don't do it when
you have a contrasting border on your bedding.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
No, you can't do that, right, No, But it just
looks crit to me.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
It just feels crisp, like hotel like it just always
kids rooms all do colored. My son is a chambray duvet,
but my four year old has a white duvet with
a green border. I just I just it looks so
welcoming and clean and crisp.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
And I don't know, it's why you like the hotel
bed Yeah.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
Right, And my new favorite thing is sending my duvet
to the dry cleaner and having it pressed. It's like
my new I just started doing it for photo shoots
and I came home and I was like, oh my god,
it's like I'm at a hotel.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
It's amazing. That's a hot tip. It's good, it's great.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Is there one room in a home that's the most
important room that you should really focus your energy on?
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Your kitchen? The kitchen? H really?
Speaker 3 (20:32):
I mean I feel like everybody lives in their kitchen.
I feel like if you whenever I'm in someone's home,
I'm like, where do you spend ninety percent of your time?
It's kitchen, family room. It's right there. Like in my house,
it's the same thing. Like we spend all of our
time in our kitchen, in our family room. And so
I think that's where I focus most of the budget.
(20:53):
When I'm redoing a house, will be primary bathroom, bedroom,
family room.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
I don't know about you guys, but we live in
New England and we have a lot of smaller, you know,
New England style colonial homes with that tiny little dining
room you know what I'm talking about.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
Which in my house we never use. I know, what
can we do about that?
Speaker 1 (21:15):
How can we reimagine the space or how can we
use it more.
Speaker 3 (21:19):
We've had clients turn formal dining rooms into offices, into dens,
into playrooms. I've had because they're usually right off the kitchen,
and if you don't have a family room in open
concept kitchen family sometimes the dining is the closest space,
so you turn it into like a family room den.
(21:41):
But I am a big proponent of a formal dining room.
I will okay, I know, oh their old fashioned, but
I barely use mine.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Yeah, I love it so much. It just makes me happy.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
I don't know, it's when you do use it, it
just feels I feel.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
Like a grown up.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
Finally forty five that they have a dining room.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Renters a lot of people renting apartments and they want
to make their apartment feel like them, like them, like themselves.
What are some good tips you can give someone that's
easy to do, that's not gonna make the landlord mad well.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
I mean, I'm gonna say, paint, even though I know
some people are scared, but you can always repaint and
it makes such a difference, like even in non renters,
like just changing your paint color and please test, test, test, test, like, yeah,
every time of day, every wall, put up a tester
before you commit, so you don't have to do it twice.
(22:39):
Because what's on that chip is not how it's gonna
look on your wall.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
It's so true, your not any different.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
I always go, if you like what's on the chip,
look at the one above it. That's a like a
shade lighter. That's what you actually want, because it's gonna
look darker on your wall than it looks on the chip.
But I think, like painting and just committing to repainting
before you leave, there are so many amazing things for renters.
Now's there's like stick on tile, there's for floors and backsplashes.
(23:09):
There's like ways you can refinish countertops that are removable.
I think like changing the hardware in a kitchen is
a huge thing that you can do. You can go
to home depot and get great looking hardware for not
much money, take it with you when you leave, you know,
change it out. I think there's so many you know,
adding drapery. I know it's like drilling holes, but you
(23:31):
can fill those in easily. Like that's not something that's
going to keep you from getting your security deposit back.
So try to make it as personal as possible and
then just know you're going to do a little work
before you leave.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
Yeah, these are all really good ideas. I have so
many questions.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
All right, So you talked about paint colors in the
book she has she lists her you have, Like, what
twenty thirty paint colors that are your go tos? What
would be the one paint color that everyone should have
in their home, Like is there a specific design or white?
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Like is there a white people like you use? We
don't know about.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
No, I'm sure a lot of pain I would say
for this area, my most used color is Benjamin Moore
white dove.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
There's a reason we all use it. Yeah, that's good,
it's great. It's great.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
It's great for Milberk, Capito tree. It's like a slightly
off weight, it's not like really stark. That's the one
we use the most, simply white being the second. And
then for a neutral, I use Benjamin Moore winds Breath
or Classic ray all the time as a light neutral
(24:48):
that's not too warm, not too cool, right in the middle,
not too dark, very refreshing, very subtle. Paint everything that
color in the main hallways and living areas and it'll
look great.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
The stream will be available and kiss oneaway dot com
so all of these you can go back and watch
it and you can just you know, write down notes after.
