The following is a transcript of this episode. It may have been edited for clarity.
Teaser: If you’ve been stuck in a midlife slump or want to feel reenergized, or if you’re going through some changes and feel a little bit off-center, maybe you should start with your interior design. Yes, you heard that right. My next guest is an interior designer who is focused on helping people in midlife to get out of their comfort zones, and to align their intimate surroundings with the bold people they want to become. So before you start that new workout routine, apply for that new job, or make any other midlife changes, you might want to start with some fresh paint, some new furniture, and a brand-new perspective. This is gonna be a fun episode, especially for interior design buffs. So stick around.
Intro: Welcome to More Beautiful, the podcast for women rewriting the midlife playbook. I’m Maryann LoRusso, and I invite you to join me and a guest each week as we strive for a life that’s more adventurous, more fulfilling, and more beautiful than ever before.
Maryann: Hey, there I’m here today with Elizabeth Beck and founder of Smoothie Blues Online Interiors. Elizabeth is an interior designer who specializes in helping people in midlife to get out of their comfort zones, and to align their intimate surroundings with the bold person they want to become. Hi, Elizabeth, how are you today?
Elizabeth: Well, hello, Maryann. I’m doing great. I’m so happy to be here with you today.
Maryann: I’m so happy you’re here.
Elizabeth: Oh, this has just been a dream. So thank you very much for inviting me.
Maryann: I want to start by asking you this question because many people don’t feel so bold in midlife, but you want to give them the message that this is a time of tremendous growth and opportunity that it’s never too late to try something new or to change something that’s not working or to make a move in a fun new direction. And you believe that all that can start with one’s personal surroundings, which I love. Can you tell us why you wanted to specialize in creating spaces for mid-lifers it’s such a unique angle to take with a design firm? So I’d love to hear how you got to that.
Elizabeth: Well, first of all mid lifers—just the most awesome team in my opinion. I have been through so much in my life of being at the tail end of being a mid lifer, albeit I have been through a lot of transitions typical of midlife. Some people just coast along without experiencing some of them. I feel like I’ve experienced like most of them with divorce, moving several times, moving in with a partner, changing jobs, downsizing, empty nester, all of that. I feel like it’s an opportunity where, this is our time, if not now, when? And that makes it very exciting to work with mid lifers. They seem to have the energy that I really feed off. I’m a bold designer, like you said, and I believe that being bold is innate. Some of us express it better than others, some can’t express it at all, but I really like to extract that from people and help them live their best life and coming home after the end of the day and being in surroundings that inspire you. I mean, I can’t imagine not having that, can you?
Maryann: No, especially when you just said that I just thought you know, as I get older, the importance of walking through that front door when you come home at the end of the day, and having it be your little haven—I mean, that is increasing the older I get. And my moon is in Taurus. So I don’t know if you know anything about astrology, but when your moon is in Taurus, you need your house to be your little cocoon. But before we get into our design conversation, I want to point out to our listeners that you’re in Vermont right now and I’m in San Francisco. So we’re coming from like very different design frequencies right?
Elizabeth: Yeah, living in Vermont is definitely different than the West Coast. Now, my vision of the West Coast (especially San Francisco) I think of the 1968 movie Bullet with Steve McQueen and his ’68 Mustang GT. I love cars. I’m a motorhead. I equally love Janis Joplin, and of course, she lived on 635 Ashbury Street. In fact, I did an entire blog on Janis Joplin. That’s how much I love her.
Maryann: You did? Oh, I love her. For those out there who haven’t read the book Season of the Witch. It’s a great book about the history of San Francisco, especially in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. So it’s really cool read. But anyway, I see your beautiful Vermont fireplace behind you, and I can’t wait to kind of get into design! What are some of the reasons that your midlife clients seek you out? Like, what are they doing? Are they moving? Are they downsizing? Are they reclaiming their personal space, you know, after kids leave? Or what’s going on with them?
Elizabeth: Well, I think the number one thing is moving. I mean, how many times do we move in our lifetime? We do. Let’s face it, we do. It’s not always fun. In fact, I have other things too, moving in together, divorce, downsizing, reclaiming personal space, or even decluttering. But the number one thing is moving. I have a couple who were living in Texas, and she got a new job. That’s the other thing—another job, a new career. They needed to have someone have their condo ready, when they moved to New Hampshire. She was just finishing up her old job, starting her new job. They were traveling to India (they’re from India) and, and her husband was a consultant traveling so they didn’t have the time. They just didn’t have the time. It was actually my first whole house project, which is very exciting, and my first local project because I also do local, as well as e-design. So that was a really exciting project. Divorced people are some of my favorites! I just love it because they have this newfound freedom, and they really want to indulge themselves, cater to themselves. Going through divorce is hard. Definitely hard.
Maryann: What about what about aging parents or people creating spaces for them or inviting them to live with them?
Elizabeth: Absolutely, absolutely. One of the specific needs of mid lifers are aging parents, and, you know, let’s face it, many, many people are living longer, and we’re having our parents come live with us. You know, we need to reserve a space in our home if we plan on that, large enough for our parents to thrive. Plenty of light for reading light in general, as eyesight is diminished.
