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How to Decorate

Ep. 84: designer Susan Ferrier

How to Decorate

Ballard Designs

Arts, Business, Design

4.2785 Ratings

🗓️ 16 April 2019

⏱️ 64 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Award-winning decorator Susan Ferrier joins the show today. Known for creating sensuous, atmospheric interiors, Susan created Susan Ferrier Interiors and co-authored the book Art of the House. She talks about how she lights a room while creating drama, creating an architectural rhythm and symmetry in a room, breaking rules, and being bold. What You’ll Hear on This Episode:Why Susan believes the people in the room need to be the pattern.Her creative and explorative use of texture, and strategy of creating shadow with light and darker tones.Her rule of thumb for having a way to read and drink wherever you sit in a room.The two reasons she loves banquettes.How she got into the business, and why she decided to start her own firm, Susan Ferrier Interiors.How she gets inspired by her projects and the ways she digs in to develop a relationship with the people behind every project.How she balances her clients’ with her own personal sense of style and expert quality of being what she refers to as a “visual mathematician”.Which design rules we should be following, and which ones are meant to be broken.The analogy of decorating our homes compared to dressing appropriately for our body type.How we can afford to raise the dynamic design in our kitchens.How Susan challenges the visual aspect of design by combining age with the sleek, modern, and shiny.Susan’s rule for using metals, and if she thinks it will go out of style anytime soon.What we can do to show those 1980’s homes some love and highlight the positive attributHow she lays out a room, and ways we can work with the view to best socialize the spaceHow to not have the price tag displayed on the back of a mirror or painting, and instead have a clean and consistent view.The foundation of creating a good interior for both very large spaces and smaller scale projects.

Transcript

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0:00.0

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

0:03.4

We want to teach you how to decorate your home and unleash your inner decorator.

0:06.8

So we'll be interviewing interior designers, stylists, and other talents in the design world,

0:11.1

sharing the trials and triumphs of our own homes, and also answering your decorating questions.

0:15.6

I'm Caroline. I run the Ballard Designs blog, How to Decorate.

0:18.6

And I'm Taryn, and I'm all the product design team at Ballard Design's blog, How to Decorate. And I'm Taryn, and I'm all the product design team at Ballard.

0:21.3

And I'm Karen and I end up branding at Ballard.

0:23.5

Oh, we're your hosts.

0:28.5

We are so excited to have today, award-winning decorator, Susan Ferrier.

0:37.2

She is known for creating

0:38.5

sensuous, atmospheric interiors. Your work has been featured in the New York Times,

0:43.6

architectural digest, el decor, veranda, house beautiful, traditional home, Atlanta Homes and

0:49.5

Lifestyle. Anywhere that matters. Yes. All of your favorite. All of your favorite publications.

0:55.6

And after more than 18 years, as a partner at Architecture and Design

0:59.5

for McAlpine, you started your own design firm, Susan Ferry, or Interiors.

1:04.5

You're also the co-author of a book, Art of the House by Rosoli.

1:09.4

Did I cover everything?

1:10.7

I think you did. I mean, I'm, tell me more.

1:14.5

I'm awesome. You don't often get a chance to listen to somebody talk about you. That's true.

1:19.8

We're going to talk about you all day. Oh, wow. Okay. Well, I feel like if anyone were to look at your

1:24.9

portfolio, their first thought would be like drama, bold, scale.

1:29.8

I agree.

...

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