I just want to mention that. So let's talk in
the book. You talk a little bit about wedding registries,
you talk about nurseries. We have our emas here. I
don't know if Courtney's still here. We have our book
club baby and she has in the back. Have have
(25:25):
nursery designs changed at all?
Speaker 3 (25:28):
I think people have gotten way more, way less juvenile
in their nursery designs. It's less like wallpaper borders and
cutesie you know, like cartoon animals. It's much more transitional
because you want, you know, when you're designing the space,
at least when I design nurseries, which is like my
favorite thing to do, you want it to feel like
(25:49):
they can grow with the child, at least up to
a point, so you can add cutesy things in, like
through art and prints and sheets and duffed animals and
all of those things, but keeping the room kind of
a space where you could strip all that back and
it would be a great guest room, or it would
be a great you know, older kids room, so you know,
(26:12):
I designed these rooms always to kind of grow with
the kids, and there's ways their loves change every five minutes,
so you can't, you know, if you design a whole
room after like I don't know, cocomelan like it's gonna
change next week and then you're screwed. So you know,
add like a little print and a little stuffy.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
In your very good wedding registries.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
So you hated the china that you registered for back
in the day, I think we can probably all really right.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
Still in my basement. Anyone wants it.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
So what are the trends in that, like what can
you how can you sort of help someone who's getting
married or you know, I started.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
Thinking about hired to start to pick someone's wedding client
of mine, yes, which was actually like smart of her bedding, china, dishware,
you know, glassware. She's like, you've done my house here,
what are we putting in here? And I was like,
oh yeah, like yeah, I'd say, like don't be afraid. Well,
(27:13):
when it came to like I know, people don't do
formal I don't know if people still do formal wedding China.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
I don't think so. I don't think so. I wish
I had.
Speaker 3 (27:22):
I was like nervous and I just got very basic
like something and didn't go for something really cool and
interesting that I would feel felt really special. I don't
think people are doing that anymore. I would say, just
again like timeless, classic basics, like you've got to you know,
don't go to trendy with other stuff. Register for high
(27:43):
end stuff that maybe you can't afford yourself, that someone's
gonna treat you to. Really nice duvet, really nice billy,
really nice towels, really nice you know, like linen napkins.
You're not gonna buy those for yourself, so like they're
nice to have, even if you only use them twice.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
Here, what about hostess gifts?
Speaker 1 (28:05):
Because I know we get all get invited to people's
homes and you're like, you're tired of bringing the same
types of things. So what can you add to the
bottle of wine? The seller is wine. I see a
lot of things here at jos and Maine that would
be awesome hostess gifts.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
I just got the cutest hostess gift from a girlfriend
who brought me a bottle of wine Vintage and four
vintage cocktail glasses and little vintage linen cocktail napkins like
that she found in an antique shop and they weren't expensive.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
Really wanted to impress you.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
She's my photographer, so she knows me, but like, no,
I know, but it was really lovely and thoughtful, like
just in it doesn't have to be vintage. But like
if you buy a bottle of wine, get a really
cute like wine stopper and tie it with a ribbon,
or get like you know.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
Or get like a chiller like a little cutting board.
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
There's ways to just like package together little things. I
always think like little linen cocktail or funny cocktail napkins
are fun.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
And you can buy them in bulk too, right, so
you have them ready? Yes?
Speaker 3 (29:09):
Yes, I do actually really like doing that, buying cute
little linen cocktail napkins and having them like right, ready
to go, and then you just.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
Tie it on to that bottle of wine. It's great.
Off you go.
Speaker 3 (29:19):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
Now I kind of want to switch gears a little
bit and talk about you a little bit. So we
talked about like you don't have time to watch TV,
but do you have a favorite design show that's on
right now that if you had time you would be watching.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
There aren't any oh h h No, I would never
do TV. I don't. I haven't really, you know.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
I'm more of a podcast magazine girly, but I don't
watch GG like I don't watch design shows because I
just get really mad.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
Well, because is it because they're not real?
Speaker 3 (29:55):
It's not true. I mean, the numbers are always like
three times smaller than they to be. The timeline is
totally impossible. It just like makes my job so hard.
That's what they're trying to convince people that you can
do a kitchen renovation in six weeks, and you cannot.
You cannot, let me tell you. Sometimes they do it
in twenty four thousand dollars.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
Like that's just not a thing. Like property Brothers are liars.