Maryann: The older you get, the more lighting you need!
Elizabeth: You know, allow them to have their own little sanctuary. If they like music, do it. Have a desk where they can stay connected with family members and friends to make them feel alive. If they’re, let’s say, in a basement, a really cool apartment in the basement, they have a walkout. They can have a personal patio where they could get the much-needed vitamin D. We need a place for them to really continue thriving.
Maryann: My inlaws just moved in with my brother-in-law, and he bought a new house just for that purpose. He bought like a ranch house, which is great because they don’t have to climb stairs. They have one section of the house. They’re on one side, he’s on the other side with his wife. They’re so excited because they have a bedroom, they have a little living room, one room for all their hobbies. My mother-in-law practices it ikebana (Japanese floral arranging), and they have a bathroom. It’s so nice, and there’s so many things you can do to invite your inlaws to live. But what about kids when they leave for college? I have one out the door and one is a senior in high school, so I’m getting to that empty stage now. It’s not like in the movies, right? Where a parent will keep the child’s bedroom for 30 years exactly the way it was when they were in high school. People are using these rooms eventually, right? What are they using them for?
Elizabeth: Well, let’s start with a basement. Let’s say you had a lot of teenagers and they’re probably hanging out with their friends having a blast. Well, it’s time to make it to your adult space, whether you’re going to have you know, a bar or just a huge television with the furniture that you like that you’re not having to worry about the wear and tear and that type of thing. But also, make it your music room if you’re into that or their extra bedroom could be your hobby space now. Could be any number of things. Their bathroom, your bathroom. Parents can have separate bathrooms. You’ve been sharing one with your partner, if you’re married for a number of years, and maybe it’s your chance to do-over that bathroom and have your own space. I think it’s a very important part of a marriage. We have separate bathrooms in this household.
Maryann: Oh, I like that. I was so excited just to get a double sink, finally, and not share that. We lived in New York before here and it was always tiny bathrooms, tiny closets, so the fact that we each have our own sink now is a blessing.
Elizabeth: Yeah, for sure.
Maryann: I love the way that you’re saying turn the basement into this, you know, it sounds like debauchery—I love it! Drinking, dancing, spa bathroom. I love it!
Elizabeth: Yes, we have a spot for dancing in our household because, as you probably know, looking at my website and my Instagram, is that I definitely love music and we have a good sound system. Once in a while we get out there and shake a leg and it’s fun.
Maryann: I love that. Put a big disco ball down there.
Elizabeth: Haven’t done that yet!
Maryann: What are some other unusual ways that people have used their kids’ former bedrooms—like sewing rooms? What else do they do?
Elizabeth: Make it a yoga room maybe or [use it for] exercise equipment. I like the idea of putting a mural. Like if it’s your yoga room, let’s put a nice forest mural. If it’s your Peloton room, if you’re really trying to get the energy, something very inspiring, sports-wise, [like a] skier coming off a mountain on a perfect powder day. That’s exciting to be able to do that and make it a very cool spot.
Maryann: Murals are so much fun. I love murals. I’ve always wanted to put one in my house. Love that idea. So, let me start by saying that I love your aesthetic because Elizabeth is very much into color, very bold colors. And I love that too. Like I like monochrome rooms or rooms that at least have a dominant color. So I was really drawn to your Instagram and all this beautiful color you’re using. What are some ways people can refresh their surroundings, maybe without spending a ton of money right away, but just to reflect how they want to live their lives right now? What should they be considering when redecorating or designing a midlife home?
Elizabeth: Definitely, we’re thinking about refreshing especially if children are off to college, for example—although tuition bills come along with that so refreshing rather than a whole redo is probably more in line with a budget. Refreshing. I actually have a package on my website that just speaks to this. We’re coming out with different prints and patterns and colors that maybe you’ve never used before, on throw pillows, on throw blankets, rugs—splurge on a rug—and different lighting, different drapes, different blinds, different, unique decor. It really injects a different feel altogether without changing a lot in your room. If you’re going to be getting a new sofa, adding in just a little bit of color and all these other things, go neutral so you can add your layers easily. But certainly you should be thinking about that with refreshing your space.
Maryann: Let’s go back to lighting for a second because we talked about it earlier and the importance of it because we’re all losing our eyesight, God knows. But also nothing bums me out more than walking into a room and seeing that there’s just one light switch, one overhead light, right? You need accent lighting, you need to think about all the spaces that you’re sitting in throughout the day in that room. You want to sit in the cozy corner of your couch and have a beautiful accent light, maybe reading light, you want to be able to turn on a light when you’re having a drink and entertaining. I have little lights everywhere in my house. What about you?
Elizabeth: Oh yeah, there’s so many different lights. First of all, I think of reading. A nice floor lamp. Lamps work as well, you know table lamps, just make sure the light is in line with your eyesight so you can read with it. I like up lighting behind chairs. That’s really cool. For a little romance or maybe having just another couple over for hors d’oeuvres in your living room. I also like up/down sconces. I do like that a lot. And I still like track lighting. I don’t know about you.
