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How to Decorate

Ep. 219: designer Janie Molster

How to Decorate

Ballard Designs

Arts, Business, Design

4.2785 Ratings

🗓️ 21 September 2021

⏱️ 71 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

We are so thrilled to welcome back our guest today, Janie Molster, who you may have heard on episode 117. She is an interior designer from Richmond, Virginia known for decorating spaces with exuberant color and a masterful mix of antique and contemporary pieces. Since we last spoke to her in 2019, she has written a book called House Dressing: Interiors for Colorful Living. Today we chat about her signature color usage, antiques, the importance of balance, and designing your house for TODAY and not waiting for someday! What You’ll Hear on This Episode: Trials & Triumphs with gallery walls and wires, soft washing a 90 year old house, getting rid of bats, new windows and doors, finding the perfect nursery rug, and doggies ruining the perfect nursery rug. Janie’s philosophy is to make homes glamorous yet durable. Balance is the key! What are Janie’s rules when it comes to window treatments? How does Janie do pink so well? How to still have fun and be bold with neutral colors. What are Janie's tips to shop for antiques? What antique piece is Janie currently in love with? Janie’s design philosophy on ceilings and floors. Decorating Dilemma  Hi Christie, I love where you’re going with the performance fabrics! To your point about patterns, I’m with you and think you should stick with a solid color. They have come a long way. If it were me, I would definitely consider going slightly darker on your sofa and in a warm taupe or gray to ground your room. Overall for your space go for warmth. On that back wall, I would do some sheer curtains (you can hear my rant earlier in the episode about curtains!). Then I would consider a console table for the back of that sofa. I can tell you’re drawn to a quieter mix of materials, so for patterns I would focus on pillows and lampshades. You could add something like an upholstered bench for when you have guests over and you could potentially add some pattern there. I would not get hung up on adding pattern to the pair of chairs; I would go with performance linen white. Art, like you said, is a great way to add color! Lastly, with the spaciousness of your room I think you can size up on your coffee table. Your furniture is rather spread out so I would consider pulling it in to make it more convivial. Don’t create a “time out” space for your guests! In your dining room, the chandelier is great. But it could also really use some beautiful and bold curtains! I would also consider painting the walls all the same color. If you’re nervous about patterned curtains, you could use the same color as the paint for warmth. And the colors from the rooms should speak to each other. Then I would put something fabulous that lives in the center of your dining table. It doesn’t have to literally be “alive” as it could be a collection of vases, sculpture, etc. You have such a great space with wonderful lighting. We love it and can’t wait to see what you do! Mentioned in This Episode: Janie Molster Designs Janie Molster Designs on Instagram House Dressing also available at Target, Amazon, Barnes & Noble HTD Episode 117 Chairish 1stDibs

Transcript

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0:00.0

Welcome to How to Decorate from Ballard Designs, a podcast all about the trials and triumphs of decorating and redecorating your home.

0:08.7

Each week will help you unleash your inner decorator.

0:11.6

I'm Caroline, and I'm on the marketing team.

0:13.7

And I'm Taryn, and I'm a product designer.

0:15.8

And I'm Liz.

0:16.5

I head up the Ballard Creative Team.

0:18.2

We're your host. Join the expert team at Ballard Designs for tips, tricks, and tails from interior

0:23.2

designers, stylists, and other talents in the design world.

0:25.9

Plus, we'll answer our listener question at the end of each show.

0:28.8

So don't forget to send them to podcast at Ballarddesigns.net.

0:31.9

Yes, we love answering them.

0:33.5

Now on with the show.

0:36.1

Okay, ladies, let's do some trials and triumphs.

0:39.6

Everybody ready?

0:40.5

Yeah.

0:41.1

Yes.

0:42.5

Okay, I'll go first.

0:43.7

Okay.

0:44.6

Okay, so one of my trials in my old house is that we have plaster walls everywhere

0:51.3

and we have picture rails. And I don't know if you all have tried to hang

0:57.6

photos or paintings with a picture rail. It's kind of hard. It's kind of hard. No, I've never

1:04.7

tried it. It always looks great. Yeah. So we got some things up and they look good. But like, so now my my big thing is like, how do I do a gallery wall with picture rails? So that's that's kind of where we're at. It's a lot of wires. Yeah. You know, does my gallery wall look like it's a marionette show? I don't know.

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