We loved our first episode with Designer Ashley Whittaker so much that we are thrilled to have her back this week to talk about her new book, The Well-Love House: Creating Homes with Color, Comfort, and Drama. Ashley talks about her love of natural and durable materials and how we can have an indestructible yet elegant home. She shares tips on adding some beautiful pieces to keep things fresh and happy, how to tell if your furniture is talking to each other and what’s going to make a room feel inviting vs. off-limits. Ashley also shares some stories behind the photos in her beautiful book and a few client success stories that we can learn from in undertaking our own design adventures. What You’ll Hear on This Episode: Ashley’s goal of “set it and forget it” when it comes to designing well-loved homes. The ingredients of a comfortable family room and how to still add elegance and beauty. Examples of natural fabric and textures that can take some wear and tear but still hold up beautifully. How to know when you have the right furniture plan. Why Ashley recommends starting the design process with the walls. If your walls aren’t finished, your house does not feel finished. A few of the homes featured in Ashley’s book include a Connecticut estate, a chic Manhattan home and a beach home, along with a fun special story about each client. How to make rooms not feel so seasonal so they can flow from season to season. When it comes to styles like midcentury, a little goes a long way. Ashley’s imaginative use of lampshades, and how we can use lamps and lighting to create beauty in our well-loved home. Decorating Dilemma We admit this is a little bit of a challenge to wallpaper a room like this. If you were to paper, it may be more than just this one room and you will have to figure out where your wallpaper ends. Also, there’s not a ton of walls in this room so you may not get the biggest bang for your buck. How can you get an even bigger and better wow factor? Well, maybe you could paper the ceiling or even add textured grasscloth. Painting the ceiling a sky blue may be able to work in a beautiful reflective way. As for the wall color, I would get a more creamy or modern white. That would be a great contrast with the sky blue. Thank you for writing, and good luck! Mentioned in This Episode: Ashley Whittaker Design Ep #93 - Ashley Whittaker @ashleywhittaker The Well-Loved House Michael Smith Jeffrey Bilhuber