Maryann: It’s funny you just said that because I used to think of them as very 80s and then I had a contractor put them in my closet and he was like, Maryann I swear to God, they’re not they don’t look like the 80s ones anymore. They’re more subtle. They’re thinner. So they have changed right?
Elizabeth: They definitely have changed. However I am living in house that was built in the 80s, and I think my, my track lighting is actually pretty nice. I like it. It lights up my fireplace, it lights up my Christmas tree. I’m able to move them around. The one thing that I am lacking that’s on my list is a real honking chandelier to go at the foot of that tall ceiling. I do not have one and I’m looking for the right one.
Maryann: It is so hard to find the right one you’re looking for that focal point light, right? You’re just searching and searching you have to fall in love with it.
Elizabeth: You do because once it’s up there, especially if it’s up that high—you got to make sure it’s the right one.
Maryann: It costs a lot of money to put it up there.
Elizabeth: And you know, we’re talking about interior lighting, but outdoor lighting is especially important too, especially as you’re getting older, you have to light up that walkway. Motion lighting, as soon as you’re home—boom—you’ve got the lights. That’s really important too.
Maryann: Good point. And on the stairs inside, too, I was just realizing we had little lights put on our stairs going down to our basement so that we don’t trip at night and the in-laws don’t trip at night.
Elizabeth: Yeah, it’s so important. It really is.
Maryann: I think there’s nowhere more important than the bathroom for lighting. I’ve got lighted mirrors on the vanity and lights above, and lights on this side, because I can’t see anything, even with a magnifying mirror.
Elizabeth: I agree with you. I’m sorry if my friends are listening to this eventually, but when I go to some of my friend’s homes and, a lot of times we go out to dinner, or you just want to look nice—you want to put your makeup on, right? How do people put makeup on?! And even some hotels I go to, the lighting is just not right. I bring my own vanity mirror because I have to have the light.
Maryann: It’s amazing how many hotels don’t have good light in the bathroom. A friend once told me that she worked in retail years ago and they actually had a policy to dim the lights because they didn’t want older people shopping there. And that’s the kind of agism I’m talking about. So I sometimes wonder—I’m in a hotel bathroom and I’m going, do they not want people in their 50s in this place because we can’t see anything. They’re waiting us out. When we were designing our new bathrooms I’m remembering—when you have the lights next to the mirror, that kind of softens you up as opposed to having the light come from on top of the mirror and getting the shadows…
Elizabeth: Yes it’s the first thing I changed when I decided to take over the spare full bath upstairs is that we had an overhead [light]. I said this is just not working. You have the ones on your the side of your mirror, honey, and you don’t even wear makeup. Could you please install some of those for me? And he did. That really just makes such a big difference and when you look better in the morning it sets the tone for the day.
Maryann: Alright so we determined we need more light is there anything we need less of as we get older? I’m thinking maybe closet space? I don’t know.
Elizabeth: Yeah, if we haven’t already weeded out our closet by then, we better get to it because honestly we don’t need that much. We weren’t really don’t. I actually designed a retirement home myself. My husband built it. It’s presently being rented by the dream renters of the world. Rick & Marcy. (I think they’ll listen!) We call it the little dream house, and it is a one-bedroom modern farmhouse with an 8′ by 20′ porch on it to make sure we can just look out one day at the woods and really take in nature. We live in the woods here on the side of the mountain. It’s a nice Ponderosa green with white trim, the porch has nice warm cedar shakes, but as you go in, what you need more of—you need wider hallways and entrances. This house is only 24′ by 36′ with a full basement, but I sacrificed a spare room for a wider entryway where you can sit down and take your shoes off here and put your boots on, and then my husband made some barn doors, right there. It has a bigger bathroom, it has a walk in shower. So you can actually put a chair on there if you need to. It could have been a two-bedroom, but we decided to make it a one-bedroom and then a spare room for hobbies or an office for designing. It could also function as a guest room. Marcy has her calligraphy room in there right now and Rick downstairs has his music studio where he plays music.
Maryann: That’s so great.
Elizabeth: Wider hallways, wider doors, bigger bathrooms. I think a place for getting the sun is very important, we actually made plans for an addition—for an additional room that will ultimately get the washer and dryer upstairs hidden behind doors, and walking out onto a patio, where we’ll have a little raised bed garden. So I’ve actually done that. You know, the kitchen has nice pullout racks. So you’re not down there reaching in handles that are easy for older people to hang on to, you know, to open the drawers, things like that.
Maryann: We thought our baby-proofing days were over. Now we have to senior proof everything. I have to admit, it sounds depressing, but it’s so practical, especially we plan to be in our homes for the next few decades. It makes sense.
Elizabeth: Absolutely. Although I hate to give up the big house, but at least we have something—we have a plan for the future.
Maryann: Everybody needs a plan. Okay, let’s go back to color for a minute. Because you are so into color. I love color. And you say that, you know, experimenting with color is a great way to get yourself feeling more courageous, more bold, you know? And I think that’s great. So what would you say to a client who’s a little bit reluctant to try new colors or dip their feet in some new hues? I mean, it’s, is it about baby steps? Is it about just giving it a shot doing one room? What’s your approach?
