Ep. 415: Embracing Bold Design with Susan Ferrier

How to Decorate

Ballard Designs

Arts, Business, Design

4.2 • 785 Ratings

🗓️ 27 May 2025

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Caroline and Liz welcome back the renowned interior designer Susan Ferrier to the show. Known for her dramatic, atmospheric interiors that blend boldness with practicality, Susan shares insights from her recent projects and design philosophy. This episode delves into creating emotionally resonant rooms, balancing light and dark elements, and transforming architectural challenges into stunning focal points. Susan also provides practical advice on choosing fabrics and creating effective window treatments, while emphasizing the emotional impacts of well-designed spaces. The episode wraps up with Susan offering expert solutions to listener questions about maximizing light in tricky spaces. What You’ll Hear on This Episode: 00:00 Introduction to Ballard Designs Podcast 00:34 Welcoming Back Susan Ferrier 02:17 Susan's Recent Projects and Inspirations 03:19 The Villa Viola Project 09:58 Designing with Bold Colors and Unique Elements 23:24 Creating Functional and Aesthetic Spaces 31:29 Anthropomorphizing Furniture 32:40 The Role of Kitchen Islands 34:13 Balancing Fabrics and Colors 41:42 Creating Emotional Spaces 43:18 Personal Design Philosophy 50:17 Advice on Window Treatments 56:58 Conclusion and Contact Information Also Mentioned: ⁠ballarddesigns.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ | Shop Now 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.
0:09.2	I'm Caroline. I'm on the marketing team. And I'm Taryn and I'm a product designer.
0:12.9	I'm Liz. I head of the creative team. We're your host. Join the expert team at Ballard Designs for tips, tricks, and tales from interior designers, stylists,
0:20.9	and other talents in the design world. Plus, we'll answer your decorating dilemmas at the end of each
0:24.8	episode. We love answering your questions, so don't forget to email us at podcast at balderdesigns.net.
0:30.6	Now on with the show.
0:34.0	I'm sure you're familiar with our guest today because we just recently re-shared our first conversation with her back from 2019, award-winning interior designer, Susan Ferrier.
0:44.9	She's an iconic voice in the interior design world, known for her bold and atmospheric rooms.
0:50.6	They're both traditional and irreverent, rooted in symmetry, but with an unexpected twist at every turn.
0:56.2	Susan, welcome back to the show.
0:58.4	Well, thank you for having me.
1:00.1	I'm thrilled to be here.
1:01.3	I hope I'm consistent in both sessions.
1:05.9	I have no doubt that you will be.
1:07.7	I am beyond thrilled to welcome you back because I shared this with our
1:14.5	listeners when I introduced your episode, but what really stuck with me about our conversation was
1:21.1	how practical all of your insight was. I think your rooms are so stunning and bold that I was not expecting that. And just the descriptions of,
1:31.6	you know, sort of what led your choices were so rooted in function. And it made it so I kept
1:36.8	revisiting that episode and all that you shared. So thank you for your generosity and for coming
1:43.5	back to chat with us today.
1:45.3	Well, I'm thrilled to be here.
1:47.0	I took a listen back to that first time you were here and it just, I feel like you really opened up a way for me to think about design in my home in a way that was in a way that was different than
	...

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