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How to Decorate

Ep. 151: designer Courtney McLeod

How to Decorate

Caroline McDonald

Arts, Business, Design

4.2 • 785 Ratings

🗓️ 28 July 2020

⏱️ 72 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Let’s bring some joy and color into our week with Courtney McLeod, the designer behind Right Meets Left Interiors. Known for her beautiful and fun yet sophisticated body of work, Courtney is a true pro at using color to create joy and personality in her clients' homes. She talks with us about taking risks in business and in design, ways that we can start to incorporate more color in our design, and how to use color in small spaces. What You’ll Hear On This Episode: Trials and triumphs about new art lighting up our homes, a doctor’s visit for the pup, and great solutions for those unorganized beach towels. How Courtney’s background of business and the finance industry mixes with her artistic side to create a perfect balance of mixing creativity with the analytical. Courtney’s process at Right Meets Left Design is all about listening to her clients and interpreting their desires and dreams into what is doable for their particular situation, taste, and budget. Color doesn’t always have to be loud, but it can be just as interesting when it is soft. Having a contrast of shapes creates an interesting and engaging space, so it’s not all about going all angular or all circular. Ways we can work with color, even if it intimidates us. Also, using color in small spaces and busting the myth that you can’t use bold color in a small space. Do what feels good for you when it comes to color and pieces that you love. Don’t worry about what anyone else thinks, or if you aren’t able to use it in your home just yet - you will one day! The inspiration behind Courtney’s super cute designs in both New Orleans and Antiqua. Fun and imaginative ideas for kids rooms that are interactive and great to stand the test of time including a comic book mural wall. Mentioned In This Episode: Melissa McGill Ballard Cabot Hook Sherwin Williams Dynamic Blue @rightmeetsleftinteriordesign Right Meets Left Interior Design Decorating Dilemma: The tile to the ceiling is one of our favorite tricks, so we are glad you did that, and your space already has incredible bones and structure! It looks like you already have an area for counter stools in the kitchen and a really great dining area, so maybe make the center section more of a seating area and snacking area. We would recommend a tight back bench so you don’t get the squishiness when you sit on it and you can have an upright feel. Check out our banquette sofas, and one that was skirted would add some softness with a classic dining table look. For a chandelier, something smaller and undersized that looked like a little jewel would be super cool. ____________________________________________________________________ Your pieces have great lines, and we do agree that the brown feels a bit heavy. The two head chairs with chartreuse cushions would be excellent as white, making the cushions pop even more. Check out the Ballard chair options here, If you do decide to go for print, pick a print where your accent color is that smallest color in that print. You will be surprised how the solid will pair with the print.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hi and welcome back to the How to Decorate Podcast from Ballard Designs.

0:03.4

We want to teach you how to decorate your home and unleash your inner decorator.

0:07.1

So we'll be interviewing interior designers, stylists, and other talents in the design world, sharing the trials and triumphs of our own homes, and also answering your decorating questions.

0:15.7

I'm Caroline, I run the Ballard Designs blog, How to Decorate.

0:18.7

And I'm Taryn. I'm on the product design team at Ballard.

0:21.4

And I'm Karen and I head up branding at Ballard.

0:23.5

And we're your hosts.

0:24.5

Hi.

0:43.7

Okay. Are we going to do some trials and triumphs?

0:56.8

Yes. Yes. All right. Let's go first. I can go first. So I mostly just have a triumph that I'm going to tell you about, but I was really excited about it.

1:04.1

Will gave me sort of a belated Mother's Day present because we were sort of, we were out of town for Mother's Day. And anyways, but he gave me three paintings by this great artist and her name is Melissa McGill and I am so excited about

1:16.7

them. So I put, I did put, I also posted them on my Instagram, but um, Willis has just such

1:21.4

great taste in art and he always picks out really good stuff. So he got these. They're just like little abstract pieces.

1:30.7

And she gets like handmade paper. And it's a combination of ink and charcoal and pastel and

1:36.8

paint. And I was just really excited about it. And I hung, you know, he gave me three of them.

1:44.6

Two were sort of a similar color palette. and there was one that was more neutral.

1:48.5

And we decided to split them up.

1:52.3

So we hung the two blue ones together and there was a little sliver of wall in our kitchen

1:56.8

that I had sort of thought early on when we moved in, okay, like some art would look great there,

2:02.8

but I didn't have anything in particular that I wanted.

2:04.7

And they were the perfect little accent.

2:08.3

I just was going to also just say how much I love art in the kitchen.

...

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