Elizabeth: Well, for some people, it’s baby steps. And actually, I would suggest that this is the most common thing, you know, just pick one wall and pick an accent wall and go darker than you normally would way darker, just don’t just don’t pick one shade. Darker. Do it. Okay. Maybe a bold print with color. And so that accent walls there. See if you like it. Um, you can change it, you haven’t invested that much. I say also, you have a favorite color or a couple colors. Because I suggest a couple of colors. Just throw it to the pillows, throw it to that unique one-of-a-kind vase. I even thought about I in fact, it was my very first genre blog, it was called cooling down with muted colors. And I actually suggested taking a chocolate brown, which is very back end again, by the way, in your closet. Okay. And then in in this particular bedroom, I took some muted shades, it was almost like a sunset type bedding with muted Genta needed chocolate, muted, muted yellow. And I combined it in layered it with other pillows similar shades and put some color into the rug as well. And so we were able to just experiment a little bit. And in later if they decided that brown was really something they like, bring it back, bring it in, bring it into your bedroom.
Maryann: Right, right. And you use something called the bold meter quiz to get people thinking about taking design risks. What’s that all about?
Elizabeth: Oh, it’s called the bold-o-meter. It’s my own quiz. I created it a couple of years ago when I first started my website. It helps people define their personal level bold. I want people to be their best and defining their personal level of boldness is important. And it may they may not be too bold at all. There. There are four different levels of bold that you’ll be basically screened for, if you will, and I start off with tau dippers. I go to drama seekers because I’ve found an awful lot of those. Then I go to bolsters and then I go to just fall out you’re on fire. Now the quiz. It’s not a teeny little quiz. It’s maybe 27-29 questions; pretty comprehensive. Four different pictures or four different questions or statements for each. I asked people The key is to please just don’t per separate, read it look at it ticket, because your first gut feeling is actually I feel your inner bold speaking for you, in ultimately, you may be surprised, but ultimately you’re going to get closer to the result of what is your personal level of bold and then we’re gonna go there with each of the results comes up with a page of suggestions for you. And people can share the results that they want. Because they’re, you know, it’s not just clients that take it, it’s other people who take it and, and it’s also you know, a lead for me to you know, that’s let’s be honest. But it really helps people to find in, in in, I can work with them a little bit better knowing you know, just what is it—what’s your level.
Maryann: That’s so cool. Okay, so we want to be more bold, but I liked personally to be simultaneously bold and soothing and calm. I love color. I have a Missoni rainbow runner on my stairs, I have a green living room, a purple dining room and kitchen. But I also like a lot of mid lifers need a little calm my life these days. So I like to have candles and soft lighting. And every room I have vinyl records and a record player and two rooms and I have books everywhere. Are there ways that you suggest to your clients that they can inject a little bit of calmness in their lives, so they can like unwind after a long day and just to kind of self soothe? Right?
Elizabeth: I definitely can. We might overlap. And another question later on. But let’s go for it here. I know that blues and greens and grays combined with earth tones are really super easy ways to inject that, that that calmness, anything natural. I really believe that is like the number one thing that I do. Even though I’m a bold designer, I do truly believe in using as much natural elements as possible in for that reason alone. So it’s funny that you should mention that people asked me if I have a lot of bold colors in my house. I have bold elements instead. And the reason being is I live amongst the woods and mountains and I believe that I don’t want the indoors to compete with the outdoors because I have amazing windows around here everywhere you look I see trees and you know, but I have variable elements.
Maryann: You have to design with your house in mind, right? Not only the architecture but your surroundings you do for sure. And plant you know plants. I just thought of asking you this because I’m sick plants are like this gigantic design trend right now. Everybody has more houseplants. I don’t think people have had this many house plans since the 70s.
Elizabeth: Oh, yes. I mean, you definitely need to mention that. In the same vein here, houseplants and it’s becoming easier to have carefree houseplants because they have beautiful ones that you can find that are faux.
Maryann: I know! They have a really good quality some of those faux house plants!
Elizabeth: Yeah, my daughter-in-law and son in Massachusetts have a few. They look fantastic. And of course, they have a lot of plants in Thailand. And I think she just likes to have a lot of plants around her. That’s where she’s from. Definitely those plants, whether they’re potted on the windowsill, or if they’re for plants, faux or real, they bring a calmness, that sense of calmness. For sure.
I used to kill all my plants, but I finally kept about seven of them alive. My daughter came home a few weeks ago, she’s like, Mom, you haven’t killed these plants. I’m so proud of you.
I am very proud of you. I do better with outdoor plants than I do indoor plants.
Maryann: Over watering is probably the number one killer. But I digress. So, Elizabeth, when you’re designing a room, what’s a good place to start? Do you start with a focal point? How can our listeners out there if they’re they’re looking at tackling a room right now? How can they kind of hone in on a on a place to just get it all started?
