Dear Alice | Interior Design

Design is a wild and complicated business to get into. Of all the designers out there, somehow we all end up doing it differently. In the school of design, they don’t teach you that your business should be done a certain way, they just teach you the art of design and the different types of design: commercial, residential, etc., or little classes that teach you how to do things like purchase orders...

We were discussing this topic and when we started listing these out, we realized it’s proof that we lived. We leaned hard into a trend, it’s the Asymmetrical haircut, and a part of us is like “No, respect that girl that was just trying her darndest!” But was it a good idea? Probably not. Listen in as we tell about our various design decisions we made early on that we later came to realize was a mi...

We’ve got another listener questions episode for you guys today that we recorded back in September, and we’re so excited to be able to answer a lot of the inquiries we’ve gotten from you guys. We get a lot of questions from you who listen to this podcast and if they’re not big enough to cover a whole episode, we will compile them along with other questions that won’t take as long, and then we comb...

Sue and Jess went to High Point Market and got to see what is up and coming for Spring of 2024. This is fashion week for interior designers and much like some people go to New York, or Milan, Sue and Jess go to North Carolina and they get to see what all the furniture makers are up to. The furniture makers are making new silhouettes, using new fabrics and finishes that are gonna be available for t...

This podcast started with a great question in which Sue decided she would write a finals paper for us so that we could then record a podcast for you. We are excited to share this podcast as you guys will be on this journey with us, because we are learning with you at the same time. We received a question from one of our listeners, Monica, that said “I love the timeless yet trendy look of checkered...

We are talking about our Dear Alice Live recap in this episode. We did a live event here in Draper, Utah and 50% of the people that came were from out of state, and then a lot of our attendees bought E-tickets and had so many questions, which we didn’t have time to answer nor did we even expect there would be questions at the end. We wanted to do an episode dedicated to all of those E-ticket quest...

In this week’s episode we are talking about The Gift Guide, our favorite gifts to give, and who to give gifts to. Many of us are last minute kind of people, especially as creatives, and we wanted to talk about some methods or ideas that may help you, especially if you’re an overthinker and the kind of person that just wants to get that perfect gift for that special someone, such as your significan...

Creating a design Northstar is something we do for every client, so we’re gonna take you through how you do that in this week’s episode. We got a question from one of our listeners who is renovating a historic home built in 1790 in Hudson Valley, New York. She is in the middle of a major powder bath and kitchen remodel moving walls, placing windows, the whole deal. She asked how to avoid decision...

We have a fun guest here today and are so happy to be joined by Rachel Folkman who is a holiday and interior designer. We heard about Rachel from a part of our marketing team who has worked for other influencers, and she said “You guys need to have Rachel Folkman on because she does the best of the best holiday decor seasonal for all of the big amazing homes that we have in our area.” She helps us...

Suzanne saw this great Instagram post from Lewis Howes that said “Advice from 40 year old me to 20 year old me: 5 things I wish I knew when I was 20.” We think this is a really good conversation to just talk with someone you’re close to or a teenager in your orbit that maybe doesn’t hear this from their parents, but are able to hear from someone they’re close to or look up to. This is also just a...

Today on Dear Alice we talk about trend crushes, which is the stuff that we are crushing on right now. Jess talks about the saved button on Instagram and how she has started to prefer this over Pinterest when thinking about her own interests, whereas if she’s working with a client, she will prefer to use Pinterest. We discuss other trend crushes such as the color red, casual styles, monochrome, an...

We’re doing another question and answer episode today, except this time the focus will be on tile and stone and helping you understand best how to handle and design these things in the best way possible. We answer some questions about tiling a kitchen vs putting wood down and why we would choose one or the other, like if you have a family or animals that are in and out of the house for example, co...

Today we have Angie Harrington whose lifestyle is just so beautiful. She is currently a part time cast member of Housewives of Salt Lake City and talks about how she got into and became an influencer, which is what she’s been able to do to pay the bills as a single mom. We break down her House of Harrington project, which so many people have been waiting to see and know about, and we discuss both...

We’ve had listeners during our giveaway talk about their favorite episodes and most were saying they loved our listener question episodes where we answer the various questions you guys have sent in to us, so today we’re giving you another listener question episode. Tune in today to hear the various inquiries we answer that we’ve recently received.    Suz, what are your favorite resources to source...

We see a lot of homes in all the work we do and in some of the remodels there are some things that you’re just inheriting. When you purchase a home like this, you have to get really good at planning because it’s not inexpensive to redo the various things you want changed, but there’s a lot of architecture and a lot of things you wouldn’t do today, but they did yesterday. So now it’s your turn to m...

We have a fun episode today, which is about finding something and saying if we would keep it or toss it. It might be polarizing and we as your hosts might feel opposite or the same about certain things, but that’s what will help make it fun. Join us as we talk about various items that should be kept or tossed, such as travertine, china hutch, or grasscloth wallpaper.    Antique chest from grandma...

We have our very own Brad Mee on the podcast today, who is our editor and chief of Utah Style and Design magazine and is also the lifestyle editor of Salt Lake Magazine and of Boca Raton Magazine all the way in Florida. Brad gives us a nice snapshot of what editors are looking for today and helps us know the right way to get things ready to shoot so it can be in line with what a magazine would be...

One of the biggest questions we always get before we start any project is ‘What is always in and never out?’ We wanted to record a podcast sort of talking about those things, whether you’re living in a historical home, an older home, a 20-30 year old home, or a brand new build. What are some of the classic principles we are gonna talk about today that you aren’t going to regret in the future? That...

In this episode we will be answering a listener question that came in. Somebody wanted to know how to lean into an editorial element, or slap in the face if you will, and brought up that it seems like there’s a way to bring in black into an otherwise neutral space, so we decided to create an entire podcast episode out of it. The most editorial moments are when you can show something with an opinio...

We are doing another episode on real estate because we had such a massive response to our last episode on real estate. You guys really want to know about this subject, so we said “Who else do we know that we could bring on Dear Alice?” and Jess thought she could bring on her brother, Jake Luekenga, who has been doing in sort of a rental situation where he had two rental properties and went on to b...

There was an article that came out from The Washington Post, which was titled “HGTV is making our homes boring and us sad, one study says.” It goes in to unpack that everybody is trying to make their homes these perfect places like you see on TV, and we all know that the home is often the biggest investment we make in a lifetime and our whole lives and the lives of those around us are tied up in o...

Cori had a question that kind of went along with a question from one of our listeners and we realized that maybe we haven’t talked about layering enough, which is kind of the super power when it comes to the styling portion of interior design. Really getting those layers dialed in is a really good storytelling piece, and it’s a great fashion piece. It separates the goods from the greats and gives...

We have a project that our design center just completed, which is actually right here in Utah, but we’re not going to say where the location is. You would think this house was in LA or Las Vegas with its really high end finishes and very contemporary, fashion driven, and opinionated. They had the greatest private fashion collection we have ever seen before, the closet being the biggest one we have...

All of us here at Alice Lane take luxury in doses, and Suzanne Hall is doing that this very moment as she is in the middle of her own remodel in her bathroom, creating achievable interiors on the fly. We get into different countertop materials that we like in addition to marble, as well as materials that we do not like so much. We suggest investing in the rug to really take that step toward luxury...

We had a listener question and they asked how Jess and Suz became such good friends, so we thought it would be really fun to focus on that story in this episode. We’ve had bits of this story come up throughout our podcast, but never all in one like this one today. Jess tells her story about starting Alice Lane Interiors and how it came about, and then how Suzanne came into the picture after they f...