The Skirted Roundtable

Chatting with author Carol Sheehan, "The Birding Life"

2012-01-02T19:29:00.000-08:00

Before the holiday madness, we chatted with author Carol Sheehan, who along with husband Laurence Sheehan and Kathryn Precourt, has written a new book in their series of "Life" books called THE BIRDING LIFE. The book covers the many varied uses of bird imagery and lifestyles that have been incorporated into interiors and art over the last century. This beautifully shot coffee table book (photography by William Stites) covers a wide range of "bird-life" styles as captured by 20th century artist Charley Harper and contemporary gals about town The Hovey Sisters and everything in between.

Charley Harper

Carol Sheehan has had a long career in magazine publishing, most notably as editor in chief of County Home magazine. Laurence Sheehan is a freelance writer who has contributed to New England Monthly, The Atlantic and Travel + Leisure, among others. Kathryn Precourt is a magazine editor and interior designer. William Stites is a widely published photographer whose work has appeared in House Beautiful, Better Homes & Gardens, GQ and Esquire. Previous books include "Living With Dogs" and "A Gardener's Life".

Wallpapers and textiles by Thomas Paul

If birds, both inside or out, are your passion, this book is a must have. ~~If you would like a chance to win a copy of the book, courtesy of Carol, please leave a comment below.~~

Congratulations to Kim who has won a copy of this book! Thanks to everyone for your comments!








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SRT Congratulates the AD100 and SRT Alumni

2011-12-05T21:59:00.001-08:00

To great fanfare, Architectural Digest has release it's new AD100 list. The Skirted Roundtable gals would like to send a big shout out to some of our past interviewees who have made the list!

David Easton - click here to listen to our interview

Jamie Drake - click here to listen to our interview

Martyn Lawrence Bullard - click here to listen to our interview

Bobby McAlpine - click here to listen to our interview

Suzanne Kasler - click here to listen to our interview

Suzanne Rheinstein - click here to listen to our interview

Vicente Wolf - click here to listen to our interview

And finally, I had interviewed Thad Hayes pre-SRT and since it was doing this interview that put the idea of SRT in my head to begin with, I feel it's appropriate to include my interview with him here.

Thad Hayes - click here to listen to the interview

8 of AD's 100 list isn't bad. But we've got a long way to go! We're in "talks" with some other's on the list and will hopefully be able to announce them soon!

Martyn Lawrence Bullard - charming as always

2011-11-22T19:41:00.001-08:00

Joni, Megan and Linda recently cozied up (well, as cozy as Skype allows!) to the warm and chatty Martyn Lawrence Bullard to discuss his career, how he got to be the decorator to the stars, his time on "Million Dollar Decorators" (Season 2 is rumored to be shooting now!) his new book "Live, Love & Decorate" and his various product endorsements. This is one busy - and talented - man!

Martyn Lawrence-Bullard: Live, Love, and Decorate

Some of Martyn's work that is beautifully showcased in the book:

Cheryl Teig's house:

MLB's own home:

Ellen Pompeo's house:

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And we have a winner of the Leslie Sinclair book "Segreto: Secrets to Finishing Beautiful Interiors"! Amy from Maison Decor - come on down and claim your new book!

Leslie Sinclair Visits the Skirted Roundtable

2011-10-31T09:47:00.000-07:00

Last week, we welcomed Leslie Sinclair to The Skirted Roundtable. Leslie is from Houston where she owns a very successful paint finishes company Segreto Finishes. Additionally, Leslie has just written a gorgeous design book that highlights many of the beautiful houses she has worked on.

Leslie's gorgeous book.

Leslie explained all the different paint finishes that are currently in vogue. Paint is very trendy - the bright and garish faux treatments of the 80s and 90s have disappeared in favor of very subtle treatments that provide more of a texture instead of color. Leslie is a real dyamo - a successful business owner, a mother and wife, and now an author! She is adorable, and very, very sweet. She tells us how she went from working in the coroporate world to starting a small paint company that today is a very large one that employs over 25 people!

Segreto is known for their gorgeous paint finishes on cabinets. Here are pictures of various cabinets they have painted over the years.

The book, Segreto - Guide to Finishing Beautiful Interiors - is a stunner. The pictures of the interiors are simply beautiful. Leslie has worked some of the prettiest houses - and the book is filled with them - page after page. It is an absolutely gorgeous book, one of the prettiest published this year.

The time flew by as we discussed the book, her business, and everything in between.

We learned so much about wall treatments, plaster, and what's hot and what's not. Be sure to listen, I guarantee you a great time!!

A beautiful kitchen featured in Segreto.

To order Leslie's book, Segreto, please go HERE.

If you would like a chance to win an signed copy of Segreto Finishes, leave a comment below telling us what most interested you about our interview with Leslie. She's a real DIY'er at heart and there's much to learn from her story!

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Restoration Hardware: Our thoughts

2011-10-08T20:18:00.000-07:00

Clocking in at 1" thick, 3+ pounds and over 600 pages, the new Restoration Hardware catalog is hard to ignore. The clear direction that the company has taken is the topic du jour and we'd love to know your thoughts. Joni, Megan and Linda chat about our thoughts on the style direction of RH and how long-reaching we feel this trend to be.

We also learn (thanks to Joni's intrepid nephew!) that RH offers trade professionals a 20% discount. So too do Pottery Barn (under their Williams Sonoma banner), Crate and Barrel, and Ballard Designs.

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Season Recap: The Million Dollar Decorators

2011-08-21T14:39:00.000-07:00

The Million Dollar Decorators Cast

Megan was out of town this week, so Linda and I invited Artie Vanderpool from Color Outside the Lines blog HERE to join us while we wrapped up the first season of Bravo's Million Dollar Decorators.

Best Moments: Kathryn Ireland's fights with Shannon Factor. Look at that face!

Artie actually wrote a weekly recap on his blog for each episode so he was very knowledgeable about some behind the scenes info that we hadn't heard about.

Best Moments: Ross and Jam in the bathtub. What more can we say????

All three of us adored the show, but felt that eight short weeks wasn't nearly enough. But, it did make for an exciting summer watching the antics of Kathryn and Martyn, Mary and Nathan, and Jeffrey and Ross. So much fun!

Best Moments: Jacqueline - Kathryn Ireland's wine drinking French maid. OMG - she was the breakout star of the season!

Be sure to listen as we discuss what we liked about the show, what we hated about the show (not much!) and what we thought about Shannon Factor!

Best Momemts: Martyn Lawrence Bullard works while Kathryn Ireland hangs out by the pool in Palm Springs.

Is Million Dollar Decorators coming back next year? Who knows? We discuss who we would like to come on next time - or do we want the same cast??????

Best Moments: Nathan Turner and Mary McDonald travel to market in North Carolina and think they landed in the South.

As always, thank you for all your support and comments you leave! We hope you enjoy this session with the Skirted Roundtable and Artie!

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Finally, congratulations to R@Rebecca's Roundup, you are the winner of James Swan's "101 Things I Hate About Your Home"!

101 Things I Hate About Your House

2011-07-13T10:56:00.000-07:00

Intrigued by the title? Provoked? Maybe even smiling to yourself? Good! Author James Swan, of the eponymous Beverly Hills based interior design firm, hoped for just that reaction when he titled his new book. With a humorous approach, James Swan, systematically goes through every part of the house, beginning at the front door, and points out the dos-and-don'ts of decorating while offering, simple fixes and how- tos in creating a beautiful home.

This week, we sit down with the amiable and talented author and designer to discuss the book and how it came to fruition. If you have the book already, flip through it along with us. If not, this interview will have you wanting to run out and pick up a copy faster than you can replace that soap you have sitting in the 'festering' soup of a soap dish! Full of humor and great decorating advice, we think you'll enjoy our time with James as much as we did.

"A majority of home-makers will never work with a design professional and yet, they aspire for their homes to be as beautiful as possible. It occurred to me that a bit of laughter might encourage people’s defenses to drop, allowing learning to take place, hopefully followed by positive change." - James Swan

“Intelligence is not to make no mistakes, but quickly to see how to make them good.” Bertolt Brecht

Also, Jame's has offered to send a lucky listener a signed copy of the book, so please leave a comment telling us what tip that James offered during the podcast really resonates with you and sharing with us one thing you'd like to change about your own home, or a favorite pet peeve when you're in other people's homes (no names, please!). Just make sure to include your name and email address so we can contact the winner of the random drawing of all entries.

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Million Dollar Decorators - we have opinions!