Elizabeth: Well, you definitely have to start with a focal point. That’s the way I feel about it, period. In fact, I have a podcast about doing this. And it’s called interior design a bird’s eye view. And we talk about taking that focal point I have I actually have two in my living room right now and I have my fireplace and I’ve got a whole wall of doors that look over to the west side of the little hamlet that I live in. And so I picked the fireplace of course, because it just seems to make more sense. And why you need to pick that as a start, is you need to have balance in your room. Where are you going to put your furniture, you have to start with that focal point, you need to have traffic flow, you need to have ample space between that coffee table. The sofa, I use that just as an as an example living room because I’m talking about my fireplace. But you have to start there. And if you don’t have one, you can create one. Don’t worry. You have an awesome bookcase or a couple of side-by-side to make a big statement. That’s one way a sideboard, you know for sure, a lot of people are putting their TV sets on them. But other people may be putting a gallery wall above them. One huge piece of art and awesome lamps, or even an awesome set of low chairs. And so yeah, you can create your own but definitely I feel you just start with your focal point because your room is definitely doomed if you don’t know how you’re going to place your furniture. Yeah.
Maryann: So you should think about what you want folks to see the minute they walk into the room, right? Where do you want them? What do you want their eyes to go toward that gorgeous view towards that painting towards that conversation area, right. So think about what you want people to see and kind of make that area pop, right? It’s funny one thing I had a designer friend tell me years ago, and it was so helpful. She’s like this stuff in a room that you kind of want to minimize, make it blend with everything else. And the stuff that you want people to notice, just make that in contrast, you know, so I was designing a laundry room. And I remember it’s a black and white laundry room has a black and white really cool floor. And I put in a black apron sink, and I wanted people to notice the sink first and the floor. So on the white shelves with the white tile, I just remember like, I put white bins there because they weren’t going to notice the white bins. But then if I put a black bin there, there, I was gonna go toward the black bin. So like, right using color in that way, too is also helpful.
Elizabeth: Yes, actually, what you’re really describing is camouflaging. And we do it all the time interior design, where we’re drawing the attention away from something that’s not just quite right in the room. So again, great job with that.
Maryann: It’s my it’s my one of my hobbies. I love interior design. Are there design trends that our generation still loves? But maybe the younger generations aren’t as into anymore? I’m curious.
Elizabeth: Oh, my goodness. Well, I’m sitting at one and I’m looking at one right now. Because of this, again, this beautiful home was built in 1982 I think that’s when ground was broken. And I have a sunken living room. And, you know, I love them. But you know, it just seems like I think younger folks really are more insistent on having seamless boring as far as the eye can see. So that’s one thing. I am sitting at a horseshoe-shaped bar in my living room. I have an open-concept area here with my 1980s track lights. And that is that is definitely one of the things I think that blinds are definitely adored by younger people more than mid lifers. I think we definitely have a lot of blinds in midlife. But I think that we’re still using more drapes than the younger folks. I think speaking of bars, I think we’re still into full tilt bars. I’ll call it full tilt Boogie because I love Janice so much, Janis Joplin, she she would have had a full tilt bar if she could have had one. But I think younger folks are probably more into their fancy bar carts where they have their bourbon of choice from the distillery of choice.
Maryann: I have a bar cart. I love my little bar cart! No, I have a it’s funny you say that because we just bought one because we were finding that we’d have people for dinner. We sit at the dining room and then you know how you just get so bored sitting in the dining room. I’m like, I need a way to get people to move their butts into the living room. So I always have now I keep the bar cart there and I’m like, why don’t we go into the lunch?
Elizabeth: Oh, well, that’s that’s very that’s a useful idea. I can see why you would do that for sure. But I think we spent maybe it’s because I’m a teeny bit older. I think basements have more full bars in them. For some older lifers I know that you mentioned you like gallery walls in our regional conversation and actually large art is starting to be more popular, you know, then those gallery walls but I love them. You know, I have one I have one of my mother in law’s art back there and her the author Maynard. seascape is the someone she studied under, and she actually won that lottery. That’s her watercolor, we have it throughout the house, we have other wedding pictures from our family members on on another intimate wall as you walk down or our stairs from the second floor. But younger people are more into the larger art. But I think overall, I think that mid lifers are placing more emphasis on design style. And younger folks are more concerned about demographics. I mean, do you agree with me on that? A lot of younger folk?
Maryann: Well, I have so much—you just said so much interesting stuff right there. So I want to address everything because first I want to go back to the sunken living room. Yeah, that cracks me up. Because I remember every, every like every other friend of mine, when I was in junior high, their parents had a sunken living room and we didn’t have one, I always thought they were the coolest things. They were like almost like a sandbox at the playground. Like you have a sunken living room. So that is so funny. And I think that they’re so for me, they’re nostalgic, and fun, right. And a lot of Silicon Valley offices here. They have kind of sunken office spaces now which and I’m wondering at this, like a retro trend or something. But anyway, I digress. I think a lot of things you’re describing about the bar cards versus the bar, I think it has a lot to do with space. And also city versus country also, because I know in cities you have right you have less space, we don’t I don’t have a huge basement where I can have a tiki bar, you know, if I did, I would most likely do it. But you know, the bar card is nice if you have that limited space. And the same thing for the gallery, gallery walls versus large art. Like if you have that large wall and you want to do that large scale art, my by all means like, I personally love mixing it up, like I have a gallery wall in my office. But then I have a huge kind of I blew up this photograph of a record player for my family room. And it’s tremendous. It’s like 100 inches. I mean, it’s huge. So I think it’s nice to mix it up. And again, it’s all about the space you have right.
