How to Decorate

Welcome back interior designer Meg Braff to the podcast! Meg first joined the show in 2017 to discuss her first book, The Decorated Home, and now she returns to celebrate her second book, Gracious Interiors, published by Rizzoli.

Growing up in Mississippi, Meg watched her mother and grandmother host beautiful, thoughtful parties, and she has carried that effortless Southern hospitality into her design firm. She sits down with Caroline, Taryn, and Liz to discuss how she optimizes floor plans for hosting, why every guest room needs wallpaper, and her favorite tricks for making formal antiques feel approachable.

Design for Entertaining: Meg begins every project by analyzing the floor plan to maximize how a family lives and hosts. She looks for ways to provide multiple dining options, like a small setup for six indoors or a long table for thirty outdoors, and uses elements like pergolas and outdoor fireplaces to extend the entertaining season.

The "Dress Rehearsal" Trick: A great host makes entertaining look effortless so guests never feel like an inconvenience. Meg recommends setting your table the day before to ensure you have the right counts for flatware and vases, and turning on your playlist an hour early. This allows you to be fully dressed and enjoying a cocktail right before the doorbell rings.

Thoughtful Guest Rooms: Wallpapering a guest room is an easy way to make visitors feel expected and special. Elevate the stay by clearing out the medicine cabinet, stocking it with nice toiletries, and leaving out a water carafe, a small plate of fruit, and a note with the Wi-Fi password.

Demystifying Wallpaper: Meg—who launched her own expansive fabric and wallpaper line 18 years ago—loves bold patterns, but notes that even a simple grasscloth adds necessary warmth, depth, and texture to a room lacking architectural details. She also encourages hanging artwork directly over wallpaper, provided the pieces relate to each other in scale.

Mixing Antiques & Textures: To keep formal antiques from feeling stodgy or unapproachable, Meg mixes in mid-century pieces, like brass and glass coffee tables. She also uses woven materials, like French rattan chairs, bamboo altar tables, or jute rugs, to visually lighten a room and make it feel younger.

Go-To Accessories: Meg frequently layers her rooms with vintage brass, nautilus shells, colored or clear glass hurricanes for romantic lighting, and robust collections of books to make spaces feel truly lived-in.

Also Mentioned:

Follow Meg on Instagram: @megbraffdesigns

Visit her shop in West Palm Beach on Georgia Avenue

Books by Meg Braff: Gracious Interiors and The Decorated Home

Please send in your decorating dilemmas to podcast@ballarddesigns.net so we can help you with your space! Don't forget to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss an episode.

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Welcome to How to Decorate! It has been quite a while since our last Trials and Triumphs episode, but Caroline, Taryn, and Liz are back with plenty of personal decorating updates. Between full basement renovations, bold reupholstery projects, and a very exciting upcoming video series, the hosts have been incredibly busy getting their homes in tip-top shape. Plus, learn why you should always provide your upholsterer with a detailed spec sheet—and why you might want to leave sewing box pleats to the professionals.

Taryn's Trials & Triumphs:

Guest Room Swap: Taryn officially transformed her downstairs primary bedroom into a guest room, painting the bed a beautiful muted green and bringing in some fresh floral pillows from Ballard Designs. She also finally brought up her old black picture frames from the basement to add contrast to the space.

Basement Progress: The basement walls are finally closed in with drywall. Taryn and her husband created another guest bedroom (shopping the basement for leftover furniture and adding a queen mattress) and finished a bathroom complete with a tiled standing shower.

Home Gym: Taryn finally got a dedicated workout room in the basement, requesting foam flooring, mirrors, box fans for air circulation, and a TV to check her lifting form.

New Art & Wallpaper: Taryn hung a gallery wall on the back stairwell featuring a new briny, acidic green mixed-media floral painting from AK Hardman. She also installed a botanical grid Sanderson wallpaper in her breakfast room, making the window-filled space feel like a beautiful greenhouse.

Taryn's Trial: Feeling confident after pulling her sewing machine out, Taryn spent eight hours attempting to sew her own box-pleat cushion covers for her dining chairs using a purple lilac gingham and maroon piping. It was a total disaster, looking more like a kindergarten drawing or a Catholic school skirt.

Liz's Trials & Triumphs:

House Tour Prep: The team is filming 10th-anniversary house tours for YouTube. The filming deadline gave Liz the kick in the pants she needed to finally tackle lingering projects. She replaced the original "boob lights" in the laundry room, swapped out a rusty bathroom vanity, and scrubbed and repainted her front security door.

Pillow Perfection: Liz utilized Ballard Designs' free in-house design services to help coordinate and select all the pillows for her primary bedroom.

Liz's Trial: Prepping to send her son Finn across the country for art school. They are clearing out old boxes—including one labeled "pre-move" from six years ago—and preparing for dorm life. She plans to eventually completely renovate his bedroom and bathroom, but is holding off until the dust settles from the college move.