2011-06-07T14:32:00.000-07:00

Joni, Megan and I opinionate on the new BravoTV show Million Dollar Decorators starring Kathryn M. Ireland, Mary McDonald, Martyn Lawrence Bullard, Nathan Turner and Jeffrey Allen Marks (along with their clients, family and friends). If you follow the commentary on Twitter.com at either #milliondollardecorators or #mddbravotv you will know that everyone had a wide variety of opinions, both positive and negative.We'd love to know your thoughts!

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Also, last December when we interviewed Kathryn Ireland right here, she talked a little about the show. We were asked to remove that segment as the show wasn't officially being promoted yet, but gained permission last week to publish it now. It's less than 3 unedited minutes, hope you enjoy!

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Catching up with Joe Ruggiero

2011-04-19T17:43:00.000-07:00

This week, we sat down with Joe Ruggiero, a man who has done it all in the design industry. From broadcaster to pitchman, marketing guru and product designer, Joe's career has touched on all facets of the industry and it was fascinating to hear how he was always ready to seize the opportunities as they presented themselves. We discussed his beautiful collections of furnishings, casegoods, outdoor furniture and Sunbrella fabrics (which he uses indoors and out).

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Getting "Faux Real" with designer Jamie Drake

2011-04-12T14:27:00.000-07:00

Last week, Megan and Linda held our first ever in-person interview when we sat down with interior designer Jamie Drake in the press office at the High Point Market. Jamie had just addressed the press breakfast, discussing upcoming trends in interior design, melding his own work with the trend forecasting of event sponsor Swarovski Elements. We chatted with Jamie about his background and how he came to be known as the "King of Color". We discussed in detail the rooms shown below so you'll be able to follow along.

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We missed Joni on this trip, but had a lot of fun doing an in-person interview - background noise and all!

On product pitches

2011-03-22T20:30:00.000-07:00

This week (well, truthfully a couple of weeks ago) we chatted about all the product pitches we receive - what we like, what we don't and what we ignore. We'd love to hear your views as well!

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And, stay tuned, because The Skirted Roundtable is hitting the road next week and heading to High Point! We are in the process of setting up some exciting interviews and "man on the street" podcasts which we're really looking forward to!

The State of the Magazines

2011-02-15T21:02:00.000-08:00

[open links in a new window to avoid disruption of the podcast]

House Beautiful Elle Decor Town and Country Veranda Rue High Gloss Lonny Matchbook ::Surroundings::

This week it's just us and we offer our candid personal opinions on the current issues of the major shelter magazines - both print and digital. We do want to make it clear that we are in awe of all the work and heart that goes into producing these publications - especially the new digital versions. Kudos to everyone. However, in addition to our praise, we also had criticisms that we share as well. We hope these will be taken in the spirit intended. And we count on you, our commenters, to maintain the same level of respect as well should you wish to offer your opinions.

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Chatting with The Rue Girls Crystal Gentilello and Anne Sage

2011-01-25T10:29:00.000-08:00

Rue Magazine's Winter 2011 issue featuring singer Ali Sudol of A Fine Frenzy launches on January 27th!

This week, we sat down with Crystal Gentilello and Anne Sage, popularly known at "The Rue Girls" to chat about their popular new digital magazine Rue. The next issue launches this week and we were excited to have a chance to dig into the world of large scale digital magazines and how they made it work. And Crystal and Anne were incredibly generous sharing their back stories and the fine details of how they make it all work!

Anne Sage of City Sage

Crystal Gentilello of Plush Palate

Rue Magazine's photography and editorial is consistently excellent:

Note: We had some technical difficulties the evening we spoke and ended up speaking with Anne and Crystal one at a time for the first part of the interview and luckily we were able to get them both on together for the second part. We lost Crystal right at the end.

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Chatting with Suzanne Rheinstein

2011-01-17T14:07:00.000-08:00

Just before Christmas we chatted with the lovely and gracious Suzanne Rheinstein, owner of Hollyhock in Los Angeles. We chatted about her background in media and television news, her childhood in New Orleans and her mother's influence on her design aspirations, her store Hollyhock in LA and her amazing apartment in New York City. Join us!

Images courtesy of Elle Decor. Photographer Roger Davies.

Buy the book:

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Vicki Archer of French Essence Joins Us!

2010-12-20T13:25:00.000-08:00

We were so excited to be able to chat with Vicki Archer, author of the books French Essence and My French Life and the popular blog French Essence! We would have been more excited if we were all together at her house in Saint Rémy de Provence but Skype had to suffice.

We chatted about Vicki's beautiful ex-pat life in France (she's Australian) and the beautiful farm house she restored over time. She even has 3000 olive trees and spends one month a year harvesting them!

We chatted about this leopard staircase Vicki spotted (pun intended) in a shop. We did finally determine this is papered, not painted.

Vicki's daughter's bedroom as shot for French Essence. Vicki found the bed at the Cligancourt Flea market in Paris in 1995.

And finally, Vicki's staircase wrapped in olive branches for Christmas. Artwork by Anne Harwell.

All photos, except where noted, by Carla Coulson.

Buy the books:

Kathryn M. Ireland Visits the Skirted Roundtable!

2010-12-07T13:24:00.000-08:00

We were thrilled to spend time talking with Kathryn Ireland, the interior designer, NOT the model who unfortunately has the same name! Kathryn is English but lives and works in California and summers at her house in France. Besides decorating, she also designs a fabulous fabric line.

Her ranch in Ojai influenced the creation of her latest fabric line: Mexico Meets Morocco!

Kathryn was so much fun - she was at home after a long day of work - and she was ready to relax and just chat. We talked about her wonderful house in Ojai that she sold to Reese Witherspoon, and we talked about her garage that she turned into her own private retreat after she sold her ranch. A lot of Kathryn's clients are famous - A-listers in Hollywood. She got her start partnering up with the actress Amanda Pays when they both owned a small shop. Steve Martin came in one day and bought up everything! The rest is history.

Kathryn has two books out:

This book tells all about the restoration of her Ojai Ranch.

This book is about Kathryn's decorating style - with loads of pictures.

Both are available on Amazon: order Classic Country HERE and Creating A Home HERE. A third book about her house is France is coming out soon.

And for those in the LA area, Kathryn will be doing a book signing at Giannetti Home on Saturday. Check out Brooke's blog for all the details.

We hope you enjoy listening to this interview! Coming up is Vicki Archer - the author and blogger who lives a dream life in Provence, and next, a surprise guest, a giant in the decorating field.

We had a great response to our One King's Lane shopping spree giveaway! A big congratulations to Pam Gray of the blog Clustres who is the winner of a fantastic $200 shopping spree! We're all very jealous Pam!

However, to make it up, our newest sponsor Hot House is offering a generous 30% discount to The Skirted Roundtable listeners at her wonderful Etsy shop, filled with amazing vintage decorative accessories and clothing. Just use the TSR1210 at checkout. Just in time for a little holiday shopping.

The Skirted Roundtable on Digital Shelter Magazines PLUS a One King's Lane Shopping Spree Giveaway!!

2010-11-23T16:55:00.000-08:00

artwork courtesy of TSevis

On this week's podcast, Joni, Megan and Linda chatted about the state of digital Shelter Magazines-how they are to read, the big ones vs. little, their business models and how the heck does one remember to virtually pick it up again if it's not sitting on the coffee table?? [Note: there is a great business idea in there for some enterprising person...]

Among the publications we talked about are: Lonny, Rue, Nesting Newbies, High Gloss (launching 2011), Anthology, Sweet Paul, Ivy & Piper, Covet Garden, Array, Pure Green Living, Matchbook Magazine (launching 2011), Pigtown*Design and ::Surroundings::.

Ironically, while chatting about new media and technology, we had several technological problems of our own. First Joni crashed, so Megan and Linda chatted ~~about~~ without her. Then Joni came back on, and Linda crashed. Linda makes the recordings, so we lost much of what we recorded. So we postponed till the next night. So, this is all to say that this recording is a little more disjointed than others because we couldn't remember what we'd previously discussed. We also found it harder to maintain focus on the conversation thread without the magazines in our hands-which we thought was telling.

Also, just in time for the holidays, we're very excited that Skirted Roundtable sponsor One King's Lane has offered a $200 Shopping Spree on their site to one of our listeners!!! All you have to do is visit their website (registration is free if you're not already registered) and poke around and come back here and let us know in the comments what you would buy if you win the Shopping Spree! Very simple. One lucky person will be drawn from all the comments. NOTE: Please make sure you leave your email address, or link to you blog with your contact info so we can get in touch if you are the winner!

