Ep. 411: Dorm Room Decorating with Frances Lacefield Hovis of Room 422

How to Decorate

Ballard Designs

Arts, Business, Design

4.2 • 785 Ratings

🗓️ 29 April 2025

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

We welcome Frances Lacefield Hovis to the podcast, founder of the dorm-focused furniture company Room 422. Caroline, Liz, and Frances excitedly unveil the new Ballard Designs Dorm Collection in partnership with Room 422. Throughout the episode, Frances shares her inspiring journey in starting Room 422 and discusses the creation of custom dorm bedding and decor. Frances also offers a wealth of advice on creating cozy and stylish dorm environments using Room 422 products, focusing on essential items such as headboards, bed skirts, and decorative pillows. Watch the video version of this week's episode now on Ballard Designs' YouTube Channel: https://youtu.be/nTAXTvqZC-I What You’ll Hear On This Episode: 00:00 Introduction to the How to Decorate Podcast 00:34 Exciting News: Launching a Dorm Collection 00:43 Meet Frances Lacefield-Hovis 01:45 The Birth of Room 422 03:34 Growing the Business Through Trunk Shows 04:29 Adapting During the Pandemic 05:57 Designing Dorm Room Essentials 10:33 Collaborating with Ballard Designs 16:05 Mother-Daughter Bonding Over Dorm Decor 19:20 Choosing the Right Bedding for Dorms 22:37 Freshman Dorm Room Essentials 23:50 From Interior Design to Event Planning 25:27 Starting a Business in College 26:01 Parental Support and Entrepreneurial Spirit 26:36 Tips for Designing a Dorm Room 29:27 Checklist for Dorm Room Essentials 38:14 Transitioning Dorm Decor to New Living Spaces 40:24 Budgeting and Splurging on Dorm Decor 42:56 Where to Find the Dorm Room Collection 43:16 Conclusion + Where to Follow Francis and Room 422 Also Mentioned: Ballard Dorm Collection | Shop Now ⁠⁠@flhovis⁠ | Designer IG ⁠room422.com | Room 422 Website @room.422 | Room 422 IG Please send in your decorating dilemmas + pictures so we can answer them on an upcoming episode (⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠) . And, of course, please subscribe to the podcast if you haven’t already in Apple Podcasts or Spotify so you never miss a new episode. Happy Decorating!

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to How to Decorate from Ballard Designs, a weekly podcast all about the trials and triumphs of decorating and redecorating your home.
0:09.1	I'm Caroline. I'm on the marketing team. And I'm Taryn and I'm a product designer. I'm Liz. I head of the creative team.
0:14.7	We're your host. Join the expert team at Ballard Designs for tips, tricks, and tales from interior designers, stylists, and other
0:21.2	talents in the design world. Plus, we'll answer your decorating dilemmas at the end of each episode.
0:25.4	We love answering your questions, so don't forget to email us at podcast at balauredesigns.net.
0:30.5	Now on with the show. Well, we have some big news this week to share. We're launching a dorm collection. And our guest this week is Francis Lacefield Hovis. She is the owner of Room 422 and our latest partner in our dorm collection. In 2015, you started your own dorm brand and you make bed skirts, headboards, all the accoutrements for dorm.
0:59.2	Yeah.
0:59.6	So we're thrilled to welcome you, chat with you all about dorm and also to announce our collection,
1:05.3	which all of the pieces are coordinated back to our bedding and it's a whole sort of mix and match. You know,
1:12.9	we've got headboards, bed skirts, pillows, and then all the twin bedding that you need to
1:18.8	coordinate. And it's so cute. And we're thrilled to have you here to pick your brain about
1:22.6	everything, you know, people need to consider when outfitting their dorm.
1:28.3	So welcome.
1:28.5	Well, thank you so much for having me, and I really am so excited to be here and just for the whole collaboration in general.
1:36.0	I'm really excited.
1:37.0	I think it's going to be a great fit for both Room 422 and Ballard.
1:41.1	Yeah.
1:41.5	It's been fun to work on, and I'm excited for it to launch. Well, maybe start by telling
1:47.1	us a little bit about Room 422 and where, you know, how you got the idea for the company and
1:54.0	where it all started. We're going to share this picture that you brought of your dorm room
1:58.9	in the episode and in the show notes.
2:03.1	So I went to the University of Alabama, and that's from 2010.
	...

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