Elizabeth: It certainly isn’t thanks for pointing it out. Because oftentimes, I can’t when I’m talking that yeah, I live in a really big house. And but certainly great points and in, by the way, I’m jealous about that, that record player are I want to see that.
Maryann: I will send you a picture, you know I did that I just went on a stock photo. And I downloaded this high-quality, high-resolution stock photo, and anybody can do this. And you go onto one of those mural sites or the people that put these gigantic you know, any photo onto a canvas, and you can split it up into sections. I mean, it’s an easy, relatively inexpensive way to get large-scale art if you can’t afford to buy like a $10,000 painting, you know,
Elizabeth: It seems like the possibilities are endless. And yeah, we’re so lucky.
Maryann: But generationally speaking I want to point out that here I’ve had a couple of Realtors tell us that younger generations don’t want built in bookshelves anymore. They’re tearing out built ins whether they’re bookshelves or built in cabinets and they don’t love those details which I personally think make a home so unique and interesting and period. And do you see that?
Elizabeth: Yes, I do. And that’s exactly one of my points you know, with the details and interior design. You know, I think mid lifers are still hanging on to those you know?
Maryann: Do you find that open floor plans are here to stay? Are there clients of yours who don’t like open floor plans? I’m just curious because I am not a big fan of open floor plans for every house that is.
Elizaeth: You know, I don’t think they are here to stay. I have seen folks that have bought homes and the prior owner has just done their best to open it right up. But I really feel like folks are really coming back to comfort in making everything look more inviting and cozy. I’m not saying this is for everybody. But I’ve seen a lot of people put walls back up. You know, for example, A wall came back up in order to make another whole wall on the other side for the kitchen because the kitchen was really important to them, but so I like anything else, Marian, I really think things swing back in the opposite direction eventually and not seeing a lot of that. But I am seeing some of it.
Maryann: For a while, I mean like everybody was walking into a house I hear someone say like oh, and we’re gonna knock down that wall and that wall and now like the first thing they wanted to do was knock down every wall and I’m thinking to myself, you got to look at the house is integrity like what is your house like we have a 1914 and Wardian I’m not going to knock down all the walls I have a dining room with a built-in that was still intact and I’m going to keep that I’m going to try to preserve as much as possible but um, and I feel like you also have to look at when you walk in that door What do you want people to see like if I knock down the wall between my kitchen and my dining room, people will see my kitchen the second they walk through the door so you’re right, you have to look at the whole picture.
Elizabeth: Absolutely, absolutely you do and your house sounds beautiful.
Maryann: It’s old and it’s, you know, it’s old and charming and you gotta has quirks like any old house, but I love that I love the old one. I do too. Yeah, yeah. Okay, I want to get to the bedroom because this is this is the place where we all just we want it to be our haven, right? Can you give us some tips on setting the tone for this ultimate personal space?
Elizabeth: Sure tips for setting the tone for the bedroom. I know earlier we talked about those blues, those grays, those greens and I’m not talking about bright ones of course. And then mixing them with the natural earthy or tones of again, I have to reiterate this because it’s so important in bedrooms to create a sense of calm, you know, mood all by itself in the right shades can create calm and I feel that muted lighting is important. Dimmable lamps, paper lanterns I’m a real big fan of return pendants. I just like how the light is just softened. And even string lights I like those too a little bit you know not every every house but they’re pretty pretty nice above the bed.
Maryann: Make you feel like you’re in a tropical oasis.
Elizabeth: Absolutely. And and the use of electronics you know I I think people are getting a little bit smarter about trying not to be on their phone or watching television. But consider just keeping that phone away from you—put it up you know across the room on your dresser rather than your nightstand. And that’s really important because of bright lights stimulate the brain right and keep us alert.
Maryann: TV or no TV in the bedroom?
Elizabeth: No TV, no TV. Yes. And removing clutter. People might not think about this but if you’re starting out your day with clutter and it’s just making you feel disorganized and unhappy to begin with. Reducing that is really important and it’s the way you end your day. You feel just more relaxed and more accomplished in a way because you don’t have all that jazz hanging around. Not to mention the safety aspects of it all. You know and but you know i It’s not to say you have to use these subdued colors. I actually being bold. I use a lot of color in bedrooms but I’m I’m crafty with how I allow that to happen and still make it relaxing. I had a recent project where I had blocked botanical wallpaper with greens and oranges and oh yeah. And then the backdrop to the bed was a black wall with some nice pop art. Oh beautiful woman with dark skin and leopard hat and but my trip to calming that down was just a really luxurious, comfy, messy white comforter do they? Tables are nightstands, and I put a couple orange mushroom lamps in there on the nightstands but I also have the foot of the bed but my favorite set of chairs they’re actually in the shape of a leaf and they’re green. And in the center is a return another campsite table and just that couple bits from return shaded pendants. Really didn’t make that room so bold after all. It really it it really allowed that person to like, you know I like leopard that’s bring a little bit in but that’s not overdo it. It’s the bedroom okay. And we also had, he also had a rattan dresser and armoire so we went to town with that. Sexy moods. I have a few of those too. I don’t that’s what you’re referring to.