All the way from Belgium, chatting with Greet LeFevre of Beligan Pearls

2010-11-08T19:11:00.001-08:00

Greet Lefevre with her husband Jan (l) and brother Stefaan (r)

The week, we chatted with the lovely Greet LeFevre of the Begian Pearls blog. Greet is an accomplished interior designer whose family business LeFevre Interiors has been in the custom cabinet making business in Belgium since the 1890's. The business is now run by Greet, her husband Jan and brother Stefaan. We chatted with Greet about Belgian design and its influences, her views on the current popularity of Belgian style here in the States and her blog Belgian Pearls.

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And, we have a winner in our David Easton book giveaway! Congrats to Stefan Hurray of Architect Design! Your signed book will be on its way to you shortly!

DAVID EASTON VISITS THE SKIRTED ROUNDTABLE!

2010-10-27T19:41:00.000-07:00

This week, we are thrilled to welcome architect and interior designer David Easton to the Skirted Roundtable. Easton was a total surprise. I think all three of us thought we were in for a serious discussion on design, but Easton has an infectious sense of humor and likes to tease! A lot! He also likes to read and talk science fiction, which was rather surprising, to say the least. He is charming, sweet, nice and highly intelligent, yet always entertaining. We certainly were entertained.

The day we interviewed Easton, he had just come back from being on the Martha Stewart show - no pressure on us, no, not at all! He immediately put us at ease, and we totally forgot about riding on Martha's coattails. We spent some time talking about his new, beautifully photographed book "Timeless Elegance" which shows some of his more famous houses and some that have never been seen before. His two most famous houses, Albemarle House and Balderbrae are of course included.

And Easton spends some time talking about his childhood spent growing up in this beautiful house with wonderful porches. He reminisces about this house and how it inspires his designs.

The interview is highly enjoyable, easy to listen to, and thought-provoking all at once. Enjoy!

EDITED TO ADD: David Easton has kindly offered to send a sign copy of "Timeless Elegance" to one of our commenters, so leave a comment and you'll be entered to win the drawing for a signed book!

Meg Fairfax Fielding Joins the Skirted Roundtable

2010-10-19T21:04:00.000-07:00

This week, we welcome to the Skirted Roundtable, Meg Fairfax Fielding of the popular blog, Pigtown Design. Meg has been blogging over three years now, writing about everything from architecture to design to Baltimore to England and everything else in between. Her popular blog, named for the historic district of Baltimore where she lives, is a rich collection of musings on whatever catches Meg's attention.

Lately, it caught the attention of someone very handsome and popular himself - Nate Berkus. Yes, Meg has recently been a guest on the Nate Berkus show talking about her part time escapades as a Junk Whisperer! The producers and Nate were so happy with her first appearance, more are in the works! Pretty impressive, no?

We invited her on to talk about her new career and her blog and life in general. Join in and listen to find out how a blogger becomes a daytime TV star!

Chatting with Rhoda Montgomery, Southern Hospitality blog, about Nate Day and other bloggy fun

2010-10-05T06:54:00.000-07:00

Yes, we're back! We didn't really go anywhere and very much appreciate the emails asking what was up. It's been a very busy time Chez Linda for the last several weeks what with one thing and another so between that and a couple of guest scheduling snafu's, we took an unexpected break. But, it was just a break, not a break up and we're back with a great lineup of guests and topics. Coming soon we have interior designer David Easton, Haskell Harris of Garden & Gun Magazine, designer/author Kathryn Ireland and more, so stay tuned for that.

Meanwhile, this week, we invited Rhoda Montgomery of the blog Southern Hospitality to join us. As many of you will have heard, a couple of weeks ago, over 80 design bloggers were invited to attend a taping of the Nate Berkus show in NYC. This was a followup to this group all showing their support and admiration of Nate Berkus' work on the launch of his new talk show by doing posts and tweets all on the same day - aka "Nate Day". Great idea, spearheaded by The Moggit Girls and Create Girl. So, as you may have heard, there was a significant level of discontent about how the day unfolded at the taping of Nate's show. Lot's of angry posts and tweets ensued. But also some very supportive ones as well. To us at SRT, it just seemed like a big PR nightmare for Nate's show and one that could have been avoided if they'd understood the true power of the blogosphere. Anyway, since we weren't there, we wanted to get the inside scoop from Rhoda, who was one of the more measured reporters from the day.

We also chat with Rhoda about her blog and two of her most popular DIY projects: the beadboard wallpaper and her stairs.

If you participated in Nate Day - we'd love to hear from you. In the end - was the trip worth it? If you did not participate, we'd love to hear your impressions of the day as well.

The Shelter Mags Play Musical Chairs

2010-08-18T06:47:00.000-07:00

This week, Megan, Joni and Linda discussed the current state of our favorite shelter magazines, the musical chairs of top management and what changes may come to the magazines, and what we would like to see (or not!).

We spent a lot of time discussing the problems with Architectural Digest and why no one seems to like the publication. We specifically discussed the two photographs below. We all agreed that in many cases, the rooms themselves are fine, it's all in the presentation and photography.

From AD, February 2007. Designer Penny Drue Baird.

From AD, November 2006. Designer John Barman

So, join us and please let us know what you think. What changes would you like to see as the editor's-in-chief all take control of their new publications, and what changes would you NOT like to see!

Also, WE HAVE A WINNER in our Bobby McAlpine book giveaway! Christina at Greige, come on down and claim your copy of "The Home Within Us"! Congrats! And a big thanks to Bobby for providing the giveaway!

Bobby McAlpine!!!! Need We Say More?

2010-08-09T17:22:00.000-07:00

He came, he talked, he conquered. The buzz about our latest visitor was loud. It seemed everyone was as excited as us to hear what Bobby McAlpine had to say. And he had a lot to say. We talked for over an hour and 1/2, but of course, Linda had to edit it down somewhat.

He's a true Southern Gentleman - soft spoken and polite with a slow drawl AND a little bit of a potty mouth!!! His IQ must be in the stratosphere. He is VERY cerebral. And he is very nice.

He talked about his new book - THE HOME WITHIN US. He talked about this house he lived in for years - the one on the cover of the book and above.

We talked about how well written his book is - it's not just a bunch of pretty pictures, though there are tons of those too.

He talked about how he completely redid this house several times. He talked about who lives in it now. He talked about what he prefers to do - architecture or interior designing, because he excels at both descriptions.

He talked about the beauty of using the finest materials - like steel windows. McAlpine made everyone in America want steel windows (until we found out how much they cost!)

He talked about this major project - adding a dining hall onto a large house. Here is a picture of his solution to that dilemma. He talked a lot about this house and its owners and the chapel he built for them.

Here's what that dining room addition looks like inside.

and the chapel on the same estate

We want to extend a huge thank you to Bobby for joining us on The Skirted Roundtable. It was a thrill, it was humbling, it was a dream. It's not every day you get to talk to one of the best architects America has.

And - another huge thank you to Bobby for offering his book THE HOME WITHIN US for a giveway. Be sure to enter by leaving us a comment with your name and email address.

To order this wonderfuly well written book with its gorgeous photographs - go HERE.

And as always, we appreciate your continued support.

Chatting with Christina Strutt of Cabbages & Roses, founder and author

2010-07-29T11:51:00.000-07:00

This week Megan, Joni and Linda chat with Christina Strutt, founder and creative mind behind the British lifestyle firm Cabbages and Roses and author of their latest book At Home With Country: Bringing the Comforts of Country Home (Cabbages & Roses)

Join us as we discuss with Christina some of the photo shoots highlighted in the book (see photos below and follow along) and about the differences between American and English style and styling.

City home

Christina's Tree House and courtyard room

Long Island home

Cape Cod home

Hanham Court (see more pics here http://www.hanhamcourt.co.uk/)

Christina is looking to open a shop (or shops) here in the States. Where do you think her particular brand of English country style would work best?

Chatting with Lauren Liess of Pure Style Home

2010-07-14T07:14:00.000-07:00

This week on The Skirted Roundtable we welcome blogger and interior designer Lauren Liess. You probably love her popular blog - Pure Style Home - as much as we do, so be sure to tune in! Lauren is so talented and inventive. She is full of wonderful ideas that you can take with you to use in your own house. We were captivated by the recent renovation of her new house and were full of questions for her.

Her entry is so great! Lauren tells us all about the framed prints she used on the walls.

Her living room - the furniture arrangement changes daily it seems!

Another view of her living room, another arrangement. Her husband stenciled the faux fireplace wall. It's phenomenal!

