We welcome celebrated New York based interior designer Alex Papachristidis, known for elegant and timeless spaces who's work has been featured on the Architectural Digest 100,Veranda, Elle Decor, House Beautiful and more. Alex founded his Manhattan based interior design firm in 1987 and has had projects all over the world from Colorado to London, Saudi Arabia to Texas. In this episode, he talks about his now available second book, The Elegant Life: Rooms that Welcome and Inspire, and the inspiration behind the homes he chose and the ways in which it showcases his abilities to do modern interiors with the same sort of grandeur of traditional interiors. Alex also talks about his love of soft goods, picking colors that represent you, and why we shouldn’t try and hide from the ugly things, but instead make them prettier.   What You’ll Hear On This Episode: The importance of actually being able to live in your living room.  Creating interiors that are reflective of who you are and how you want to live.  How Alex gets his clients to tell him what they like.  How to not be afraid of color.  Alex’s love of a challenge: how did he do his sister’s home in plaster, white, gold, and silver?  How to pick colors that are going to be timeless and that you will love for a long time?  More about Alex’s colorful and layered home in the Upper East Side.  What does Alex mean by trying your paint finishes dry and wet?  Alex’s love soft goods to give a room extra coziness.  When taking on a project yourself, make sure you don’t downgrade and that you keep things all sort of the same level but just tweak it to make it new and fresh.  When you start collecting, go to the best dealers, stores, and museum exhibits for inspiration.  What was it like working with Greek contractors in Athens?  Mentioned in This Episode: Alex’s Viewpoint: IG  The Age of Elegance  The Elegant Life  Everyday Elegance  Decorating Dilemma  If you could, Alex recommends dropping the ceiling enough to bring crown molding into the room. This would open the room and create a panel that would complete the kitchen as a unit. He would also define the kitchen in another color, for example, paint it in white so it stands out and creates some delineation between rooms. Alex reminds us that if you have something ugly, just try and make it look pretty rather than trying to hide it.

Get inspired to conquer your spring cleaning projects this week as we welcome Ashley and Marissa, the co-founders of the Neat Method Luxury Home Organizing Company.The Neat Method is the largest professional luxury organizing company in the US and Canada in terms of staffers, and Ashley and Marissa share why organizing is an extension of a well-curated space and how it goes hand in hand with design. They share a few of their favorite tips and tools for getting started, the pros of having an organization service, and how to set yourself up for success so that organizing makes your life easier and you feel more comfortable and connected in your space.  What You’ll Hear On This Episode: How Ashley and Marissa met their third business partner and expanded from one Bay Area location to a franchise with over 98 markets.  Why would someone need an organizer?  Where should we start with organizing our homes?  How organizing is the additional layer to a home, especially after we’ve put so much effort in decorating it.  Ashley and Marissa share their favorite tools for organizing.  Ideas for storing nostalgic items like your kids' paintings and rogue items that generally cause clutter like chords.  The importance of having a donation bin or bag as you go along.  How to know when it’s time to toss something or try to organize it!  Having others to keep you accountable helps speed up the process.  What about the basement and garage?  Mentioned in This Episode: Neat Method @neatmethod

Our guests this week are Deborah Costa and Kristine Renee, the mother-daughter design duo behind interior design studio Design Alchemy, based out of Sacramento, California. They join us to talk about creating patterns in neutral rooms that are timeless and fit your style. Deborah and Kristine give some great ideas for warming up a room, why Kristine loves a good bathroom project, and the importance of the architectural elements of a space that are primarily important to her.  What You’ll Hear On This Episode:  How did Deborah and Kristine form Design Alchemy?  Why did Christine and Deborah decide to partner up and become a design duo, and what is it like working as a mother-and-daughter team?  How are each of their styles different?  What is the appeal of a neutral space?  How to use patterns in a neutral space to make it feel tranquil yet also welcoming.  Deborah and Kristine talk about knowing what pattern to pick and the different feel behind stripes, florals, etc.  How can you see what may work and what won’t?  What patterns are Deborah and Kristine loving right now?  How about color patterns that pair well together?  Mentioned in This Episode: Design Alchemy  Instagram  Decorating Dilemma:  First off, we just want to start by saying great work for going with a pattern on your accent chair, an interesting arm on your sofa, and picking out a rug in your dining room. We could totally tell that you love design and have great taste. Here are some suggestions: putting the blue piece behind the sofa and finding some great sconces behind the sofa would anchor that area. Maybe brass or a polished nickel, or something with a metallic element to bring in some reflection and some interest. The upholstery on the sofa is fine, and maybe a colorful nubby throw on the Ottoman could create multiple spaces in the environment. We recommend you try to section off the living room from the dining room and create an interesting story in each that are complementary, but not necessarily the same. Maybe like a bold window treatment in velvet. We think you are being too hard on your sofa, and do you really want to be cleaning a white sofa with kids? For more white, maybe adding some white pillows could go a long way.

This week we welcome interior designer Ashley Gilbreath to talk about her latest book The Joy of Home. Ashley is known for creating casually elegant homes that are beautiful in their aesthetic, keep a Southern charm, and celebrate everyday living. We talk with Ashley about the debut of The Joy of Home and what inspired her to break into the world of home decorating authorship. What You’ll Hear On This Episode:  How Ashley got started in interior design and how her background in architecture informs how she thinks about space.  Why is the outside just as (if not even more) important as the inside of a home?  What does Ashley think of when she thinks about the term “forever home”?  How Ashley picked the homes to feature in The Joy of Home.  Ashley talks about designing her own home and the intention to create a more beachy beach home.  The fun challenge of including the unexpected in your design, whether it’s a color, piece of art, etc.  How can we incorporate more Southern Style in our homes?  Ashley’s love of a good poster bed and bunk room.  Mentioned in This Episode: Ashley Gilbreath The Joy of Home  Decorating Dilemma:  Thank you so much for writing in. First, this space has so much potential. Between the incredible ceiling height, the daylight streaming in and the great beams, what a beautiful space. Ashley feels like with all the space, it can also be more functional than it is. Our first choice would be following your friend's guidance and doing it all at one time, but if you wanted to stick with your budget, we would first paint the upper cabinets, and maybe even get rid of the whole shelving unit about the kitchen sink. This would give yourself some breathing room. We are sorry to your husband but do think the wood has to go. Or, if you could save up for a gut job, this would be a complete 180 and we think you would be pleasantly surprised! Good luck and keep us posted.

It’s a super fun “Trials and Triumphs” episode for you! We dive into a few of our most challenging and rewarding experiences in recent weeks including resort updates, plant removal, and up-leveling garbage can solutions. We also talk about gas leaks from the Stranger Things stove, painting family rooms and even creative wardrobe solutions after a good spring cleaning. Mentioned in This Episode: Design School  Marine Pant from Zara WalkingPad