Caroline's Trials & Triumphs:

Coffee Table Swap: Caroline decided against reupholstering a broken storage ottoman and instead purchased the Sabine coffee table from the Ballard outlet. She loves having a hard surface for entertaining snacks and a bottom shelf for styling design books.

Chartreuse Bedding: Influenced by Taryn's love of the color, Caroline added the new wavy-patterned Violet bedding in chartreuse to her dark blue bedroom.

Lamp Love: After borrowing a Sutton Tortoise mini glass lamp for the video shoot, Caroline loved it so much she bought it, pairing it with a ticking stripe brown shade to perfectly illuminate a corner of her kitchen counter.

Caroline's Trial: Caroline took a TV room ottoman to be reupholstered in a hot pink Rebecca Atwood performance fabric. Because the performance fabric looked identical on both sides, the upholsterer accidentally sewed it inside out. They fixed it quickly, but Caroline (and Taryn) advise always making a detailed spec sheet with fabric swatches to avoid confusion when dropping off furniture.

Also Mentioned in This Episode:

Be on the lookout for the How to Decorate 10th-anniversary YouTube house tours coming soon.

Ballard Designs' Free Design Services.

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We are thrilled to welcome Richmond, Virginia-based interior designer Anne Hulcher Tollett to the podcast! As the founder and principal designer of Hanover Avenue, Anne’s work has been featured in House Beautiful, Veranda, The Wall Street Journal, and Architectural Digest. She is known for designing spaces that feel deeply personal, honoring both the historic architecture of a home and the unique lifestyles of the families who live in them.

Anne sits down with Caroline and Liz to talk about how she uncovers her clients' true personal style—even retiring fabrics after using them to prevent cookie-cutter designs. She shares her secrets for choosing long-term furniture investments with "good lines" that seamlessly move from house to house, how to break out of the Pinterest algorithm trap, and why you should look to your own closet for home color palette inspiration.

Quick Decorating Takeaways:

Reveal the Client's Aesthetic, Don't Impose Yours: Anne views her job as revealing her clients' personal style rather than leaving her own design stamp on a home. To ensure a custom, couture feel for every family, her firm intentionally retires fabrics once they've been used in a project.

Break the Pinterest and Instagram Algorithm: Relying too heavily on social media can trap you in a "cookie-cutter" design loop because the algorithm feeds you more of what you've already looked at. To find fresh inspiration, look to fashion designers, historic home tours, local show houses, or museum exhibits instead.

Invest in "Good Lines": When building a furniture collection that evolves with you, prioritize pieces with beautiful, timeless silhouettes and classic lines. A high-quality piece of furniture with good lines will naturally pair beautifully with other styles and can easily transition from your first small apartment to a larger family home.

Look to Your Wardrobe for Color Palettes: If you're struggling to find a home color scheme, look at what you love to wear. Your closet naturally holds the tones, textures, and patterns you feel most confident and comfortable around.

Lower Your Artwork: A common mistake is hanging art too high up on the wall. Bring your artwork down closer to eye level or anchor it closer to your furniture to create a more intimate and cohesive arrangement.

What You’ll Hear on This Episode:

00:34 Welcome to Anne Hulcher Tollett of Hanover Avenue

01:34 Why Anne loves working across varied design styles to avoid feeling bored

02:00 The methodology behind uncovering a client's aesthetic and why she retires fabrics

05:00 Breaking free from the social media algorithm trap to find authentic design inspiration

10:00 Pulling imagery and grouping ideas onto a physical or digital board to find common threads

15:00 Scale, traffic flow, and arranging furniture at comfortable, conversational heights

22:00 Why one good piece of furniture will always go with another good piece of furniture

27:00 Buying for longevity: Navigating small apartments, first sofas, and prioritizing beautiful lines

35:00 How to translate your personal wardrobe style into your interior design palette

42:00 Managing complex family dynamics and designing spaces that adapt to kids and lifestyle changes

48:00 Lighting lessons: Dealing with fixtures that look pretty but don't emit enough light

55:00 Hanging artwork at the correct visual height to anchor a room

01:00:00 Decorating Dilemma: Solving layout challenges, awkward dimensions, and hiding cords for off-the-wall floating furniture

Also Mentioned:

Hanover Avenue | Website

Follow Anne on Instagram: @hanoveravenue

Shop Ballard Designs

Please send in your decorating dilemmas to podcast@ballarddesigns.net so we can help you with your space! Don't forget to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss an episode.

Happy decorating!
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Welcome to How to Decorate! Today, Taryn, and Liz are joined by Lauren Wodicka, the founder and principal designer of LBW Studio based in Loudoun County, Virginia. Lauren shares her fascinating career evolution from a classically trained fine artist and gallery owner to a sought-after interior designer. We explore how she applies the principles of oil painting to interior design, the importance of knowing "when to stop," and how to intentionally collect antiques that give a room a lived-in soul.

