The Maison Gaton Podcast

This week we're continuing our A Collection of Lovely Things series with a theme of Yellow Friendship Gathering, and it's all about the little pieces of ourselves we give to one another.
 
The episode opens with a reflection on being truly known by a friend, the kind of friend who can read a book you wrote and spot little pieces of you scattered across every character.
 
From there, we dig into what it actually takes to maintain real friendships as a very busy woman. Not the Instagram version, the real kind. And that means getting honest about three things:
Time
Energy
Stage of Life
Your missions this week:
Ask yourself: What do I have time for in this season? What do I have energy for? What stage of life am I in?
Walk through your home and look for gifts, trinkets, and items tied to friendships and look for chances to connect.
Share your photo albums of gatherings and tag us on Instagram!
If this episode sparked a conversation you and a friend have been needing to have — please share it with them. And if you're enjoying the show, leave us a review. It means the world.
 
Until next time, friends.
 
Connect: Instagram @judithgaton | Substack for weekly essays

This week on the Maison Gaton Podcast, we're stepping into the Orange Room, a space dedicated to creativity, whimsy, and permission to be a messy beginner. Drawing on a reframe from a MythBusters creator, we explore how creativity is really just problem solving in disguise, something you're already doing every day. Your missions this week: try micro creativity, be brave enough to be bad at something new, and take a color walk around your home.
 
In This Episode:
Why perfectionism is the enemy of creative flow

How creative people are really just problem solvers

Mission 1: Micro creativity — starting small to build momentum

Mission 2: The bravery of being a bad beginner

Mission 3: The orange color walk


Connect: Instagram @judithgaton | Substack for weekly essays

Petite Pleasures and Everyday Glamor: The Red Collection
 
In this episode:
What petite pleasures and everyday glamor actually mean (and why it's a mindset first)
Judith's personal story of finding glamor in the smallest of things, even a 99-cent Shasta soda
Why you work too hard not to be savoring the life you've built
How to do a Color Walk through your home and rediscover the gorgeous things you already own
The two key questions to ask yourself this week to shift into a pleasure-first mindset
Practical ideas: the good China, the red lipstick, the good candle…use it all, friend
Your mission this week:
Go on a red color walk through your home. Pull out 5–10 red items: beauty, home goods, clothing, trinkets, and actually use them. Enjoy them. Savor them.

Connect: Instagram @judithgaton | Substack for weekly essays

Welcome to the first episode of a new series! Step inside the Maison Gaton house: an eccentric, curated space full of trinkets, textures, and treasured collections. This episode is an invitation to take inventory of the lovely things you've gathered throughout your life, and to truly enjoy them.
Timestamps:
0:00 — Welcome & introducing the Maison Gaan house

1:17 — Grandmother's Folgers coffee jar full of buttons and odds & ends

1:50 — Marguerite's mother's button tin

2:27 — The collections all around our homes and lives

3:16 — The invitation: take inventory and enjoy what's already there

4:05 — Introducing the six color themes for the series

4:38 — The colors: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue & Violet

5:24 — What to expect next week: Petite Pleasures & Everyday Glamors

5:49 — Each episode will include something practical to do

In This Series:
Red — Petite Pleasures & Everyday Glamors

Orange — Creativity & Whimsy

Yellow — Friendship & Gathering

Green — Environment & Spaces

Blue — Hope, Dreams & Aspirations

Violet — Vision, Leadership & Passion

If you know someone who might enjoy this series, please share it!Connect: Instagram @judithgaton | Substack for weekly essays

Why I Abandoned the Airbnb at 2am
It started with a smell. In this episode, Judith shares the full story of abandoning a vomit-soaked London Airbnb at 2am — and what hauling a giant suitcase into a perfumed hotel in the middle of the night taught her about the year she was actually having. This is the episode that introduces the 2026 theme: Misadventures.
In This Episode:
The Airbnb from hell — feet, cheese, mold, a cracked window, and a ceiling that finally gave way

Why we stay too long in things that clearly aren't working — sunk cost, pride, and not wanting to admit we were wrong

How to let the year tell you what kind of year it is instead of forcing a theme onto January

Why naming what's actually happening is the first move toward shaping what you want

The difference between resisting reality and acknowledging it — with humor and levity

Mission, Should You Choose to Accept It: Ask yourself what the year is already telling you. What have you been tolerating too long? What is your proverbial vomit-filled hallway? You don't have to know where the hotel is yet — you just have to admit the smell is no longer acceptable.
Timestamps:
0:00 Welcome & Introduction

0:09 The London Airbnb Horror Story

2:53 Why Did We Stay So Long? (Sunk Cost & Pride)

4:01 Rethinking the "Word of the Year" Approach

4:44 Letting the Year Tell You Its Theme

5:50 Introducing the Theme: Misadventure

6:38 Invitation: Name the Year You're Actually Having

7:09 Your Mission: What Are You Tolerating?

7:46 What's Coming Next on the Podcast & Substack

9:19 Closing & Call to Action

Connect: Instagram @judithgaton | Substack for weekly essays