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How to Decorate

Ep. 443: Holiday Throwback Special, Pt. 1 - Janie Molster

How to Decorate

Caroline McDonald

Arts, Business, Design

4.4 • 838 Ratings

🗓️ 9 December 2025

⏱️ 34 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

We are kicking off a special three-part holiday series! For the next few weeks, Caroline, Taryn, and Liz are each taking a turn replaying their absolute favorite holiday episode from the podcast archives. To start us off, Caroline revisits Episode 117 with Richmond interior designer Janie Molster. Caroline chose this episode because it completely changed her philosophy on holiday decorating. Janie explains why you don't need to force "red and green" if it doesn't fit your home, sharing her secrets for a holiday look that feels traditional yet surprising. She covers everything from managing a "hodgepodge" family tree to wrapping oddly shaped gifts. Quick Decorating Takeaways: Coordinate, Don't Clash: Your holiday decor should enhance your room, not fight with it. If your room has a pink and blue palette, use pink or blue ribbon and ornaments rather than forcing traditional red and green. The "Squint" Test: To ensure your tree has that professional glow, step back and squint your eyes at the lit tree. This blurs the details and highlights any dark "holes" where you need to add more lights. Unify with Ribbon: If you have a family tree filled with mismatched sentimental ornaments, use a high-quality, wide-wired ribbon to weave through the branches. It acts as a unifying element that ties the whole look together. What You’ll Hear on This Episode: 00:00 Caroline introduces the Holiday Throwback series 02:00 How to decorate a "Pink House" for Christmas 04:00 Janie’s tip for layering different types of greenery (magnolia, holly, pine) 06:00 Choosing a ribbon color that matches your permanent decor 08:00 Strategies for decorating a tree with kids and family ornaments 11:00 The "Butcher Paper" hack for wrapping large or oddly shaped toys 14:00 Lighting tips: The "Squint Test" and using dimmers 16:00 Decorating Dilemma 1: How to handle a bedroom with awkward dormer windows (Wallpaper is the answer!) 23:00 Decorating Dilemma 2: Furniture layout for a 70s build family room 32:00 Closing thoughts Also Mentioned: Janie Molster Designs | Website Follow Janie on Instagram: @janiemolsterdesigns Butcher block paper (Home Depot) for gift wrapping Shop Ballard Designs Please send in your questions so we can answer them on our next episode! And of course, subscribe to the podcast in Apple Podcasts so you never miss an episode. You can always check back here to see new episodes, but if you subscribe, it’ll automatically download to your phone. Happy Decorating! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

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

0:04.0

I'm Caroline and normally I'm joined by my co-host, Terran and Liz.

0:08.0

But today is just me because we are kicking off a very special three-part holiday series.

0:14.0

So for the next three weeks, each of us, myself, Taryn and Liz, will be replaying one of our favorite holiday-themed episodes from the

0:21.7

entire podcast catalog. You'll get to hear why these particular episodes resonated with us,

0:26.2

why we think they're worth the revisit. And Taryn and Liz are also going to share their picks.

0:30.6

So to start us off, I chose episode, what was originally episode 117, with incredibly talented Richmond interior designer

0:38.9

Janie Mollster.

0:40.2

She has such a pretty layered and happy portfolio and style, but I love the twist that she

0:47.8

puts on her rooms for the holidays because they are so traditional and timeless, but they're also really surprising. And I think that

0:56.0

is really what excites me about the holidays. I want them to feel familiar, but I also don't want

1:00.6

them to be the same every year. I like to mix it up. And so seeing Janie's portfolio really inspired me.

1:06.8

And one of her insights totally blew my mind, and I incorporate this now into my own holiday

1:14.1

decor. And it's really about your holiday color palette and how your color palette should

1:19.3

enhance your room and not fight with it. There are tons of other tips in there, too. So,

1:24.0

you know, using natural greenery and ribbon and choosing colors for your room that's

1:28.6

going to last.

1:29.5

But this was a real pivotal moment for my own holiday decorating philosophy.

1:36.6

And I just loved everything Janie had to say about decorating your room for the holidays.

1:41.4

So I promise you're going to walk away with some fresh ideas,

1:49.6

whether you're listening for the first time or revisiting this gem. So let's dive into the conversation with Richmond interior designer, Janie Mollster. I do want to talk since we are in the holiday season.

2:00.1

I wanted to talk a little bit about Christmas decorating because there were two houses that I saw that you did that were all decked out for the holidays.

...

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