Timeless Home Makeover & Interior Design Tips | Lover’s Lane Remodel Masterclass

14 Aug 2025 · 42 min · 20 chapters

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In short

A “Remodel Masterclass” luxury home makeover in Highland Park, Dallas, focused on reconfiguring a dated, compartmentalized layout for a young family of five kids, plus interior design highlights (kitchen, keeping room, his office, her command center, and a standout powder room).

Guests/backgrounds

The hosts are designers from Dear Alice / Alice Lane (including “Corey” and “Sue/Suze” as referenced). They discuss their process, floor plans, and sketches, and emphasize their interior-architecture-trained design team and vendor network.

Key claims

Remodel constraints sparked creativity; removing unused formal spaces improves flow; “shared light” and pocket doors make rooms feel connected; hiring professionals helps with structural/load-bearing changes; limitations can yield more remarkable outcomes.

Notable examples

Kitchen enlarged by closing the wall to remove a formal dining area; a long island sized for kids; pantry relocated to reuse old kitchen windows; glass pocket door; soda/ice-cream service window; his office expanded with an enclosed windowed deck; her command center replaced a fireplace with arched ironwork-inspired doors and a dramatic black ceiling; powder room features a wall-to-wall floating vanity, custom rich Portelio wallpaper, and gold-leaf “crack” motif.

Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.

Chapters

Tap a time to open that second in VO

Favorite Powder Room

0:00 to 0:31

Discussion about a favorite powder room and its unique aspects.

“This is something that the designers just really broke their brain over.”

The Magic of Remodeling

1:03 to 3:08

Exploration of reimagining spaces and benefits of remodeling homes.

“just showing how we're reallocating spaces, how we're reimagining rooms.”

Introducing the Lovers Lane Project

3:08 to 3:52

Introduction to the specific remodeling project on Lovers Lane in Dallas.

“And we're actually saving Suze's favorite room for the end of this project.”

Understanding the Client's Needs

4:36 to 6:07

Discussion on the young family's requirements for their remodel.

“I know you'll be able to finish off your rooms in a really beautiful way.”

Before and After - Exterior Changes

6:07 to 7:44

Overview of the exterior of the home before and after the remodel.

“early and i remember just like peeking through the gates i still have pictures on my phone just Just like, okay, this is the house is where it's at.”

Floor Plan Insights: Before and After

7:44 to 9:21

Detailed comparison of the home's floor plan before and after the remodel.

“And what we wanted to do with the floor plan here was to open it up and get a better flow.”

Transforming the Kitchen Space

9:21 to 10:15

In-depth look at the kitchen design choices during the remodel.

“So you can see, like, those of you tuning in and watching on YouTube or Spotify, you can see this kitchen.”

Maximizing Space for Family Living

10:15 to 14:00

Discussion on how to optimize space for family needs in the redesign.

“And so what we did, and they didn't need a formal dining room.”

Maximizing Kitchen Space in Remodels

14:00 to 15:10

Learn how to effectively utilize space in kitchen remodels.

“and had landed on this one and trying to like kind of incorporate those windows into the kitchen somehow.”

Creative Solutions for Old Houses

15:10 to 16:44

Discover the importance of hiring professionals for creative remodeling solutions.

“if it is load-bearing at all, to be able to come up with a brand new solution for this old house.”
Show all 20 chapters

Brightening Up Kitchen Designs

16:44 to 18:09

Explore how light impacts kitchen aesthetics and functionality.

“So like kind of bring in some, some of that light.”

Choosing Colors for Timeless Kitchens

18:09 to 19:53

Understand the benefits of using green in kitchen design.

“One thing, again, you think that this island is long.”

Functional Family Spaces in Home Design

21:03 to 22:58

Learn about creating comfortable, multi-functional spaces for families.

“And if you get a post-purchase survey, make sure to let them know you heard about Cozy Earth right here because your bed should be more than a place to sleep.”

Transforming Unused Spaces into Functional Areas

22:58 to 24:18

See how to repurpose spaces for practical uses in home design.

Command Center: Designing for Family Needs

24:18 to 28:04

Explore how to design a home office that meets family requirements.

“the neon sign say and um it was pour some sugar on me no no no no no no let me some sugar oh gosh She put that right.”

Design Inspirations from the Baroness' Office

28:04 to 31:31

Discover how unique design elements can transform spaces through inspiration.

Transforming the Powder Room

31:32 to 34:39

Learn the importance of making small spaces, like powder rooms, extraordinary.

“we're going to go to my favorite space, which actually existed.”