Maryann: I was and I love that you mentioned using, like for instance dark walls with a soft, messy bed covering. It’s about texture right and in a room you have to have various textures you can’t just have everything hard or everything soft or everything you know one feel like all you can’t have like all metal furniture and then a metal bed. So in terms of mixing it up and creating texture in the room, do you have any tips for that?
Elizabeth: Well certainly texture is always an important thing because it makes more the room look more interesting. You know, there’s a lot of furniture out there that has a lot of straight edges on it. And if you start just boxing everything together in all it looks like looks like a hotel lobby. You know, and in certainly putting those textures in with prints, putting them in with fabrics, chunky rugs, chunky throws, don’t overdo it. But I hear a little bit here and there. And certainly that room always has to have texture. Whether it be like the texture of even a wall, you know, with stone.
Maryann: Do you like wallpaper?
Elizabeth: I like wallpaper in the right place. I think that with my bold interior decorating it’s a staple. It is absolutely a staple and I use it whenever I get a chance. But it’s mostly one wall sometimes it’s too i love it any spare bathroom. I definitely love bowl wallpaper, big bold wallpaper in bathrooms.
Maryann: Me too. And if you want to experiment with wallpaper, there’s no better place to do it than a powder room. Right? It’s like it’s low risk.
Elizabeth: It definitely is low risk. You know, I love the idea of folks coming over to a client’s home and you know they’re there they’re having dinner and all of a sudden there’s a surprise. I don’t know if how much people are calling these powder rooms but I call them powder rooms. I do have one room that is purple. And that is a guest bathroom in my house and the reason why I have it is because I have an old vintage purple phone that my husband had. And it’s in the bathroom on the side of the vanity and I said you know I have a friend who is an awesome artist and she incorporates a lot of the purples and the pinks and the greens and the blues. The bathroom is nothing but her art and that purple phone in some needed purple walls and speaking of purpley we talked about you having some purple and how much you like purple.
Maryann: Yeah, I love purple. I have a purple kitchen island but then it carries over into the dining room where I have purple in the rug and purple on the walls and I have purple accents. Then I have as I said, this Missoni carpet going up and down the stairs that has purple and green in it. And I kind of tied the purple in with the green room. I just love purple and I love green. But I did try wallpaper in my powder room and in a guest bedroom, and it’s funny you mentioned the telephone. first of all, I have a ton of vintage telephones. Oh, writers. But so I want to see your house now I’m dying to see your house. But I love the way it starts. It started that way for you because for me, I was in New York, my hometown and I saw an ABC Carpet if you’ve never been there, you gotta go there. It’s an amazing store. There was a woman selling beautiful lighting. It was at the time, it was called canopy designs, and there was this chandelier small chandelier with birds-like leaves hanging and these little yellow birds on leaves. And it was on sale. I grabbed it I had a ship into my house. And then I said when we’re doing our house I said I’ve got to design a powder room around this and I happen to find some wallpaper and some British design wallpaper that had almost the exact same birds and they were the same color yellow as white. So I put the wallpaper up and then did gray she high sheen walls on the on the on the on the booty call below the the wainscotting. And it just it’s a fun room and we even have bird sounds being pumped into the overhead speakers so that when people go into the bathroom they hear them.
Elizabeth: Over the top! I love the idea! I don’t know if you’re a boldster. In my design quiz. I think that’s what you would be I think you’d fallen to the boldster. By the way back to that quiz, most people are bolsters who take that quiz. It’s interesting.
Maryann: What do you think that is?
Elizabeth: I think, number one, if they’ve seen my Instagram page, and they’ve gone to my website, they see the bold, right. And I think that they’re excited to take the quiz. So I think that could be the reason. Yeah.
Maryann: Yeah. I could we circle back a second. I said earlier about decluttering. Because you really hit on something there because I agree with you. Like, I like to pick up my crap at the end of the day and put it away. Like, I can’t go to sleep unless everything is kind of put away. And I keep telling my kids make your bed in the morning. And they’re like, why do we have to make our bed we’re only going to leave and come home and go to sleep again. And I’m like, trying to explain to them, Elizabeth that making your bed sets the tone for your day. Don’t you agree with me?
Elizabeth: Yeah, like I said, you know, it’s just another part of being organized. Do I do it all the time? Do I do a quick makeup the bed? Yeah, I can do. Maybe someday they’ll get it?
Maryann: Or you know what? They can leave their own bed in their own home on made I don’t care. But when you’re in my house, you make your bed.
Elizabeth: Yeah, yeah.
Maryann: Okay, my final question to you, Elizabeth is what are some design trends that we’re going to be seeing in the near future? I’m hearing that separate bedrooms are a thing for couples. What’s going on with that?
Elizabeth: You know, I researched this a little bit. Of course, I’m aware of it. But I researched the numbers. And they’re saying somewhere between 25 and 40% of people, or couples, do have separate bedrooms. They also mentioned in this article that I read that it could be more because maybe people are feeling more like it’s a stigma like oh, like they call it the sleep divorce, that type of thing. You know, like what’s going on? I don’t want to sleep with a partner. By the way, I sleep with my husband and I wouldn’t ever do the separate bedroom. There are nights that I do go into a separate bedroom.