Speaker 3 (30:19):
Yeah, I love and I love Chip and Joanna, but.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
Maybe in Waco, but not in New England. Baby. Yeah,
it's so true. Twenty grand does not get you as
far as you wish it would. It doesn't. And you're right,
the timelines, it must make your job so much harder.
Speaker 3 (30:37):
Yeah, they're like, what do you mean it's gonna take
six months? And like that's how long it takes to
gut and renovate a kitchen and a bathroom, Like that
really is like you have to account for mistakes, you
have to account for delays, you have to account for
finding crazy stuff in your walls.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
That you didn't know was there.
Speaker 3 (30:52):
You know, it's just you have to build in those
added times and those added budget items.
Speaker 2 (30:58):
It's just not true. So I just can't. I can't it.
Just I get so strong. Oh, I totally get it.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
Uh Well, I want to ask you this question because
you brought up sort of the timelines and the contractors,
so I think we can all relate here that if
you've ever hired a contractor, God bless you, if you
have one that you've been totally happy with and they've
showed up hanging on and they've finished the job. But
(31:30):
there are a lot that don't, and it's frustrating. And
I feel like you could talk to anyone in this
room and everyone has a story right about this person
just made me right, right? So are there any tips
going into a new project, Like how can you maybe
help this not to happen as much?
Speaker 2 (31:49):
So I think? And why does it happen?
Speaker 3 (31:51):
It's really I don't know. I'm I don't like talking
on the phone or like reaching out to people. I
don't know, but checking references is actually a must with
contract and builders and asking those clients that they've recommended,
what were some things that frustrated.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
You about the process.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
What do you think they're really good at, what do
you think they should be could be better at, so
that you know, going in like they're not great with communication,
and setting some kind of preferred communication standard, which is email,
is it text? Is it a weekly meeting in person?
I think you know, when the with the build process,
communication is the ultimate key, and it's it makes or
breaks relationships because that's where everyone gets upset or you know, disappointed.
(32:33):
And I think after COVID and dealing with builders that
had hired subcontractors that weren't up to snuff because they
were so slammed they were just hiring whoever they could.
Just making sure that you're asking, you know, who are
you using have you worked with them before? Who are
you shopping all this workout to? Other than that, I
(32:55):
think on your end, not demoing or not starting your
project until all your materials are in. We're doing a
kitchen right now, and we are not demoing for a client,
and we are not demoing until the cabinets are done
and on site. All the appliances are at the appliance warehouse,
everything's the tiles in. Then your contractor has no excuse
(33:17):
for off days or delays. Everything's there, ready to go.
It's just you can't do everything that way. Sometimes you
have to demo to get the right measurements. But if
you can get as much as possible in for them
before they even start, the excuses go out the window.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
All right.
Speaker 3 (33:35):
It keeps the keeps them on sight because they're not
going to another job, and whence they leave for another job,
getting them back is like pulling teeth.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
So yeah, and it's happened to a lot of us.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
Who's your favorite celebrity, Like your favorite celebrity that has
amazing design sense?
Speaker 2 (33:52):
Oh? God, not Taylor Swift? But I love her. She's
not not design. What's her problem?
Speaker 3 (34:01):
I don't know, No, God bless her. I just I
don't look for her to her for esthetic things. Who
has great taste? I mean, I know people are gonna growan,
but Gwyneth Paltrow does have really good taste? Does she
does her houses? Her houses are just awesome. She hires
great designers. I think she just does have really really
good taste, So she does. She would be in my
(34:23):
top three right definitely. What's your dream project to work on.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
A boutique hotel? Easy?
Speaker 3 (34:33):
I want to do like a twelve to fifteen room
cute boutique hotel. So if anyone knows anyone, Yeah, that's
my dream.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
Yeah, you're getting right out there. Yep, I know you
gotta mat you see the Aaron Gates suite. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
I want to mention that Aaron does a lot of
local collabse. You did one with m Flynn Mariah and
her sister Megan, local jewelry store in.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
The South ND. You do beautiful Yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
So I love that you keep it local. You like
share that, Yeah, like you share your vision and I
love that that you continue to do that.
Speaker 3 (35:08):
I just wanted to mention that to work with other
talented people and not try to just keep it all
under my brain, you know.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
Yeah, No, it's great. I love it.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
You have another book coming out, I do. Can you
tell us a little bit about that? Is there a
working title?
