Dear Alice | Interior Design
Dear Alice is an Interior Design podcast brought to you by Jessica Bennett and Suzanne Hall, the spunky geniuses behind Alice Lane Interior Design. These two ladies break down the highest end of the design and interior fashion world through their beautiful lifestyle approach with a heaping dose of wit and taste.
Episodes
Thursday Sep 28, 2023
Thursday Sep 28, 2023
We’ve had listeners during our giveaway talk about their favorite episodes and most were saying they loved our listener question episodes where we answer the various questions you guys have sent in to us, so today we’re giving you another listener question episode. Tune in today to hear the various inquiries we answer that we’ve recently received.
Suz, what are your favorite resources to source original art? 9:00
Best home items to add or not add to your wedding registry 13:10
Formula for throw pillows on a bed 20:50
Old home with closed up fireplace in a kid’s bedroom 29:40
Favorite fabrics on indoor sofas with pets 31:15
Renovating a Dutch colonial 34:45
Upcycling an old item into a new design 37:45
In-person, live Dear Alice event 44:00
“My number one tip to people is just to look for galleries around you, look for art shows around you, look for boutiques around you. Try and find the artist. If you fall in love with art, DM them. Talk to them. Find out the story because that’s what makes art so fantastic is the story behind it. You relate to it with your own story.” 9:39
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Thursday Sep 21, 2023
Thursday Sep 21, 2023
We see a lot of homes in all the work we do and in some of the remodels there are some things that you’re just inheriting. When you purchase a home like this, you have to get really good at planning because it’s not inexpensive to redo the various things you want changed, but there’s a lot of architecture and a lot of things you wouldn’t do today, but they did yesterday. So now it’s your turn to make it right and we think the majority of people are likely in this position who are listening to our podcast right now, so listen in as we give our opinions and expertise on what you should do when you inherit architecture.
Inheriting architecture 9:10
Custom built-ins with little budget 11:05
Older homes and what’s so great about them 20:45
Analyze the way that you live 22:00
A mid-century jewel and pulling fashion in 31:15
Sometimes you will need to start over 34:10
Celebrate the good 38:05
Making existing architecture yours 41:15
“What do you do when you have custom built-ins in the home you purchased and you don’t have the budget to rip it out and rebuild it? How to repurpose, optimize, camouflage, style, paint? Here’s my dilemma, a built in structure between two pillars that separate the kitchen and family room.” 11:16
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Thursday Sep 14, 2023
Thursday Sep 14, 2023
We have a fun episode today, which is about finding something and saying if we would keep it or toss it. It might be polarizing and we as your hosts might feel opposite or the same about certain things, but that’s what will help make it fun. Join us as we talk about various items that should be kept or tossed, such as travertine, china hutch, or grasscloth wallpaper.
Antique chest from grandma 11:40
China hutch 14:35
Travertine 20:00
Grasscloth/wallpaper 22:00
Fiddle leaf figs 26:15
Murals and tufted headboards 29:05
Floating TV 30:05
Wood and stain grade base 31:00
Skinny jeans and leggings 32:20
Bullnose countertops 37:35
Granite 38:00
Hair extensions 41:15
Crocs and birkenstocks 43:45
French tipped nails 46:20
“I think [travertine] is beautiful in spaces. I do think a modern beach house with travertine, just things that feel really earthy and water could run over them, is so pretty. For myself, I’m not gonna buy any travertine, but that doesn’t mean I don’t think it’s beautiful for myself or another client. If it was in somebody’s home right now, would I have them rip it out? I think it would depend on the style and the tone we’re gonna move into.” 20:45
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Thursday Sep 07, 2023
Thursday Sep 07, 2023
We have our very own Brad Mee on the podcast today, who is our editor and chief of Utah Style and Design magazine and is also the lifestyle editor of Salt Lake Magazine and of Boca Raton Magazine all the way in Florida. Brad gives us a nice snapshot of what editors are looking for today and helps us know the right way to get things ready to shoot so it can be in line with what a magazine would be looking for, and then he also gives us a little etiquette on how we should post and proceed.
How to know your project is good 7:55
How to submit 12:05
Submitting a project outside of Utah 15:35
Posting etiquette 16:35
Presenting an extraordinary home 22:00
What Brad’s looking for 24:30
The marketplace and where it’s going right now 31:10
What makes a great cover 38:00
Celebrating the win 50:50
How Brad gets inspired 53:30
“[An echo chamber design] is something that you’ll find on Pinterest and Instagram, and then you’ll just keep seeing it and keep seeing it, and it feeds the design. I don’t wanna call out a design genre, but I will: Farmhouse. The white and the black windows, and the straw basket, and the whole thing, there is great farmhouse design, but the kind we wanna see is a real farmhouse.” 30:35
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Thursday Aug 31, 2023
Thursday Aug 31, 2023
One of the biggest questions we always get before we start any project is ‘What is always in and never out?’ We wanted to record a podcast sort of talking about those things, whether you’re living in a historical home, an older home, a 20-30 year old home, or a brand new build. What are some of the classic principles we are gonna talk about today that you aren’t going to regret in the future? That’s the ultimate question we wanted to dive into today and answer for you guys.