Lauren's dining room with the oversized print. Lauren tells us all about the print and where to order one of your own.

The playroom - Joni tells us how she ordered a lantern just like Lauren's for $89.00 after Lauren sourced it for her. Sweet Lauren!

Lauren's new baby's nursery. She and her husband printed that fabric themselves. Don't ask!

The breakfast room - the wallpaper is so cute!!!!

The kitchen - we talk about Lauren's disastrous episode with painting her appliances stainless steel - it doesn't work, btw.

Where it all started. Before the Liess' moved into their new home, they lived for almost a year in her parents basement. She totally transformed the empty space into an adorable home. Here is her office from those times.

Be sure to tune in to listen to Lauren Liess, our guest this week. You'll be ready to go out and redo your own place too! To check out Lauren's blog, go HERE.

Also, let us know what other bloggers you would like us to interview. We would love to know who you would like to hear! As always, thank you for your support.

Jane Pollak - Author, Lifestyle Entrepreneur

2010-07-05T15:06:00.000-07:00

This week Megan, Joni and Linda sit down with business coach Jane Pollak, author of "Soul Proprietor: 101 Lessons of a Lifestyle Entrepreneur". Linda has known Jane for nearly 10 years when her book was original released. This update includes the new directions that Jane's life has taken in the last ten years, including her experiences as a blogger, something near and dear to us.

Like many of us, Jane started out doing one thing which lead her into new and unexpected directions. From art teacher to artist to coach and motivational speaker - Jane has not only seen it all, she's been through it too!

We chatted about establishing core values, establishing our own worth and charging appropriately, learning from those who have done it before us and enjoying our successes. Great stuff and as we say on the podcast "Food for thought".

Jane offers 5 of her Lessons for free: download here. Get her book: Soul Proprietor: 101 Lessons from a Lifestyle Entrepreneur

For a chance to win a signed copy, we'd love to hear a core value of yours, or you can visit Jane's blog and share a tidbit you learned from over there.

Seasonal design inspirations, changes and refreshers

2010-06-25T10:41:00.000-07:00

This week, it's just Megan, Joni and Linda rambling on about seasonal design changes. We also talk about how the seasons, and our geographic locations, inspire design choices and changes and general thoughts on decor refreshers.

This is Megan's house - she's considering painting her floors white, or possibly a pale gray or blue gray. She did a post here which we refer to.

credit::House Beautiful

One of Megan's inspiration images for painting her floors.

Here is Megan's dining room, featuring the fantastic KWID Imperial Trellis wallpaper, which she's considering replacing.

Here is Megan's bedroom by the beach.

And here's the guy who did the wood work - seriously. You'll have to listen to learn more!

Noted Author: Diane Dorrans Saeks

2010-06-01T16:56:00.000-07:00

This week, we invite you to listen to our interview with our guest, the noted author and thoroughly fascinating Ms. Diane Dorrans Saeks. There is few among design devotees who do not own a book written by Ms. Saeks. Many of her books are classics - California Cottages and Wine Country - to name just a few. Her Interiors series of books have also been well received.

Covers of Diane Dorrans Saeks design books.

But, without a doubt, Michael Smith's Elements of Style is probably Ms. Saeks most popular book - it is now in its EIGHTH printing, making it one of the most well read design books ever!!!

Ms. Saeks calls San Francisco home, but she grew up in New Zealand - where she describes spending an idyllic childhood.

Besides writing design books, Ms. Saeks is an avid and very brave traveler - preferring to go to the ends of the earth on her own. She recently took an extended trip to India - alone - visiting with friends at various cities in that exotic country.

We talked all about her travels and writings and of course blogging. Her blog, The Style Saloniste, is a well written weekly collection of her musings on life, travel, art, design and the people she meets along the way.

We hope you enjoy our visit with Diane Dorrans Saeks as much as we did. As always, thank you for your continued support and comments.

Mary Douglas Drysdale Comes To Visit!

2010-05-22T08:23:00.000-07:00

Interior Designer Mary Douglas Drysdale on her favorite steed. OK - how gorgeous is this picture? I love how she is perfectly coordinated with her horse! Someone should paint this!

This week, we are thrilled to welcome the very elegant Mary Douglas Drysdale to the Skirted Roundtable. Drysdale was a total surprise - I think we expected another very competent interior designer, instead we got a fluent French speaking, highly intelligent, strong, open, and very talkative (and laughing!) artist at the top of her field. We thought she might be shy, instead we talked for over 1 1/2 hours - how Linda edited it down to just an hour is a mystery. As you well know, Drysdale is one of most popular designers in the U.S. - she has been on over 60, yes - SIXTY, magazine covers during her career! She's been featured in more design books than you can count. Her CV is amazing, it goes on and on and on, page after page after page. She is just that accomplished.

The 1996 Veranda cover that launched a national trend for clean white with bright yellow interiors. Who could ever forget those luscious curtains?

In the 90s, Drysdale was well known for her all white with bright yellow interiors. For a while it seemed that everyone wanted that color scheme from Drysdale. Today, she still enjoys working with clear whites - with and without bright accent colors. She just completed a huge project which will be featured in Veranda in the next few months. It's hard to fathom, but this job was so large and involved, she employed over 200 people a day to work on it. Yet, she only has 4 people on her staff.

Another very famous book cover from Drysdale's white with yellow period.

Mary Douglas Drysdale was a true delight, sharing with us stories of her young adult life spent in Paris. The three of us hung on her every word with baited breath. She's working on her own design book right now, so look for that in the future. Thanks Mary for stopping by - it was an honor! And a special thank you to Ronda Carman of All The Best for the introduction!

Drysdale's latest Veranda cover - soft creams and blues.

Drysdale is a true student of architecture - she employs classic elements in most of her interiors.

This recently designed living room is done in soft ivories - beautiful!

As always, thank you so much for your continued support and comments. Next week, noted design author Diane Dorrans Saeks will be visiting!

Knock Knock: It's Opportunity (Plus the book giveaway winner!)

2010-05-10T21:59:00.000-07:00

This week Megan, Joni and I discuss different opportunities that can arise from blogging (speaking, writing, etc) and social media in general. What doors have been opened to you?

And, by random selection, the winner of Susanna Salk's book "Room for Children" is Kristi Ripley of T's Tutu's and Designs. Kristi - please email Linda your address and Rizzoli will send you out your book!

Susanna Salk's Room for Children PLUS a giveaway!

2010-04-28T05:20:00.000-07:00

With two successful books under her belt, a regular design contributor on the Today Show, an editor at 1stDibs and iVillage.com, Susanna Salk, has quickly positioned herself and rightfully earned the reputation of one of today's top harbingers of style.

This week, we sit down to discuss her newest book, "Room for Children" which showcases, of course, the interior design of children's rooms. If you have a book, grab it and following along as we discuss the images, great tips and a general approach to the one room in the house where it's ok to play.

"Room for Children" publisher Rizzoli is generously giving away a copy of the book to one of our listeners! So, in the comments section, please share a quick story about a kids room you've decorated for your own kids, a client, or even when you were a kid! The book can only be sent to US and Canada. Thanks!

Noted Antiquarian, Lee Stanton

2010-04-19T18:32:00.000-07:00

Lee Stanton is one of Los Angeles' leading arbiters of style and the premier purveyor of fine period antiques to prominent interior decorators and discriminating clients nationwide. For years, his San Juan Capistrano warehouse was a go-to for those in the know on the look out for 17th-19th century antiques. Early morning lines would form hours before doors opened, as news of fresh crates from Europe, spread through out the city.

Knowing that so many of his clients traveled from the Los Angeles area, Stanton, decided to open doors along the prominent, La Cienega design corridor. Stanton's lovely and down to earth demeanor coupled with his generosity to share his vast knowledge, will have you immediately understand why he is held in such high regard.

Stanton was gracious enough to sit with us and chat about antiques, design, his own history and the up coming Legends of La Cienega design event- of which he is one of the founders. {for more information please see their website: Legends of La Cienega }

Chatting with Scot Meacham Wood

2010-04-03T11:11:00.000-07:00

Many of you know of Interior Designer Scot Wood as Tartanscot from his well known and beautifully executed blog of the same name; others know him for his elegant eye for design and love of all things Tartan.

This week we sit down with Scot to learn a little more about the Southern Gentleman behind the design, what inspires him, his approach, his theory and were even treated to an, a Capella serenade (which will make you melt- is it time to have a design blogger stage show? Soundtrack? )

Scot's diminutive San Francisco apartment, transformed into a space large in elegance and design.

