Bonus Episode: Suzanne Kasler's Holiday House Tour 2025

How to Decorate

Caroline McDonald

Arts, Business, Design

4.4 • 838 Ratings

🗓️ 22 December 2025

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Surprise! We are dropping a special bonus episode today. If you haven't seen it yet, we recently shared a stunning holiday house tour on our YouTube channel with the queen of Christmas herself, designer Suzanne Kasler. In this audio version of the official YouTube house tour, Caroline introduces a conversation between Suzanne and Ballard Designs President, Karen Mooney. They walk through Suzanne’s gorgeous Atlanta home, discussing why she is so obsessed with Christmas, her strategy for displaying massive collections without clutter, and how she manages to decorate three different trees (including one just for teddy bears!). Suzanne also shares her "3-Day Blitz" method for stress-free decorating and how she adapts her traditions as her family grows. Quick Decorating Takeaways: Group Collections for Impact: Don't scatter small collectibles (like nutcrackers or crystal trees) all over the house. Group them together in one specific area to create a "sculptural" statement that feels intentional rather than cluttered. The 3-Day Decorating Blitz: Suzanne dedicates a focused 3-4 day block right after Thanksgiving to get everything done. This allows her to stop "working" on Christmas and simply enjoy the festive atmosphere for the entire month of December. Buy in Multiples: If you find a unique holiday item you love (like her Czech crystal trees), don't just buy one. Buy a dozen or a whole collection immediately to ensure you have enough for a cohesive display, as they might be gone next year. What You’ll Hear on This Episode: 00:00 Caroline introduces the bonus episode 01:30 Suzanne’s lifelong obsession with Christmas 02:45 The "Yard Sale" Rule: Grouping collections for high impact 07:00 The Teddy Bear Tree tradition 09:00 The "3-4 Day" Decorating Strategy 12:00 Mixing Real vs. Faux: Why Suzanne uses both types of trees 14:00 Matching holiday decor to your home (Red vs. Neutral) 21:00 Adapting traditions for new grandchildren 27:00 Suzanne’s miniature Christmas rooms & gift show finds 30:00 The silver ornament tradition Also Mentioned: Watch the Video Tour: Step Inside the Elegant Holiday Home of Designer Suzanne Kasler Shop Suzanne's Product Collection: Suzanne Kasler for Ballard Designs Please send in your questions so we can answer them on our next episode! And of course, subscribe to the podcast in Apple Podcasts so you never miss an episode. You can always check back here to see new episodes, but if you subscribe, it’ll automatically download to your phone. Happy Decorating! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi listeners, it's me Caroline. Surprise. We are bringing you a special bonus episode today
0:05.7	because if you are not subscribed to our YouTube channel, you may not have seen it, but we
0:11.9	shared a gorgeous holiday house tour on our YouTube series with none other than Suzanne
0:17.8	Castler. You may know that Suzanne is a huge holiday fan. She loves
0:23.0	Christmas. She loves decorating for the holidays. She's done tons of holiday products with us for
0:28.7	Ballard. And she has many of those things in her house and uses them each year. It was a great
0:33.9	conversation between Karen and Suzanne. They talk about Suzanne's strategy for decorating
0:39.5	the types of things she likes, how she mixes it up every year, and even some of her own holiday
0:45.2	traditions. And it's just a really fun chat and you get to see Suzanne's beautiful home. Of course,
0:52.3	if you aren't already subscribed to our YouTube
0:54.8	channel, please go do that. But other than that, just enjoy this sweet conversation.
1:00.0	And we'll see you in the new year.
1:04.8	Suzanne, thanks for having me over. Merry Christmas.
1:07.6	Our favorite time of year. Oh, it's your favorite time of year for sure. It is my favorite.
1:11.2	I will say, I've known you since about 2010, which is 14 or so years.
1:16.1	And I bet I can say that in every single meeting we've ever been and you've told me how much you love Christmas.
1:21.9	It is interesting how much I have always loved Christmas.
1:26.1	Yeah.
1:26.4	And the best thing is, when I became a partner with Ballard, you embraced my love of Christmas.
1:32.9	Well, we like Christmas too, but I don't know if anybody loved it as much as you do.
1:36.4	I mean, this is stunning.
1:38.2	Well, thank you.
	...

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