Maryann: Does he snore? Is that why?
Elizabeth: Yes.
Maryann: You can embarrassed him. It’s okay. My husband snores. 80% of husbands snore.
Elizabeth: If I have something really important going on. Yes, I go into our spare bedroom upstairs. But separate bedrooms—I hear Cameron Diaz has a lot to say about this. But dual primary bedrooms? If your house is big enough, yay, go ahead and do it. It may be could be almost like you’re in a hotel room and you have an adjoining door and you have your separate bathrooms, your separate closets, your separate bedrooms. I think that we’re living in a time where we’re more thoughtful about spoiling ourselves and taking care of ourselves. And I, I’m going to say that I think it makes sense for a lot of couples. And it’s amazing what some of the some of the things that I’ve seen people doing. But you know, if you’re really into a certain color design, or some things you just want to have, you know, artwork in your room, you can actually just do that and make yourself really super happy. You know, because it doesn’t necessarily match your spouse’s thought of what they want there.
Maryann: I think of Queen Elizabeth and her husband, you know, when they’re separate rooms and they come, you know, visit one another. But I heard this young guy I forget who he was, he was some life coach in his 30s and he was saying that he and his girlfriend have separate bedrooms in their large house and I was kind of surprised because they’re so young. And he was saying like that their generation is looking at wellness, like you said as a very important factor. And sleep is so important as we know sleep is so important to our mental health our well being so if you’re not getting that sleep, the relationship suffers. So it actually is a favor to really uh, you know, it’s an advantage to your relationship to get that sleep and wellness. So maybe we’re going to change our social cultural perceptions around that. Who knows. I also heard of separate for this is like for luxury homes. I no one I know can afford this, but I heard that there are two kitchens now in some homes like one kitchen, where you actually prepare the meal for like a dinner party. And then another kitchen. That’s the hat. You hang out and drink wine with your guests. And like, that’s amazing. I can’t even imagine.
Elizabeth: Yeah, yeah. And you know, it’s actually been in a house a couple years ago. It was on Lake Champlain. We were preparing for a friend’s daughter’s bridal shower. And this house was big anyway, overlooking the beautiful Lake Champlain. In they had a separate kitchen. And that’s where they kept all their all their dinnerware, extra dishwashing, you need that extra refrigerator. You know, all that extra space that you need, where you prep your food, because you don’t want all that all over the place. You want to serve. Fantastic food. And let’s face it, unless we have a servant doing that for us. I don’t know. I don’t know being who does. But you need that extra space to have all that messiness be behind the closed door.
Maryann: Yeah, you hide the mess. And also when you’re I’m cooking in the kitchen, everybody’s in the kitchen all the time. I’m like, get the hell out of my way.
Elizabeth: Yeah, I could be much more efficient getting that food on the table if I didn’t have to do this or that or the other thing? Yeah, to my house, too. But yeah, the butler pantry. You know, I’ve been in houses where the older houses have them and like they’re so cool. But right now, those secondary kitchens, they’re on steroids. They are they’re just beautiful on and I have a lot of dishes myself, and I don’t get to use them as much. But if they’re out there at my fingertips, I’d be more likely to right?
Maryann: Well, for many, I feel like for many of us in our 50s and beyond, like the entertaining days are kind of, I don’t want to say subsiding. But we’re getting maybe some of us are getting a little tired of hosting all the time and kind of want our homes to be more of our personal space and less entertaining. That’s the least I’m talking about myself, I guess. I don’t know. Do you feel I do feel the same way?
As you get older? There have been a lot of parties in this house where I’ve had 50 to 70 people before. How did I do it? I have no idea. More intimate. gatherings with, you know, a couple couples, you know, some dear friends or in family. You know, I’m more into the quiet than I than I used to be. I definitely am. Yeah, I think we’re trying to make our homes just more peaceful. Let’s face it. We’ve been through an awful lot with the pandemic and everything. And I think a lot of us are looking at life differently to be more calm, peaceful.
Maryann: Yeah, I couldn’t agree more. Yeah. Well, Elizabeth, thank you so much for these awesome tips. I think a lot of people out there are going to be excited about maybe, you know, shaking up their personal space. Thanks to you. So thank you. And please tell everybody where they can find you if they want to find out about what you do and your company.
Elizabeth: Absolutely. Or you can see me on Instagram, where everything is purple, blue jean, and leopard. That’s my, my new branding. So that’s @smoothybluesonlineinteriors. And that’s “smoothy” with a “y”. And then I have my website, smoothybluesonlineinteriors.com. And you can find me on Facebook as well.
Maryann: All right. And you guys can find all that information on the show notes in the show notes as well. Elizabeth, always a pleasure. Thank you so much!
Elizabeth: Thank you!
Outro: Thank you so much for tuning in to More Beautiful. Please visit Moreproject.com For show notes and bonus content. And it would mean so much if you could subscribe, rate and leave a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you’re listening. See you next week for another great conversation!