The beautiful Hampton's home Scot worked on, via San Francisco and with only a few days, on site, to install.

to see more of Scot's work please visit his website: www. smwdesign.com

April Food Day 2010

2010-04-01T05:57:00.000-07:00

Today is the 2nd annual April Food Day spearheaded by fellow bloggers Meg Fairfax Fielding of Pigtown*Design and Chris Cox of Easy and Elegant Life.

It's time to "pay it forward".

April Food Day is our annual reminder to help out and asks that we all make a donation, no matter how small, to Feeding America. They are annually feeding 37 MILLION Americans, including 14 million children. This represents a 46% increase over 2006. There is need, no question.

This year, in order to track the success of the April Food Day initiative, there is a special donation page that has been set up.

CLICK HERE TO DONATE

Thanks to Meg and Chris for making this great event happen. If you have any questions, you can email Meg here or Chris here.

Thank you.

Is design becoming a bloodsport?

2010-03-26T21:38:00.000-07:00

This is what Mr. Drucker had to say. Listen to what we have to say. Then tell us what you think.

Guest Designer, Tobi Fairley

2010-03-19T19:28:00.000-07:00

This week we sit down with Little Rock, Arkansas Designer, Tobi Fairley and discuss, how it all began, how she runs a successful business, what inspires her and of course, blogging.

Tobi was selected by Traditional Home Magazine as one of the Top 20 Young Designers in America for 2009 and was recently featured on House Beautiful's March '10, cover showcasing her Blue Room.

photography by Francesco Lagnese

Pull up a chair, grab your beverage of choice, and listen to Tobi share with us her story ( in which she makes it all sound so easy ).

The green-eyed monster in blogland

2010-03-08T08:45:00.000-08:00

Jealousy image courtesy of The Situationist

This week, Megan, Joni and I discussed that bugaboo of blogland: Jealousy. In reality, we're more discussing Envy - which is the desire for something someone else has, rather than Jealousy, which is the fear of loss to another of what we do have. Either way, we've all likely had those nasty little thoughts creep in. We know it's not right or good for us, but it certainly is human. This conversation was based on a blog post on Blogher by Loralee Choate called Hey Jealousy: Every Blogger was a Newbie Once.

Care to share your jealous moments?

Architectural Photographer Michael J. Lee

2010-02-26T22:05:00.000-08:00

This week we sat down with the very talented architectural photographer Michael J. Lee. I (Linda) am very lucky to call Michael my own photographer as well! Michael's unique talent and eye stems from his background as a professional interior designer working for two of New England's finest design firms coupled with a slightly geeky love of technology. Michael shared with us his views on photography, the place architectural photographers sit in the spectrum of design and he shares some great tips that all of us can benefit from!

Below are some of the photographs we discuss in the podcast, so you can follow along. TIP: If you open up the post in second window, you can listen to the podcast and then click on the images below for a larger view.

Linda Merrill/Chameleon Interiors

Manuel de Santaren, Inc.

Anita Clark Interiors

Matthew Donovan Interior Decoration

Linda's kitchen bar set up

And a few more amazing photos:

Ana Donohue

Charles Spada

Jackie Von Tobel, book giveaway winners

2010-02-25T20:49:00.000-08:00

Thanks to all of you for your great comments regarding Jackie's fabrics. They're all so beautiful, it's really hard to choose just one. And now, on with the program.

...............drum roll.....................

The winner of the first book, The Design Directory of Window Treatments is....

Leah Grier !!! Leah, we expect to see photos of the window treatments you make, inspired by this amazing compendium.

And for the second book, The Design Directory of Bedding, the winner is......

Jennifer Cauthen!! Jennifer, pressures on. We expect to see major bedding with this in your grips.

Thank you again, everyone and stay tuned for future giveaways.

Interior Designer, Author, Fabric Designer, Blogger - Jackie Von Tobel

2010-02-19T22:14:00.000-08:00

Jackie Von Tobel caught enjoying a moment of relaxation!

This week Jackie Von Tobel takes a rare hour off from work and stops by The Skirted Roundtable for a visit. We feel extremely lucky to share some time with Jackie, she is one busy lady. We all first met through the blogs - Jackie writes Jackie Blue (HERE) - but quickly learned there is a lot more to this lady from Las Vegas than just blogging. She is an interior designer by trade and had built up quite a large business in Vegas, even operating her own showroom.

Jackie, her husband and daughter - she also has two sons. Jackie's extremely handsome and talented husband is in advertising and is quite famous for writing one of the most successful ad campaigns "What Happens In Vegas, Stays In Vegas!!!!"

After many years of hard work running first her own faux painting company and then, an interior design firm, Jackie unexpectedly switched gears and became an author, quickly churning out two massive reference books on window treatments and bedding. These two books are fabulous resources, filled with her own charming illustrations. The amount of work and time it took to write these two books is beyond comprehension, each is filled with thousands of her drawings!

Jackie's first book is all about window treatments.

But wait, there is more. After her two books were published, Jackie was approached to bring her illustrations to life by creating her own fabric line. You can purchase her fabrics and pillows online HERE. And also in conjunction with her books, Jackie recently designed software for Minutes Matter that lets you customize your client's window treatments using her templates! Is there anything Jackie can't do???? To read all about her collaboration with Minutes Matter, go HERE.

Jackie's second book is all about bedding.

Jackie is full of stories on how to make your dreams a reality and how to get motivated to accomplish it all. Listening to her is truly inspiring, she makes you believe that "hey, if I can do it all, so can you." Well, that's not exactly true. Jackie is one-of-a-kind special, her humbleness keeps her from seeing how accomplished she truly is. Her lust for life is infectious and we all felt so motivated after listening to her life story. I hope you will too!

To coincide with Jackie's visit, we are hosting a giveaway, thanks to Miss Von Tobel - we are giving away a copy of each of her books! In order to enter the contest, you must go to Jackie's web site HERE, under Collections, and pick out your favorite fabric from Jackie's line. Come back to the Comment Section and tell us which is your #1 fabric pick! We will pick two winners from the list. The contest will run until next Thursday, February 25. So be sure to hurry and enter!

Thank you again Jackie for stopping by and putting the fire under us to push ourselves harder, because dreams do come true - it just takes a lot of sweat, determination, talent, patience, and hard labor!



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Jackie and Minutes Matter Studio are offering a demonstration JVT Studio, a graphic design program that translates the fabulous draperies and valances from Jackies book, The Design Directory of Window Treatmentsinto elevation renderings filled with fabrics, colors, and textures.

To register for this free event on March 4 at 1 PM EST , please click here:
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/240892040
for more information, please visit the Minute Matter website:
www.minutesmatter.com

French School Poster Giveaway - We have a winner!!

2010-02-18T12:13:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to Laura Ingalls Gunn, who writes the blog Decor to Adore you have won this coveted vintage French school poster!

A huge thank you to Jill Mitchell of LeTrip.org for providing this amazing prize! Laura's website, blog, Ebay and Etsy shops are open for business, so if you didn't get the chance to check it out, you won't be sorry.

And thanks to all who entered this week's contest. We appreciate the time you spend listening to our podcasts and participating with your comments.

And, speaking of podcasts and giveaways - stay tuned! We had a great chat with week with the amazing Jackie von Tobel of Jackie Blue Home and she has given us a copy of her two books - The Design Directory of Window Treatments and The Design Directory of Bedding - to give away to two lucky winners! So come on back for that! And next week, we'll be sitting down with architectural photographer-on-the-rise Michael J. Lee.

Blog contests, giveaways and promotions. Plus a giveaway!

2010-02-11T08:24:00.000-08:00

Megan, Joni and I chat about blog contests, giveaways and discount programs. The pros, the cons and the inside scoop on some of our own contests.

Joni's French Market basket giveaway that garnered nearly 1,000 comments and emails.

Brooke Giannetti's Brickmaker's Table giveaway on Velvet & Linen

The winning entry in Linda's Blogging Top Design Swarovski Crystal Chandelier design contest

(Note: open this blog post in two different windows if you wish to listen while clicking links.)

And, in honor of our chat about giveaways, we have a giveaway! Jill Mitchell lives in Provence and hosts vintage and antiques buying weekends in Provence with a specialty in women's only tours. She has a website and blog called Le Trip. On request, she will meet people in Paris for a little shopping as well! Eleven years ago, Jill started a wine tour business with her California winemaker father. She fell in love with buying antiques and vintage goods after she moved to France and started her own tour company. She sells her finds on Ebay and Etsy for those who can't make it to France. Ooo la la!