Speaker 2 (35:24):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (35:24):
So it will hopefully come out September twenty twenty five,
which is forever.
Speaker 2 (35:29):
But how does that work? Like do you submit the
manuscript and then they look through it?
Speaker 3 (35:35):
Like? Yeah, so, I mean with the first book. The
first book did so well that a week after it
came out they offered me a second book deal, which
I took. That took a couple of years. That book
came out, they offered me a third. Oh no, I said,
no more books ever, ever, ever, ever, because it just
was such a different process once I had kids in
a bigger business and it was social media had blown up,
(35:57):
and it's really hard because you have to hold your
work back for years. While you work on a book,
you can't share it on social media.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
It has to be.
Speaker 3 (36:05):
My first book had to be one hundred percent never
seen before images. A second book was seventy five percent.
This new book is fifty percent. So they've at least
become more reasonable. But financially, I can make more money
on social media than I can with a book deal.
Sometimes not that one.
Speaker 1 (36:19):
But we'll talk because you said, this one still gets photographed,
like you still see it all over and why is it?
Speaker 3 (36:25):
Because of the YEP, which I had to fight for.
They did not want the stripe spine and that's honestly,
the reason that book has sold so many copies is
because it's odd's graphically, and I predict to them, I
want it. I want people to read my book. But
I also some people just want to buy it because
I think it's pretty and looks nice on their shelf.
It's a whole nother market you have to tap into,
you know.
Speaker 2 (36:45):
Like, where's the coolest place you've seen this book? All
the Kardashians have it. No, woh, that's so cool. That's amazing,
Kelly Wursler.
Speaker 3 (36:56):
Yeah, Joanna Gaines was in like a whole seat, so
she kept you using it.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
In her show, so like that is some brac catalog.
Speaker 3 (37:03):
But it's also like prop stylists love it because it's oh,
it's been on only Murders in the building. My husband
was like positive, He's like, that's your book, and.
Speaker 2 (37:13):
I was like, oh my god, it is. I literally
died when I loved that show. So yeah, that was
like the cool That for me was the callest. Everyone
has to buy just to look at it. Nothing else.
Speaker 3 (37:28):
No, but my publisher was like, you can't read the title,
and I was like, I don't care. I want people
to recognize it. Based on you know, like impact, visual impact,
and I was right, which is great. Now, yeah, but yes,
the third book is called Elements of Timeless Style and
it's about renovating and creating a forever home. So it's
(37:48):
about investing in permanent residence or you know, as permanent
as we can be. I bought my house during COVID
and I, you know, it was instagramming like this is
my forever house. And my pub my editor said, I
know you said no more books, but I think this
house is a book and I was like m And
(38:11):
then they offered me a amount of money.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
That's what they do, and I was like, well, I've.
Speaker 3 (38:16):
Done having kids now, so I'll have time. It's been
four and a half years writing that book.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
But yeah, it's amazing. It'll be worth it. It's awesome. Well,
hopefully you'll come back and do another book.
Speaker 1 (38:27):
I want to take questions from you guys from the audience.
Does anyone have anything.
Speaker 4 (38:35):
So you made mention of the curtains, and I totally agree.
I just wall papered my living room, kitchen, entryway and
a very expensive grass cloth and I had the curtain
(38:57):
hangar come to hang the Roman curtains that I had
custom made, and I anticipated them being up above the windows,
as you mentioned, and he screwed them into the.
Speaker 3 (39:16):
Casing inside mount or outside mount? Are they inside the
window frame or are they outside the window frame?
Speaker 5 (39:23):
They are outside it.
Speaker 4 (39:25):
And he screwed it into the calding, into the molding
so that he wouldn't ruin.
Speaker 5 (39:32):
The Now I should have him. I should have them raised.
Speaker 3 (39:38):
Hopefully the Roman shade will cover whatever hole. I mean,
you can have it patched obviously painted the molding. But yeah,
and it should be wide enough that it's an inch
or so beyond the frame of the window, so it'll
hang over which it is. That's good, it is. You
can fix it. It's fine.
Speaker 2 (39:55):
Have him.
Speaker 3 (39:56):
They kind of they'll have to make sure it's long enough,
you know, when it's full, because.
Speaker 5 (40:00):
It's on a curve as those south end, so.
Speaker 2 (40:11):
It might be harder.
Speaker 3 (40:12):
That was. That's a big wrench in because the curve
might be a different degree.
Speaker 2 (40:17):
Radio like I.