Quick Decorating Takeaways:

Treat Rooms Like Paintings: Apply fine art principles like tone, composition, and focal points when arranging furniture and decor.

The Power of the Edit: Just like an artist must know when to stop painting to avoid overworking a canvas, a decorator must know when to stop adding objects to maintain a room's intended feeling.

Embrace the "Lived-In" Look: Do not fear using natural materials like marble; pieces that get dinged and damaged over time add incredible history and charm, much like ancient Italian palazzos.

Invest Wisely: Dedicate your budget to long-lasting statement pieces like beautiful lighting fixtures, antique mirrors, and solid dining tables. You can save money on easily swappable items like lamps, ready-made pillows, or heavily used kitchen chairs.

Master the Gallery Wall: When hanging multiple pieces of art, keep your spacing uniform by using a standard three-inch gap between frames to create a sense of visual organization.

Go Big in Small Spaces: Powder rooms and small foyers are perfect jewel boxes for bold mural wallpapers, giving you maximum visual impact without a massive square-footage cost.

What You’ll Hear on This Episode:

00:34 Lauren’s background as a fine artist, studying in Florence, and opening an art gallery in Old Town Alexandria.

08:17 How formal training in oil painting directly translates into creating balanced interior design floor plans.

12:12 Tips for editing a room to ensure spaces feel full yet purposefully restrained.

17:28 How to pull design inspiration out of clients who aren't quite sure what their style is.

20:57 Adding longevity and character to your home by mixing fresh new pieces with crusty, gilded antiques.

26:01 Finding affordable antique art and the rules for styling large gallery walls.

30:33 Deciding between a large gallery wall and a mural wallpaper, especially in challenging two-story foyers.

34:25 Why your home should reflect your current season of life, even if that means basketballs and cleats rolling around the entryway.

41:14 Identifying which pieces are worth the investment and which pieces you should save on.

45:18 Simple ways to switch up your decor seasonally, like color-coordinating books, swapping lampshades, or introducing new custom pillows.

52:10 A heartwarming story about Lauren’s son asking to learn how to oil paint with her in the studio.

Also Mentioned:

Lauren's Studio: LBW Studio

Instagram: @lbwstudio

Send your decorating dilemmas to podcast@ballarddesigns.net

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Welcome back to How to Decorate! Today, we are joined by returning guest and Chicago-based interior designer Alexandra Kaehler. She recently published her highly anticipated debut book, A Welcome Home: Inviting Interiors, which features eight stunning homes designed for young families. Alexandra shares the behind-the-scenes process of writing her book, designing for her bold sister, and why every room doesn't need to serve every function.

Quick Decorating Takeaways:

Embrace Patterned Upholstery: A patterned sofa or sectional acts as natural camouflage for spills, making it perfect for families with kids or dogs. Patterned upholstery can also serve as the central statement piece in a small room that might otherwise feel flat.

You Don't Always Need Drapery: Sometimes skipping window treatments altogether allows strong architecture and beautiful windows to shine. This edit can prevent a room from feeling overly stuffy or sweet.

Ground Sweet Patterns with Bold Colors: If you use a delicate or sweet wallpaper, pair it with a bold, unexpected color—like an eggplant leather banquette—to keep the space from feeling too juvenile or formal.

Balance Heirloom Dining Sets: A full matching antique dining set (table, chairs, buffet, and corner cabinet) can quickly feel stuffy. Counterbalance the formality by wrapping the room in a vibrant, tropical mural wallpaper to inject lightheartedness.

Design for Your Reality: If you don't actually cook or entertain large crowds, don't design a massive open-concept chef's kitchen. Build the house for how your family actually lives, even if that means a closed-off galley kitchen with polished marble and an antique oil painting hung over the sink.

Protect the "Destination" Room: Dedicate at least one cozy room, like a formal living room with a fireplace, to be completely TV-free. This creates a designated destination for gathering, reading, and conversation.

What You’ll Hear on This Episode:

01:02 Alexandra discusses the two-year waiting process of publishing her first book and the joy of returning to design storytelling.

10:10 Designing her sister's house: Navigating a "more is more" aesthetic and fully committing to a pattern-drenched primary bedroom.

21:47 The 1920s Arts and Crafts bungalow project featuring whimsical saturated colors, a purple banquette, and a bold yellow butler's pantry.

35:49 Designing a closed-off, aesthetic-driven galley kitchen for a family that unapologetically does not cook.

46:30 Alexandra's own home renovations, the importance of floor-to-ceiling windows, and why she loves a formal living room.

54:24 The clever, double-sided hidden TV Alexandra's husband requested for their kitchen and screened porch.

01:02:05 Why Alexandra specifically chose to design her book without a fussy dust jacket.

Also Mentioned:

Book: A Welcome Home: Inviting Interiors by Alexandra Kaehler

Instagram: @alexkaehlerdesign

Please send in your decorating dilemmas to podcast@ballarddesigns.net so we can help you with your space! Don't forget to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, and please leave us a review.

Happy decorating!
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