Buying a home that has existed before 6:40
Thinking about the timelessness of Ralph Lauren 9:15
Painting an old antique piece 21:30
Real materials have staying power 27:10
The white kitchen 28:00
Windows 31:00
Anything that has meaning 33:35
Scale 40:45
Beautiful finish work 44:00
Mohair 45:00
“I think the one thing that we obsess over is scale. We always want to make sure to keep that Ralph Lauren Bee buzzing around in our head while we’re making stuff, and that small never equals greatness generally. Usually if you scale something really well, it’s gonna look generous, it’s gonna be gorgeous, it’s gonna feel estate quality.” “It’s gonna make a small space feel grander.” 12:18
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Thursday Aug 24, 2023
Thursday Aug 24, 2023
In this episode we will be answering a listener question that came in. Somebody wanted to know how to lean into an editorial element, or slap in the face if you will, and brought up that it seems like there’s a way to bring in black into an otherwise neutral space, so we decided to create an entire podcast episode out of it. The most editorial moments are when you can show something with an opinion or unexpected, and something that’s not too played out, or it’s not the same player as the rest of the pieces in the room. The most editorial moment is when you get that one funky chair that just goes with what the owners love.
Giving the room that editorial element 9:45
Ways we’ve done it in our own homes 13:10
Solving a problem while out in the world 16:00
Bringing black into a neutral space 19:40
Mural patterns 20:50
Space planning 24:50
“We are emotional about our collections and we’re not necessarily curating them for a room, and we don't curate the room first, and then buy it. We’re slowly picking up this and that over the years and we don’t worry about where it goes. We worry about it moving us.” 14:17
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Thursday Aug 17, 2023
Thursday Aug 17, 2023
We are doing another episode on real estate because we had such a massive response to our last episode on real estate. You guys really want to know about this subject, so we said “Who else do we know that we could bring on Dear Alice?” and Jess thought she could bring on her brother, Jake Luekenga, who has been doing in sort of a rental situation where he had two rental properties and went on to build a dream home, and he has a carriage house currently that he rents out nightly and we are going to find out why he does that nightly as opposed to by the month. He built a vacation rental with partners, and now he’s building an entire development of fractional ownership and whole ownership properties. So we’re just going to unpack all of this and find out what Jake has learned and knows for all of us who love interiors.
About Jake, Jess, and their family 2:10
His carriage house and home he lives in now 6:45
The location and rental 10:20
His vacation rental in Saint George 18:50
Is it worth it? 23:15
Fractional ownership 27:15
Next rental and development 30:35
Difference between fractional ownership and timeshare 33:20
How to choose a good location for real estate 40:35
“So with a timeshare you own the time. You do not own the physical property, but with a fractional ownership you actually own a piece of the property, a fraction of the property. What’s most common is they divide the property into one eighths and you get that piece of the pie. So you have a deed, it’s in your name, you can sell it when you want. ” 34:24
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Thursday Aug 10, 2023
Thursday Aug 10, 2023
There was an article that came out from The Washington Post, which was titled “HGTV is making our homes boring and us sad, one study says.” It goes in to unpack that everybody is trying to make their homes these perfect places like you see on TV, and we all know that the home is often the biggest investment we make in a lifetime and our whole lives and the lives of those around us are tied up in our homes. So HGTV tells us that we have to make our homes the nicest possible and decorate it for the masses, and not our own happiness. Because there’s so much pressure to make our homes for the masses and maintain its value in the public eye, we might find there is much less of a personal touch to it. Our home is the place that we should feel the most comfortable.
Join us for an Alice Lane event! 15:30
The HGTV article 19:45
Displacement of the professionalization of the home 27:15
The resale value of the home 37:45
“We don’t want our homes to look the same that we work on with the client because we want them to look like the client. We have to talk to them about who they are, what their origin is, where they went to school, what do their kids love? Those things are so vital in making the home successful because if it looks like me, cool if I’m moving in, but it doesn’t hold up and they won’t be happy. Our ultimate happiness comes when we can feel comfortable in our own place with our own people.” 30:00
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Thursday Aug 03, 2023
Thursday Aug 03, 2023
Cori had a question that kind of went along with a question from one of our listeners and we realized that maybe we haven’t talked about layering enough, which is kind of the super power when it comes to the styling portion of interior design. Really getting those layers dialed in is a really good storytelling piece, and it’s a great fashion piece. It separates the goods from the greats and gives the house a beat and soul, and when we walk through, like in a few show rooms, and it really puts us in awe, it’s because of layers and the styling is on point. In this episode we wanted to break down with our voices and not visuals, why and how to layer. Quantity and quality, quiet luxury 6:20The TV wall 9:30Flooring, rugs 12:40Furniture layering 17:20Layering shelves 24:45“We know right now that publishers actually don’t want a lot of layers. They want kind of effortless, authentic, I was gonna say stealth wealth, or quiet luxury, of just having it be really easy and not too many layers. I think with layers, it’s all in the intent of who lives there.” 7:01
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Thursday Jul 27, 2023
Thursday Jul 27, 2023
We have a project that our design center just completed, which is actually right here in Utah, but we’re not going to say where the location is. You would think this house was in LA or Las Vegas with its really high end finishes and very contemporary, fashion driven, and opinionated. They had the greatest private fashion collection we have ever seen before, the closet being the biggest one we have ever done here at Alice Lane, but they are very private people, so we’re going to tell you what we saw and what we did on this episode today. Make sure to follow our Instagram to see the before and after!
Dear Alice live event! 1:50
The Barbie dreamhouse 4:50
A fresh start 6:00
How it started 7:00
They wanted to host a lot of people 12:30
Dissecting their various rooms: the library 14:10
A project like none other 16:25
The backyard 22:20
The purple slab in the basement 31:30
The primary vanity 33:55
“We’re like, ‘Well what does she have in the pantry?’ because she has a plethora of everything. So we go in there, and I’m not kidding you guys, there are hot pink wine glasses, hot pink martini glasses, some sort of cool faceted tumbler that sits sideways, all branded ‘Barbie,’ and the glass is hot pink.” 20:45
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