To enter the drawing, take a trip over to her sites and let us know in the comments what items catch your eye!

From all entries, we will randomly select a winner, who will receive this fabulous vintage French school poster, courtesy of Jill!

This is an original mid century French vintage school poster which are becoming prized by a new generation of interior decorators and designers. "Plantes Sans Fleurs" beautiful charts flowerless plants, including ferns, mushrooms and algae. Printed on high quality thick stock paper. The print measures 29.5" x 35". When found in U.S. boutiques, these sell in the few hundred dollars price range.

We will select a winner on Thursday, February 18th. Jill notes that since the poster will be mailed from France, it could take a while to get to the winner. Good luck! And don't forget to visit one of Jill's sites and let us know what grabs your attendion!

San Francisco Designer, Grant K. Gibson

2010-01-21T17:01:00.000-08:00

Noted by Domino Magazine as one of the "10 Designers to Watch", San Francisco based designer, Grant Gibson seems to be popping up everywhere these days.

With his recent and notable feature in the New York Times ( and a plethora of other shelter magazines ), a thriving interior design business, a popular design blog and several San Francisco Show Houses under his belt, this designer is certainly one to watch.

Refreshingly humble and generous in his attitude and approach, Gibson sits with us and discusses how it all started for him, his approach to design and clients and how he feeds the buzz.



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Someone's Gotta Get Her -

2010-01-13T20:26:00.000-08:00

Beth Rubino, the Set Decorator for Something's Gotta Give and It's Complicated.

And we got her!!! The Academy Award nominated, Set Decorator extraordinaire Beth Rubino sat down at the Skirted Roundtable to talk about - you got it - Something's Gotta Give, the popular Nancy Meyers film which starred the beautiful Southampton beach house as much as any of its Hollywood actors! But, the surprise was on us.

The Living Room From from Something's Gotta Give

It turned out that Beth Rubino is far too a fascinating and intelligent a woman to be pigeonholed by just one movie, despite the fact that we want her to be. Beth is full of stories about the movie industry and what her job as Set Decorator entails. We get Beth to discuss the famous beach house with its even more famous blue and white rug - which she tells us all about.

The Dining Room from Something's Gotta Give

And we got Beth to tell us the secret of exactly where the inspiration for the house came from - especially the much beloved dining room with its wall of white ironstone.

We discuss fellow blogger - Annechovie aka the artist Anne Harwell. Harwell's famous chair painting was in the movie "It's Complicated," Nancy Meyer's latest blockbuster!

Anne's chair painting can be seen behind Meryl Streep in the infamous pot-smoking bathroom scene. Congrats Anne!!!

The Concourse Level of the Twin Towers designed by Beth Rubino for the movie World Trade Center.

But life as a Set Decorator is not all beautiful Southampton beach houses. In Oliver Stone's "World Trade Center," Beth was challenged to recreate the concourse level of the Twin Towers. Beth describes for us what happened the day the invited first responders came to visit the set.

Please join Linda, Megan and Joni as they talk Hollywood and the most famous movie house ever with the woman who designed it, down to the last glass in the kitchen! You do NOT want to miss this one!!!

Stephen Drucker, Editor-in-Chief of House Beautiful joins us

2010-01-04T19:57:00.000-08:00

This week, we welcome Stephen Drucker, editor-in-chief of House Beautiful to the table. Recorded in early December, we chatted about the December issue, featuring this amazing cover spread by designer Jill Brinson:

photo credit: Simon Upton

and our own podcast from August called "Who do we think we are anyway?" .

2009 Holiday Give-a-way Winners!

2009-12-18T08:05:00.000-08:00

Using Random.org to select the winners, we send our congratulations to the follow three winners!

AnneHH
Vintage Girl
Yvonne Blacker - of Design Vignettes

Please email Linda with your mailing addresses and you will shortly receive a little gift from Joni, Megan or Linda.

We so appreciate and are humbled by all the kind comments left this week. What started as an idea about doing something no one else was doing and the big question of "who will want to listen to us?" has grown beyond our wildest expectations.

We've been joined by fellow blogger/designers: Eddie Ross & Jaithan Kochar of EddieRoss.com, Anna Spiro of Absolutely Beautiful Things, Jennifer Boles of The Peak of Chic, Patricia Shackleford of Mrs. Blandings, Brooke Giannettii of Velvet & Linen, and Susan Serra of The Kitchen Designer.

A really amazing group of design stars: Vicente Wolf, Suzanne Kasler, Alessandra Branca and Charlotte Moss.

And editors and writers: Karen Carroll, Judith Miller and Margaret Russell.

The collective talent and brain trust of these amazing fourteen people alone is awe inspiring. That they were all willing to take the time out of their busy schedules, download and install Skype (that's how we do it!) and chat away with has truly been a gift to us. Joni, Megan and I get to sit front row center along with all of you to learn from the best and I think we all feel we've grown professionally, and personally, because of this. If you missed any of those amazing interviews, check on the left hand sidebar for links.

And, finally, thank you to every one of you who reports listening to us in the car, on the stair master, while doing housework/cooking, or with a glass of wine and no interruptions. We know our podcasts can be long and you are all busy people - so we truly thank you for your time as well.

Wishing you all a very happy and healthy New Year. We'll be back during the first week in January with our interview with Stephen Drucker whom we chatted with a couple of weeks ago. He was fun and game to talk about anything and everything. And also coming in 2010 - Grant K. Gibson, Elizabeth Mayhew, Jackie von Tobel, and a surprise guest that Joni and I are particularly excited about (but can't announce just yet!)

Our favorite holiday decorating blogs, posts and sites of 2009 PLUS a holiday giveaway!

2009-12-09T21:53:00.000-08:00

This is our last podcast of 2009. We have selected some of our favorite holiday inspired posts and websites from around the internet to share. So, please enjoy and scroll down to the end for info on our holiday giveaway! (We suggest you open this post in two different windows, one to listen to the podcast from and one to click the links from.)

Visual Vamp's Holly Golightly Christmas Tree

Color Outside the Lines Christmas Trees

Have yourself a Stylish Little Christmas at Splendid Willow

Behold my Christmas Mantle - The Inspired Room

The Adventures of a Tartan Scot - Please Come in

A bonus link:

2009 White House Christmas Ornament

Thank you so much for embracing this new venture over the last several months. We continue to be touched and honored that so many busy people are willing to listen to our podcasts and so many of our favorite designers, fellow bloggers and media professionals have taken the time to chat with us.

Our next podcast will be published the first week in January and our special guest is Stephen Drucker, editor-in-chief of House Beautiful!

Meanwhile, as a token our our thanks, Megan, Joni and I will each be sending one of three listeners a small gift from our homes. So, please leave a comment. Three will be selected at random and they will receive a surprise gift from one of the three of us! The drawing will be announced on Thursday, December 17th.

So, please join in the fun and Happy Holidays to all and a Happy, Healthy New Year!

~ Megan, Joni and Linda

Renowned antiques expert Judith Miller takes a chair

2009-12-01T11:31:00.000-08:00

Noted antiques expert and prolific author of many books on antiques, period style and more, Judith Miller joined us this week from her home in London! Join us as we learned a little more about the art of collecting antiques, how to go about starting a collection and other interesting tips. We also discussed Judith's new book CHAIRS which is a fascinating portrait book on chairs spanning four hundred years. It's a must have for anyone in the interiors business.

This week we sit down with Alessandra Branca

2009-11-23T21:37:00.000-08:00

This week, once again, fortune has smiled upon us as we had the great pleasure to visit with the ineffable, Alessandra Branca. Ms. Branca, whose style is always rich with color, gorgeous fabrics and strong architectural design elements shares with us about family, what inspires her designs and discusses her most recent book, 'New Classic Interiors'.

The book is a gorgeous, over sized tome, filled with mouth watering photos that is actually quite a good read as well. We should also mention that, all proceeds from the book will go to inner city children's programs around the country. If you order your copy here, 100% of your purchase price goes to Alessandra's selected charities. Another example of the interior design community stepping up to help those less fortunate!

Home Sick:: The fold of Metropolitan Home

2009-11-12T17:59:00.000-08:00

With yet another shot heard 'round the social media networking sites, blogs and on the street, on November 9th the closing of Metropolitan Home was confirmed.

This week we discuss the magazine's beginnings - as the much loved '70's shelter publication, 'Apartment Living' to its elegant shift in style and title, "Metropolitan Home" and finally it's untimely demise . What's next or rather who's next?

