How to Decorate

It took some persuasion, but we finally got our Senior Director of Merchandising Phil Lancaster, or "The Professor," on the podcast! Phil knows it all, teaches us some furniture history, tells us all about how furniture is made, what you need to look for, and generally schools us on the nitty gritty details of furniture and antiques. If you're wondering how to look for quality in your next furnitu...

Lisa Mende's room in the Traditional Home Southern Style Now Showhouse stopped us in our tracks, so we knew we had to get her on the podcast. Her spaces are bold, jubilant, and inviting, and we quickly learned that she herself is too. If you've ever had questions about paint, then this is an episode you have to listen to. We talk about choosing paint colors, paint finishes, fan decks, why you can'...

Flower Magazine editor in chief and founder Margot Shaw joins us from Birmingham to talk about flowers, being a green thumb, and why she decided to start Flower Magazine. We talk fake flowers, the etiquette for cutting from the yard, and why your containers or vases are as important as the flowers you're trying to arrange. WHAT YOU'LL HEAR ON THIS EPISODE: -Taryn's very upsetting wardrobe malfunct...

This week we have a very special guest all the way from California, interior designer Mark D. Sikes. Mark is a veritable renaissance man with a furniture line, fabric collection, rug collection, book, fashion line, and of course his interior design business. He shares the story of how his Los Angeles home landed on the cover of House Beautiful, his love of fashion and experience working in fashion...

We recently traveled to High Point, North Carolina for their Spring Market and had the chance to sit down with some of our favorite tastemakers. This week, we're sharing our interview with the Editor in Chief of Domino Magazine, Jessica Romm Perez. She's worked at some of our favorite magazines -- Martha Stewart, Food & Wine, and Elle Decor just to name a few -- so we loved chatting with her about...

This week, we're bringing you a very special Mother's Day edition. Our guests are our three moms! We gave them a little pop quiz and challenged them on how well they know us and how well we know them. We talk about our childhood bedrooms, how our styles differ, and much more. WHAT YOU'LL HEAR ON THIS EPISODE My trial which consisted of being in the middle of the Atlanta I-85 interstate collapseTar...

Our guest this week has seriously enviable style that blends vibrant colors with doses of white and black. We love the way she uses vintage pieces but creates rooms that feel totally fresh and modern. Gen Sohr is one half of the husband and wife team at Pencil and Paper Company, and we had to pick her brain about decorating with kids, color, pattern, thrift shopping, and how she and Ben manage to...

Interior designer Beth Webb's spaces are comfortable, tailored, and utterly timeless, so you can our imagine our delight when she joined us for this week's episode of the podcast. We talk about her recent challenge of blending her own style with her new husbands, we talk entertaining, southern hospitality, and the importance of great lighting, among other things. WHAT YOU'LL HEAR ON THIS EPISODE M...

Hold onto your earbuds because our guest today is none other than our own design partner, author, acclaimed interior designer, and hostess extraordinaire Bunny Williams! We traveled to Bunny's office in New York to record this special episode in her office, and she definitely did not disappoint. Bunny shares some incredible decorating tips and stories, including how she furnished her first apartme...

**Disclaimer: We had some technical difficulty with one of our mics. It refused to cooperate! We hope you'll enjoy the show anyway.** Being the design-aholics we are, we couldn’t turn down an opportunity to interview the Editor-in-Chief of Atlanta Magazine’s HOME, Betsy Riley. We have Betsy to thank for reviving the title in 2015. Each issue brings some of the most gorgeous and inspiring spaces in...

Today's guest is not only one of our favorite designers and a hometown hero in the design world, she's also our design partner, Suzanne Kasler. Suzanne's interiors are usually riddled with classic furniture pieces, but she presents them with a modern point of view. They're tailored, edited, and punctuated with color. We launched our first collection with Suzanne in 2011, and ever since then, we've...

We're opening a new store outside of Boston at Natick Mall, and to celebrate, we wanted to talk to some local design talents. You may remember me mentioning Katie Hutchison's book The New Small House on our episode with Annette Joseph. We ended up connecting with Katie and were thrilled when she agreed to join us for a live podcast episode from the floor of our brand new store! Since we're live, y...

We're big fans of interior designer, blogger, and author Erin Gates, so when we headed to our new Boston store at Natick Mall, we knew we had to sit down with this local stylemaker. She joined us for our first live podcast recording in the front window of our brand new store to talk about designing for families, her massive home renovation, and so much more. WHAT YOU'LL HEAR IN THIS EPISODE: We ta...

