Style Matters

Today's re-released episode takes us all the way back to 2015, but it is still so good and absolutely relevant right now.  You'll hear the voice of my good friend, Karen Grant, who is no longer co-hosting with me, along with our guest, professional photo stylist, Hilary Rose Walker.  At the time of our conversation, Hilary was writing her blog and podcasting under the name Our Style Stories.  Her clients include Sunkist, Samsung, Behr Paints, and Loloi Rugs and A few years ago, she took on a full time position with Magnolia Home.  She is still styling for brands, living and working in Texas.   To use the Slow Style approach in your home, start with this free guide on how to create a vision that sets you up for every design decision you'll need to make!Sign up here to receive the free guide (and lots of suppport along the way).

Hello and welcome to the Style Matters podcast, brought to you by Little Yellow Couch.  I'm Zandra, your host, and I'm so glad you're here, but you've caught us during a break!  We'll be sharing all new interviews starting May 4th, but in the meantime, stick around, because today you'll hear a re-released episode with one of my all-time favorite guests.  Now, this one took place several years ago when my good friend, Karen Grant, was still co-hosting with me, so you'll hear her voice along with that of our guest, Lisa Borgnes Giramonte.  Actually, Lisa isn't just one of my favorite guests on the show.  She's also one of my all time favorite authors when it comes to design books.  Hers is called Novel Interiors: Living In Enchanted Rooms Inspired By Literature.   To use the Slow Style approach in your home, start with this free guide on how to create a vision that sets you up for every design decision you'll need to make!Sign up here to receive the free guide (

Breegan Jane and Carrie Locklyn are two awesome people who are also pretty humble, considering what they're doing with their lives these days.  They make up two-thirds of the design team behind HGTV's reboot of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.  And I was really taken with how much they talked about feeling gratitude towards the people whose homes they are transforming, as well as a deep sense of purpose and connection they are experiencing with their team and the volunteers who help them in every town they visit.  This is such an uplifting conversation that goes way beyond talk of design, but it's certainly rooted in the premise that all people, regardless of life circumstance, deserve to live inside beauty.  On a side note, their 3rd partner on the show, designer Darren Keefe Reiher was supposed to join us as well, but was having tech difficulties so we, unfortunately missed hearing his voice in the conversation.  But when you watch Extreme Makeover, you definitely see how integral he is to the

This one is for all you history geeks out there... and for those of you who used to fall asleep during history class, today's episode will actually keep you interested in it for once.  My guest is author Amy Azzarito and her new book, "The Elements of a Home: Curious Histories Behind Every Day Household Objects, From Pillows to Forks," is the most entertaining history book I've ever read.  We talk about how knowing some of the stories behind how people used our everyday objects enhances our appreciation and enjoyment of them, and might even spark some ideas of how you might display antiques in your home.  I think you're going to love it.  Let's get started.   To use the Slow Style approach in your home, start with this free guide on how to create a vision that sets you up for every design decision you'll need to make!Sign up here to receive the free guide (and lots of suppport along the way).

Joining me today are Jamie Watkins and Tom Kennedy of Divine Savages.  Together they produce lines of wallpaper and fabric that are both a bit outrageous in terms of color, pattern, and even subject matter, but with such attention paid to the smallest detail that when you look close there's a delicate beauty to their designs as well.  We'll talk about the patterns themselves and their recent collaboration with the Natural History Museum in London, the first time ever that the Museum has sold wallpaper based on their rarified collection.  We'll also get a peek inside Tom & Jamie's home, which they use as a bit of a laboratory for ideas.  I'm now dying to meet these guys in person because you can tell they'd be fabulous hosts and we'd have a lot of fun together.  I think you're going to want to meet them too!   To use the Slow Style approach in your home, start with this free guide on how to create a vision that sets you up for every design decision you'll need t

Many of you may already be familiar with my guest this week.  Melissa Michaels is the blogger behind The Inspired Room and author of many books, my favorites being "Love The Home You Have," and "Make Room For What You Love."  She has just come out with a new book, "But Where Do I Put The Couch?  Answers to 100 Other Home Decorating Questions," which she co-authored with KariAnne Wood.  I had the pleasure of meeting KariAnne at a conference several years ago and then had her on the show.  So I was delighted to see that she was pairing up with Melissa Michaels.  And since I've wanted to have Melissa on the show for years, I was thrilled when we got he on the calendar.  Let's get started.   To use the Slow Style approach in your home, start with this free guide on how to create a vision that sets you up for every design decision you'll need to make!Sign up here to receive the free guide (and lots of suppport along the way).