We take our hats off with due respect to Donna Warner who has led her editorial team in the outstanding 26 year run of the modern luxury magazine. You will be missed Met Home.

Chatting with Margaret Russell

2009-11-03T04:42:00.000-08:00

This week, The Skirted Roundtable welcomed Ms. Margaret Russell for an in-depth talk about Elle Decor (of course!), her latest book "Style and Substance," blogging and copyrights (Joni is in trouble!!) and lots of other topics. Russell is a fascinating woman - she's been with Elle Decor since the beginning - 20 years now - and as Editor-In-Chief is faced with the formidable task of putting out a quality magazine month after month, all while staying on budget in these very trying times. Thank God for Margaret Russell is all we can say! She has made a success out of Elle Decor and judging by how tough the economy is right now - we have only her to thank for the magazine's success. Russell discusses why she thinks Elle Decor has managed to stay alive while so many other magazines have left us. A graduate of Brown, she had plans to be a lawyer, but life changed everything and for that we are grateful. It's extremely hard to even imagine Elle Decor without Margaret Russell.

The book: it's wonderful - full of images from the past twenty years. "Style and Substance" was beautifully edited - painstakingly put together from masses of culled pictures - and it shows. It's lush, interesting, and gorgeous! Instead of focusing on photoshoots of individual houses, it is organized around rooms such as libraries, baths, bedrooms, kitchens, etc. Even the kids get their own chapter. Looking over all the pictures, it's amazing how many of them have become classics - shown over and over again on the design blogs to make a point or to explain a particular obsession.

Before the interview, we asked Russell to provide us with three of her favorite images from the book - and this is what she chose:

All three photographs were cover stories - this one is from Sarah Jessica Parker's summer house. This cover shot is slightly different from the image in the book and Russell explains why.

This picture of a vacation house designed by Victoria Hagan was on the cover of the best selling Elle Decor. Why? Russell tries to explain it - but popular covers are elusive. No one is really sure what is going to sell and what isn't. Rumors are this cover was the inspiration for the Something's Gotta Give house. True? We discuss that too!

And finally - this picture featuring a gorgeous bedroom by Vicente Wolf almost made the cover of "Style and Substance." Russell tells us why she eventually went with the Hagan cover instead.

As usual, Linda had to play the disciplinarian and tell us we had been talking for almost an hour and it was time to wrap it up. Why does it always go by too fast when we have an guest - we could have talked for another hour with Ms. Russell - at least! Charming, beautiful, and highly intelligent - she definitely has it ALL!!!! We are in awe, you will be too.

Listen here and please leave a comment if you want to continue the conversation:

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Photo credits: SJP's dining room: William Waldron; Victoria Hagen's living room design: Michael Mundy; Vicente Wolf's bedroom design: Peter Estersohn

Suzanne Kasler sits down at The Skirted Roundtable

2009-10-26T20:47:00.000-07:00

Today, Suzanne Kasler, interior designer, furniture designer, lighting designer, author, and utterly gracious person - visited The Skirted Roundtable for an in depth chat. As usual, we were all ears as Suzanne spoke about design and what it means to her. She reveals how she approaches an empty house - it's all about the "sequencing" of color and style that runs throughout a house, according to Suzanne. After talking in general terms, we got down to business and pulled out Suzanne's new book "Inspired Interiors." We all claimed one room we particularly loved (the three of us had initially picked the same room!) and asked Suzanne to talk about the inspiration behind each one. We have printed the pictures here in case your copy of Inspired Interiors hasn't arrived yet.

As usual, the time went by much too quickly, we could have listened to Suzanne talk about each page in the entire book. If you haven't bought it yet - we highly recommend it. For an autographed copy, send an email HERE. Before you listen to the show, be sure to get out a pen and paper - Suzanne shares her favorite white paint colors.

We hope you enjoy this interview as much as we did. We feel like we are getting quite an education listening to the best interior designers in America and we plan to continue offering classes - as long as you'll attend! If you'd like, please help to continue the conversation by leaving a comment, and as always your support is very much appreciated.

Linda's pick (and Megan and Joni) for her favorite room in the book is this dining room - located in Suzanne's former house. The pink taffeta curtains are the focal point - but we all discover new details we hadn't noticed before.

Pages 18-19.

Megan's choice was this wonderful English styled log cabin, also recently featured in Architectural Digest. We all agreed that this proves a log cabin can be dressy and beautiful. This is the great room in the owner's house situated right next to Blackberry Farm, the Relais and Chateau hotel they founded, located in the Smokey Mountains of Tennessee.

Pages 174-175.

Another view of the log cabin. In the summer - all the furniture is covered in white slips.

Megan then picked a 2nd room to discuss - this bunk room.

Pages 182-186.

Suzanne discussed the rug - and described how she purchases things just because she likes them, not with a specific client in mind.

Joni's pick is this eclectic family room in Suzanne's former house. We dissected the room, piece by piece, to understand how and why it works.

Pages 20-21.

And finally, we discussed this dining room - because it is so universally well liked by bloggers. Suzanne tells us how the famous pink wall came to be and how everyone was initially against it!

Pages 127-129.

Another view of her most famous room - Suzanne reveals which pink is closest to the real shade - the light pink in this picture or the deeper pink in the former picture.

"Inspired Interiors" by Suzanne Kasler - a wonderful book, available on Amazon, or HERE - for an autographed copy.

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Edited to add: When we interviewed Suzanne, we had no idea about this part of her background. Having gone through such a trying time in her life only adds to our respect for her and her work. And thank you to Colonel James H. Kasler for your service to our country.

Excerpted from "Tempered Steel: Colonel James A. Kasler" by Perry D. Luckett and Charles L. Byler

As General Hoyt Sanford Vandenberg, Jr., observed in a recent inter-
view, Jim Kasler is a paragon of what the fighting airman is all about. He
didn’t break the sound barrier first or go to the moon and jump up and
down. He was just the best at his trade that anyone could be, and he is a
complex, esoteric individual whose characteristics all came together when
his nation needed him to produce what he did. Indeed, James Kasler is a
genuine American hero, and we all must hope the United States has a few
like him in the future, when we need them.

Accessorizing - The Final Frontier

2009-10-22T19:54:00.000-07:00

Mantlescape by Jane Moore

This week The Skirted Roundtable tackles accessorizing, the final touches that make a room special. We talk about how to accessorize shelves, how we feel about using books that no one has, or ever will, read, and what we think about mantlescapes and lampshades, among other things.

Bookshelves and lampshades by Charlotte Moss

As always, we encourage you to leave a comment with your thoughts and ideas. The comments have all been so great lately, and they encourage even more conversation. And, be sure to listen in the coming weeks when we will be interviewing a few of America's top interior designers!!

Shelves accessorized by Charles Faudree

Endorsements, disclosures and the economics of blogging

2009-10-16T10:37:00.000-07:00

The week, Joni, Megan and Linda discuss the recently released FTC (Federal Trade Commission) guidelines relating to bloggers' endorsements of products, disclosure of financial or product arrangements, and the economics of blogging now and in the future.

Click here for links to the new FTC Guidelines and various reactions around the internet.

Charlotte Moss Joins Us at the Skirted Roundtable

2009-10-05T19:11:00.000-07:00

In honor of Charlotte Moss' visit to The Skirted Roundtable: a early version of her decorating style - a yellow plaid skirted table softens the area in front of the window of her former townhouse.

We are so thrilled to present Ms. Charlotte Moss to the listeners of The Skirted Roundtable. Linda, Megan and myself were mesmerized listening to Charlotte discuss her design philosophies, how her business works - whether the client first comes to her office or if they meet at the client's house, what lengths she goes to to finish an installation, and everything in between. The time flew by and though we promised her we would only keep her for 30 minutes, it was almost an hour before we were forced to end it - much to our chagrin. We hope you enjoy listening to this design icon as much as we did. You will learn a lot from Ms. Moss - I know we did. We felt like we were sitting at the feet of a master - soaking it all up, as Megan said "like a sponge."

Charlotte dresses up for a charity function: philanthropy is of utmost importance to her and she serves on many boards, where she generously donates large amounts of her time.

Her most famous Kips Bay showhouse room. This vignette might be one of the prettiest ever designed. I love how the etagere is urn shaped and she repeats this with an urn atop it. The framed wallpaper remnant is perfectly scaled to the etagere, while the bell jar is placed to bring your eye to it as a focal point and then travel down the curved lines of the etagere and further along the curving arms of the chaise longue. Perfection!

Ms. Moss is known for her feminine bedrooms - most often finished with a four poster bed. During her Skirted Roundtable discussion - she addresses feminine vs. masculine design and how to deal with men who don't like canopy beds.