We can't help but be struck by how powerful yet restrained interior designer Melanie Turner's spaces are, and we were even more struck by how down-to-earth and cool she is. In only seven short years after opening her interior design business, she's earned such accolades as Veranda's Southeastern Designer of the Year, Trad Home's Top 10 Designers, Architectural Digest's 2010 Kitchen of the Year, an...

Go ahead and pinch us because we can’t quite believe we get to introduce this week’s podcast guest, interior designer Miles Redd! We were beside ourselves when he agreed to sit down with us while recently in his hometown of Atlanta (and ours). Plus, he’s our first AD100 Designer on the podcast. Miles’ spaces are packed with style, drama, and whimsy, plus we were struck with how darn nice he is!  W...

Natalie has worked with us here at Ballard Designs for years, so when we caught a glimpse of her chic, layered family home, we knew we had to share. We posted her whole home tour here on How to Decorate yesterday, but we couldn't pass up the opportunity to get even more decorating goodness out of her to share on the podcast! We talk about decorating with kids, styling, layering, and so much more!...

This week on the podcast, we're talking with stylist, entertaining expert, author, and workshop master of ceremonies, Annette Joseph. Annette does it all and makes it look so easy. We sat down to talk about the villa in Italy she's renovating, her workshops, how she got into styling, and so much more! What You'll Hear on the Show: How Karen did a mini bathroom makeover in her guest suite How Annet...

This week, we are interviewing our own bedding expert, the stylist that makes all of the beds in our gorgeous rooms, Beth Mars Dean. You probably never knew a bedding stylist exists, but she's the lady that makes sure all of our beds look picture perfect and snooze worthy. For all of your bedding questions answered, be sure to listen to this episode! WHAT YOU'LL HEAR ON THIS EPISODE The most recen...

As our final episode of the year, we're leaving you with a special bonus episode where we're discussing the 2016 trends that are 'out' and the trends to look for in 2017. We discuss Million Dollar Decorator Mary McDonald's list of trends that are out and trends that are in for 2017... and we discuss whether we agree or disagree. We also admit to any 'out' trends that we're guilty of committing in...

This week on the podcast, we sat down with Erika Ward of Erika Ward Interiors. After majoring in finance and working in the corporate world several years, Erika decided to follow her passion and start her interior design business. She gives us the whole scoop on her business, decorating pet peeves, and answers your decorating questions! WHAT YOU'LL HEAR ON THE SHOW: Erika talks about why she went...

On this episode of the podcast, we sat down with interior designer and blogger Sherry Hart. She’s a master of styling bookshelves, can make a neutral room feel fresh and modern, and is going through her own bedroom makeover. She gave us the whole rundown of how she turned her home renovation into a successful interior designer business, what her husband thinks of her constant decor updates, and ho...

This week we’re bringing you a bonus episode, and we’re talking entertaining! Our plan was to bring you a short extra episode with our entertaining stories — to get you in the spirit of Thanksgiving — but of course, we gabbed for over an hour. But, if you listen to the whole episode, you’ll hear our tried and true secrets, entertaining disasters, and suggestions for being a great guest. WHAT YOU'L...

We were so excited to have as our guests on this week’s episode, Jason Nixon and John Loecke, the Madcap Cottage Guys! Their style is on point, and their love for color and pattern is infectious. We picked their brain about combining furniture styles harmoniously, their upcoming travel plans, why they love decorating with the color green, and their pack of adorable rescue dogs.  WHAT YOU'LL HEAR O...

This week, we're talking to stylist extraordinaire, Ginny Branch. Ginny is a prop stylist who has worked with some of the most beloved brands all over the country, including Southern Living, Country Living, Martha Stewart Weddings, Design*Sponge, Cooking Light, Coastal Living, and Ballard Designs! She shares with us how she got into styling, her favorite accessories, her most recent travels, and e...

Hosting each episode will be three ladies from the Ballard Designs team — Caroline McDonald, Taryn Schwartz, and Karen Mooney. You know Caroline from rour blog How to Decorate where she is constantly posting and answering your questions in our comments section. Taryn Schwartz is a trained industrial designer (and also super talented artist) who designs product for Ballard Designs. Finally, Karen M...