Nina Freudenberger of Haus Interior joins me today to talk all about books.  Now, if you're someone who reads voraciously, you're going to love this conversation.  I, for one, literally can't fall asleep without reading and when I finish a book and don't have a new one to start right away, I go into a slight panic.  I'm sure many of you can relate!  So I was super excited to find Nina's new book, "Bibliostyle: How We Live At Home With Books," because she marries two of my personal passions: reading and home.  In her book, she answers the question, does the way we display our books tell as much about who we are as the books themselves.  I think you're going to love it!   To use the Slow Style approach in your home, start with this free guide on how to create a vision that sets you up for every design decision you'll need to make!Sign up here to receive the free guide (and lots of suppport along the way).

My guest is one half of the partnership behind Rockett St George, which is a fanciful interiors shop that has a home in Liberty's of London as well as an extensive inventory online.  Jane Rockett, along with Lucy St George, have taken their passion for all things home and written two great books on "Extraordinary Interiors," the newest one being all about color.  In this conversation, Jane explains the two ingredients that make up color confidence: one is understanding how the color wheel works, and the other is understanding color theory rules so that you can break them intentionally if needed, to be true to yourself. I've included a color wheel and definitions of different schemes on the show notes page. To use the Slow Style approach in your home, start with this free guide on how to create a vision that sets you up for every design decision you'll need to make!Sign up here to receive the free guide (and lots of suppport along the way).

My guest today is Danielle Postel-Vinay, author of "Home Sweet Maison: The French Art of Making a Home," which gives you a pretty good clue as to what we'll be talking about.  In Danielle's book, she encourages us to embrace the idea that our homes are our sanctuaries and a visual representation of who we are, which makes them very special places.  I'm so excited to share this conversation with you today!  Here's Danielle.   To use the Slow Style approach in your home, start with this free guide on how to create a vision that sets you up for every design decision you'll need to make!Sign up here to receive the free guide (and lots of suppport along the way).

My guest today is Bea Pila, who, for over 25 years has been making the connection between design and the spiritual, emotional aspects of our well being.  We talk about her book, "Sacred Spaces" where she lays out the principles of she calls "design enlightenment."  Her creative process starts with functionality, specifically making sure that the furniture placement encourages a flow of energy between people and then she moves on to interpreting her clients' lifestyle into tangible design elements.  Let's dig in.   To use the Slow Style approach in your home, start with this free guide on how to create a vision that sets you up for every design decision you'll need to make!Sign up here to receive the free guide (and lots of suppport along the way).

Chrissie Rucker is the founder of London's The White Company, which sells affordable luxury linens, accessories and furniture, all in neutral colors.  She's just written her first book, For The Love Of White, showcasing people's homes where the predominant color palate is a mix of creams, whites and soft greys.  The rooms are not only beautiful and peaceful, they are full of personality.  We talk about how to achieve this by looking at all of the elements that go into the perfect mix of texture.   To use the Slow Style approach in your home, start with this free guide on how to create a vision that sets you up for every design decision you'll need to make!Sign up here to receive the free guide (and lots of suppport along the way).

Well, it's still January and I don't know about you, but I'm still bathing the glow of a new year, clean slate and my own motivation to make changes and follow through on some resolutions, before I lose steam!  In the spirit of setting goals for the year, I thought it might be helpful to walk you through my free worksheet on creating a Style Manifesto for yourself and your home.  If you don't already have a copy, you can grab it by going to the show notes page for this episode, or just going to the homepage, which is littleyellowcouch.com, and clicking on "Your Style Manifesto" at the top.  The purpose of the Style Manifesto is to figure out how your home can help you with your life goals.  We're going to look at how your home is currently serving you, or not, and then figure out what changes you can make in your home to  encourage you, uplift you, inspire you and all of those good things.  Let's get started.   To use the Slow Style approach in your home, start with thi

Monica Leed of Simply Spaced, a pro organizer and author of the new book, also called Simply Spaced, said to me that organization is not a once and done kind of thing.  And I think I've been kind of assuming it was.  In other words, I've been telling myself that if I set up the Right system, with the Right tools and the Right bins, file folders and compartmentalized drawer inserts, I'll never have to organize or declutter anything ever again.  And if I do, that means the system I've set up must be wrong.  But Monica reminded me that there's this thing called Life that happens.  Unexpected paperwork, gifts we may or may not want, tools for  project we didn't plan on having to do... and so we didn't know we needed to create a space for them.  So of course we're going to have to revisit our organizational systems.  And that's ok.  Permission given to go back to the drawing board and re-do stuff.   In the rest of the episode we cover things such as how a good declutter