It's not all work - there's lot of fun in Charlotte's life, that's for sure! You'll be interested to hear how much sleep she gets a night.

A sincere and heartfelt thank you to Charlotte for giving up her time to talk with us AND you!

Mixing high style, retail finds and creating a "point of interest"

2009-09-30T21:37:00.000-07:00

photo courtesy of Lauren Liess: Pure Style Home

photo courtesy of Linda Merrill Chameleon Interiors

This week listen in as Joni, Megan and Linda talk about high style on a budget, doing the high/low mix and creating a "point of interest". If you could buy just one piece of furniture or art-what would it be?

Holiday Decorating by the Experts!

2009-09-22T23:17:00.000-07:00

The beautiful tablescape in this month's Martha Stewart Living magazine that had Joni hyperventilating.

Join us at Skirted Roundtable this week as we fumble our way around the topic of holiday decorating with an emphasis on the fall season now upon us. We three are no experts as you will soon learn - it's lots of laughs as we talk about Linda's gilded walnuts and shrunken cranberries and Megan's Christmas tree named Ramona. Poor Joni is left out in cold with a few Radko dreidels. Join in the fun and leave us a comment of what you do about holiday decorating - we can use some new ideas, that's for sure!!

We all thought this was a gorgeous way to decorate a fall mantel.

Joni's big idea for fall decorating, taken straight from Martha Stewart: put yellow food coloring in apothecary jars.

What NOT to strive for when decorating for fall!!

Listen Here:

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Guest blogger, Brooke Giannetti of Velvet and Linen

2009-09-15T21:55:00.000-07:00

Megan, Joni and I welcomed the fantastic Brooke Giannetti of Velvet and Linen to the table this week. Brooke shares with us some of her design process, her partnership with her husband Steve, and the evolution of Giannetti Home.

Jennifer Boles, The Peak of Chic!

2009-09-09T19:12:00.000-07:00

This week, we welcome the lovely Jennifer Boles, a.k.a. The Peak of Chic, to the Roundtable!! Jennifer is one of the most respected bloggers on the design blogosphere and she is also a contributing editor to House Beautiful magazine. So sit back and enjoy!
(Please forgive the sound quality - we did the best we could but technology wasn't on our side this week!)

Client Relationships: The Getting to Know You Tango

2009-09-02T19:20:00.000-07:00

Our chat this week is inspired by Vicente Wolf's views on the importance of home-turf advantage when holding client meetings and the value of the professional office. If you're a designer - where is your office and where do you meet with your clients? We'd love to know your thoughts!!

via Theiss Interior Design

via House Beautiful

Vicente Wolf joins us at the table!

2009-08-25T19:32:00.000-07:00

You know when you're having a great conversation and the person you're chatting with just has so much to share? Well, you don't want it to end, which is what happened today when Megan and Linda (*) chatted with the fabulous Vicente Wolf! Mr. Wolf is clearly a born teacher and had so much to share about interior design and the business of design. So, pour yourself a nice cup of coffee, sit back and join us in our in depth chat with Vicente Wolf!

And if you haven't been there, please do visit his blog and website.

(*)Joni was experiencing technical problems, so have no fear, she'll be back at the table next time!

Whose bedroom is it?

2009-08-18T18:23:00.000-07:00

This week, we are talking bedrooms - what we like, what works and who is it that admits she can't really make a bed.

Saturday Short: Au Revoir Southern Accents

2009-08-15T07:23:00.000-07:00

Sniff...sniff... there were a lot of sighs and angry words around the Roundtable when we chatted about the closing of Southern Accents Magazine. Class and originality is slowly sifting out of the shelter magazine rack and folks we've been lucky enough to get to know - such as the kind and, yes, gracious Miss Southern Living herself Karen Carroll - are being personally affected. Jobs lost, lives upturned. It's just numbers for some, but it's personal for the rest of us - from the readers who wait by their mailboxes to the designers, architects, artists and photographers whose work has graced these pages, to the staffs who put their heart and soul into each publication. Requiescat in pace - Southern Accents.

Click here to listen to our June 2009 chat with Karen Carroll, editor-in-chief, Southern Accents.

Listeners' Letters, in two parts

2009-08-12T08:13:00.000-07:00

We asked and we got it. Thank you so much to all of you who participated in our listener, 'write in'. The experiment proved to be quite a success as we received so many tremendous comments and questions via Twitter, blog commenting and emails. Because of its success, the show went a bit over our normal time and will be broken into two parts. Thank you to all who contributed!

Part 1 Topics: Peggy Bryant asks about affordable decorators; Anon asks about designers working room by room; Nora asks about staging; Beth at Style Redux asks about blog etiquette; Jillian asks about blog etiquette and a design question that we forgot to answer (apologies to Jillian!); The NeoTrad asks about our mentors, muses and idols; Anon asks about our favorite white paints.

Part 2 Topics: Anon asks if we're all making a living as decorators; Patti Friday of Liberty Post asks about trends; Terry of Architecture Tourist asks about the value of a designer; Sam Twain asks our views on environmental topics as related to design; ElizGonz asks about lighting; and Sharon asks about placement of appliances on angled walls.

Who do we think we are, anyway?

2009-08-05T17:00:00.000-07:00

This week The Skirted Roundtable dissects the cover story of House Beautiful, the August issue. "WHAT MAKES A ROOM GREAT?" - the magazine asked and we answered! Hear what Linda, Megan and Joni have to say about Kips Bay's most talked about room this year - the Bunny Williams All In One Room. And just for good measure, we give Joe Nye's small apartment, also featured in the issue, a good go-over too. Find out which story we all loved, and which one we all...well, let's just say, we didn't quite "get" it!

In case you don't have the magazine, we've included the pictures for you to follow along with The Skirted Roundtable. If you have this issue - House Beautiful, August, run and go get it and then turn on the recording here:

BUNNY WILLIAMS' ALL IN ONE ROOM:

Bunny's All In One Room - looking towards the fireplace.

Looking towards the window wall.

A view towards the right side wall.

A view towards the back wall, showing the dining table and breakfront.

Close-up view of window wall.

Close-up view of sofa and pillows.

The table all set for a meal.

Another view of the table and breakfront.

JOE NYE'S APARTMENT:

Joe Nye's very small apartment - the living room.

The dining area to the right of the living area.

The living and dining area.

The bedroom.

Another view of the bedroom.

Images courtesy of House Beautiful and Maria Quiroga, and various sites here.

SRT with guest Anna Spiro of Absolutely Beautiful Things

2009-07-28T17:40:00.001-07:00

Well, we just had the best conversation with the great Anna Spiro all the way from "down undah". (sorry, just had to throw that in!). Anna in conversation is every bit as exuberant and charming as is her blog and her design style.

images courtesy of www.absolutelybeautifulthings.blogspot.com

Fabrics We Like AND Technical Tawk

2009-07-23T18:53:00.000-07:00

Barrymore by Kravet - one of Linda's favorite, and yet never used, fabrics

This week we talked about fabrics we love, designers and fabric houses and a little bit about how we use them!

And in our chat on blogging, we talked about technical issues like how we upload photos, what applications are available to help us write and format posts and pics and other little tidbits. There's always something to learn.

As always, thanks for stopping by and for all your kind comments and emails!

Interior Design Inspirations AND Blog Rankings!

2009-07-15T10:00:00.000-07:00

PART ONE: This week Megan is back at the Skirted Roundtable! Please join us as we first discuss Interior Design: where we get our inspiration for a new job and how we come up with ideas for a room's design. The three of us weigh in on what steps we take when we start with a new client.

PART TWO: Be sure to listen this week's Blogging discussion. It's all about Blogrankings, the newest way a lot of blogs are finding out how many readers they actually have. We also talk about the pros and cons of Google Analytics and Technorati. Listen as we try to figure out why we care, or in Megan's case, why we don't care how our blog ranks compared to our peers. As always, thank you for stopping by.

Guest Bloggers: Eddie Ross and Jaithan Kochar

2009-06-30T08:53:00.001-07:00

This week, we are joined by Eddie Ross and Jaithan Kochar of EddieRoss.com! We spoke about their backgrounds, their blog and big plans for the future!

Saturday Short: Money Talk

2009-06-27T17:49:00.000-07:00

This week's Saturday Short edition comes from our chat on The True Cost of interior design. In this segment, which didn't make the final cut, we discussed the need for open communication between client and designer on the budget - and the misconceptions, wasted time and money that result from lack of communicating.