Speaker 5 (40:19):
Won, the wall won't continue any but I.
Speaker 2 (40:21):
Ask them to come back and try. Then they can
fix it.
Speaker 5 (40:24):
Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 2 (40:26):
Anyone else you may have to speak up, yeah loud,
thank you?
Speaker 3 (40:39):
Oh yeah, okay, yep, yep, yep. So I actually go
over this in my new book.
Speaker 2 (40:55):
But it's a great question. Let's let's like repeat the question.
Speaker 3 (40:59):
Just so is a big like has a lot of
molding and trim, and I painted everything. The molding, trim, fireplace, mantle,
everything is this pale blue gray color and it's a
very like English British look, and it again helps make
a room look ceilings not taller. It just makes it
(41:20):
look very grand in my opinion. So when you get
to the casing, I'm gonna try to This is the
inside of my living room where everything's painted.
Speaker 2 (41:30):
Here's the flat and then the other side.
Speaker 3 (41:34):
You stop it on the edge, and then that flat
part in the middle of the case opening is white,
and so is the other side.
Speaker 2 (41:44):
No, no, no, no.
Speaker 3 (41:45):
I have lots of painted trim in my house, and
that's always the rule is keep the color just to
the inside of that the casted openings, and then that
flat part and the opposite side are the same color.
And that's that's how you transition it. I know it's confusing,
it's it's a little strange.
Speaker 2 (42:03):
Good question.
Speaker 6 (42:06):
Hy yep, yep, yep, yep, oh yep.
Speaker 3 (42:41):
A buffet sideboard, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (42:54):
Yeah, it's tough. So it's basically, what do you deal
with the family heirloom? Yeah, that you don't like it,
I don't like it anymore.
Speaker 3 (43:04):
Yeah, I think if the sentimentality is gone, it's free
to go. Like, if it's something that just pains you
to get rid of, make it work.
Speaker 2 (43:14):
But if you really don't like it.
Speaker 3 (43:16):
I mean, I've done this with my own I'm not
a sentimental person when it comes to objects, and I've
gotten rid of all sorts of things. I sometimes do
it with my husband's at work. I highly recommend that
he came home one day and he's like, well, happened
to the sideboard that's on the cut this one that
we got for seventy five dollars out of flea market,
(43:37):
And I like protected it with my whole body while
he went to the ATM and I sold it for
a lot of money and he was like, and I
was like, I sold it and.
Speaker 2 (43:48):
He got over it.
Speaker 3 (43:49):
So sometimes it's a matter of just like showing them
what it looks like. But maybe it's like, hey, let's
try moving it out and see how you feel like
not getting rid of it, just moving it out into
the next room or into the drive way or whatever
and then taking a baseball bat to it.
Speaker 2 (44:02):
I don't know, you can do it. You can do it.
Speaker 3 (44:07):
I don't know, or being you know, it's your grandmother.
It's not if it were his, that's a whole different situation.
Speaker 2 (44:13):
But it's your family piece.
Speaker 3 (44:17):
So like, maybe show him some options online of like
what else there is and how you can put those
same objects in other storage places and how it would look, and.
Speaker 2 (44:29):
Or offer it to another family member.
Speaker 3 (44:31):
Yeah, I'd be like, Oh, my sister really wants it.
He'd be like, you don't have a sister.
Speaker 1 (44:40):
Is there another quick quick question right here, what a
right tyler would for a kitchen close.
Speaker 3 (44:49):
Would other than I've done, like a large scale checkerboard
marble floor or marble looking tile that looks amazing in kitchens.
But other than that option, I have yet to. I
mean it's coming like, there are a lot of things
coming back that are interesting, like more of like torazzo
(45:10):
stuff and different kinds of tiles. I just like the
grout lines. I just I don't know in a kitchen.
It makes me concerned. I love wood floors in a kitchen.
So if given the option, ninety nine percent of the
time I'll do wood.
Speaker 2 (45:25):
Yeah, that makes sense. One other quick question.
Speaker 3 (45:28):
Yep, Benjamin Moore whales gray. It's beautiful. It's like not
baby blue, It's like a grown up light blue kind
of gray. Although right now I'm really wanting to repaint
the whole room blush, but I won't.
Speaker 1 (45:43):
Hey, thanks for listening, and don't forget This Saturday, we
do a bonus chapter where we talk about everything we're reading,
everything we're watching, so definitely check that out this Saturday
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