FW8KIH3FhUMtEzwvklZ3Well, everyone, this is the last episode of the season!  And we're going out with Rebecca Gardner, owner of the interiors and event planning company Houses & Parties.   She's known for her over-the-top events and her signature style of mixing high-end, top-of-the-line decor with a funny, unexpected playfulness that allows everyone to relax, even in the most formal of settings.  Her work has been featured in Vogue, Harpers Bazzar, Town & Country, Southern Living and Architectural Digest.  I found her when I was flipping through the latest issue of Veranda Magazine and I could tell right from her photo that she must be the most gracious, fun-loving host.  Given the holiday season we're all about to enter, I thought having her on the show to talk about parties would be helpful and inspiring.  Now like said, earlier, this is my last episode of 2019.  I'll be back with all new interviews starting January 6th!  Ok, back to today, on our call, Rebecca and I got right t

I am delighted to introduce you to the woman behind the rug and linen brands Dash & Albert and Pinecone Hill.  Annie Selke is a true powerhouse of an entrepreneur and she's also a lovely human being.  I remember when I first started seeing her quintessential Dash & Albert rugs in the speciality home shops I was poking around years ago in Maine.  And I thought to myself, wow, those are not only really fun and they make me smile, I bet they will also stand the test of time.  And I was right!  Annie's aesthetic is classic and timeless, it's elegant but also has this playfulness to it that you'll never get tired of.  Fast forward to this interview, which led to spending time with Annie and her staff, who by the way love her, at her offices, warehouse and beautiful 8 bedroom historic inn in the Berkshire mountains.  You'll see all kinds of videos of my trip there on Instagram so I hope you check that out.  Oh, and one note, Dash & Albert, the company, was named after her two be

I was introduced to this week's guest by my friend Susan Brinson of House of Brinson.  I had Susan and her husband Will on the show several seasons ago and their episode is definitely one to check out if you haven't already.  Anyway, I was talking to Susan about finding a venue for my next style retreat in NY and she said I absolutely had to get in touch with Eliza Clark of Foxfire Mountain House, and I am so grateful for the introduction!  Eliza and her husband, Tim Trojian, have created a truly magical, 11 room inn and restaurant in the Catskill mountains.  If you were to see her photos (which you can do on the show notes page), you'd understand why Eliza and I immediately hit it off and why I think you're going to be swept away, too.  She is a master at mixing old and new, elegance and comfort.  She and Tim have just released their book, "Foxfire Living" full of design inspiration, recipes and stories of how they restored the old inn.  Today I talk with Eliza about the major r

I spend a lot of time in my retreats and on this podcast talking about how to be creative.  And I'm a big proponent of an expanded definition of creativity to include creative thinking and problem solving so that we stop thinking of creativity as solely belong to artists and crafty people who emulate Martha Stewart.  My guest on the show today, architect Donald Rattner, takes us way beyond the who and what definitions of creativity and focuses on the where.  As in, where are we most creative and how can we set up our spaces to encourage the flow of creative thinking.  In particular, he argues that our homes are actually the spaces that are most conducive to creativity.  Way more than the kinds of utilitarian spaces where we've traditionally done our professional work.  Donald Rattner has done a ton of research, combing through academic journals, studies and experiments that support this idea of how our built environments affect our moods, our health and ultimately, our ability to be creative.   And

Windy Chien is an artist with several past lives which means she's one of those people you can relate to because her path in life hasn't been a straight line.  She's done many things, tried many things, had ups and downs, all before landing where she is today.  And speaking of straight lines, her medium as an artist has everything to do with lines... and more specifically, with the knots she creates out of those lines.  Windy Chen has just come out with a book, The Year Of Knots, detailing her 365 day long project where she challenged herself to learn and perfect one new knot a day and record her progress on Instagram.  I was blown away by the end result when I saw a video of her final art installation.   To use the Slow Style approach in your home, start with this free guide on how to create a vision that sets you up for every design decision you'll need to make!Sign up here to receive the free guide (and lots of suppport along the way).

I'm opening up the second half of this season with a dynamic woman. Toma Clark Haines, otherwise known as The Antiques Diva, has literally built an empire. Over a decade ago, living in Paris, she started helping other ex-pats furnish their homes from the flea markets and brocantes around the city. The thrill of the hunt was her hobby and her passion and soon it became her business. A global business because there are treasures to be unearthed in every corner of the world. She has a wonderful story and even better, she's a great storyteller. She's so generous in the way she shares it I know you're going to feel like you've got a new friend. I know I do. To use the Slow Style approach in your home, start with this free guide on how to create a vision that sets you up for every design decision you'll need to make!Sign up here to receive the free guide (and lots of suppport along the way).

This week I’m answering questions from the audience! All summer I offered free design & decor advice to anyone who wrote in. I loved all of the back & forth conversations we had about your homes. For this episode, I talk about a couple of big picture issues that came up over and over again. And then I dive into some specific questions that you can apply to your own situations. I hope this is helpful… let me know! To use the Slow Style approach in your home, start with this free guide on how to create a vision that sets you up for every design decision you'll need to make!Sign up here to receive the free guide (and lots of suppport along the way).