Client Collaboration and Trust

34:40 to 38:15

Understand the significance of client involvement and trust during a remodel.

“And I got to use it in this powder room.”

Key Takeaways from the Remodel Masterclass

38:16 to 39:49

Gain valuable insights from a successful remodel project and how to approach your own.

“And I'll also say besides being trusting, they were in it because she's sending you pictures from movies.”

Key Takeaways from the Remodel Masterclass

39:50 to 40:22

Gain valuable insights from a successful remodel project and how to approach your own.

“That's our Alice Lane Interior Design Service.”
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Transcript

Automatic transcript. May contain errors.

0:05This is something that the designers just really broke their brain over. I love a powder room. Of all the powder rooms that Alcine has ever done, this is my favorite. It's probably my favorite room in the house when you're just in the common area and you look over and you look in there and you're like, what is happening in there? It is just so fantastic. Hi guys. Hey. Welcome to Dear Alice. We're here. Yes, we are. It's another Thursday and in the summer and it's been a good one we've had a lot of requests to do deep dives on some of our projects remodels in particular so you guys must be in project mode and we are going to start a new series for you guys here at dear alice called remodel master class it's so excited a luxury reveal so we'll maybe do one of these once a month um for those of you in project mode and just showing how we're reallocating spaces, how we're reimagining rooms.

1:08It does take an imagination to really see a home differently than it's currently been done. Yeah. You kind of know, we've talked about this for if you're a new build or if you're a remodel. Most of us live in a home. Most of us have a house project or want to do something. You wouldn't be here, right? If you didn't care about your house. I love a remodel. I love like reimagining spaces. And there's obviously there's like you get some bad inherited architecture but you also get some just like problem solving and things that you wouldn't necessarily have planned for or corners or pockets that somebody else brought to the table that you get to benefit from and make it your own that's the magic of a remodel also keep in mind like the one that we're about to show you is in um dallas texas it's in a really really lovely area um called highland park which is kind of like the Beverly Hills of Dallas.

2:00And you don't, there's no land available, right? So you're going to either purchase a home and knock it down if you want to do a new build, or you're going to purchase a home and reimagine it. So a lot of you might live in areas like that, which have been populated for a long time. They're very popular. There's no land available. So most of you are just purchasing existing homes and then making them yours, which is the case of this project that we call Lovers Lane. Yes, I love it so much. I would say too that sometimes limitations can like bring out creativity. So you have like more like, I don't know, remarkable, fun things.

2:33You have a better outcome. And I think in a lot of like corners of a space that like, again, you wouldn't have like, you couldn't have planned for that. But like it was a gift to you that like, I don't know, just got thrown in a blender and reimagined your way. And it's really, it's super gratifying. And especially who doesn't love a before and after? I tell you what. Remember all those makeover shows? Yes. In the 90s. This is our version of the makeover show. Yeah. Welcome. Yes. We're going to show you the before and afters and the problem solving we did to get to this. We've got floor plans today.

3:06We've got Suze's sketches and then you'll see the finished outcome. And we're actually saving Suze's favorite room for the end of this project. So make sure and stay tuned to see that. But first I wanted to tell you guys about a free service that we have here at Alice Lane. if you're just on the furnishings portion of your house and you're trying to get it right. And for some reason, it's really hard to work on your own project. You kind of just get this hijack in your brain where you're like, I don't know why I can't make decisions for myself, but I could tell anybody else what to do. Our home furnishings design service is interior designers that know all of the Alice Lane Rolodex.

3:44They know all of our 200 vendors. They know all of our products that we're creating and they can give you the best expert help for free. This is complimentary because you're going to be purchasing the things through Alice Lane. So it's incredibly popular. It's crazy that we do it. But we have really, really talented designers on standby to help you and take advantage of that service. Again, it's called Home Furnishing Design. Corey, tell them where to find it on our website. So yeah. So if you go to our website, alicelanehome.com, you go to the design services tab, scroll down to Home Furnishing Design, and it'll take you to a form that you fill out.

4:20And one of our designers will get back to you. Yeah, and they get back right away, which I think is a thing in the industry. You have a lot of creative people, and they don't always get right back to you and pick up the phone. And so you're going to love that these guys do. So anyway, go give that a try. I know you'll be able to finish off your rooms in a really beautiful way. Not to mention exclusive product. Yeah. Anyway, I probably already said that, but I'm going to say it again. And like a lot of the time, that's the group that's getting like, you know. The front row. Yeah, yeah, front row to it.

4:52So that's great. It is great. But yeah, okay. Well, let's get started on this part. Let's do it. Yeah. So just again, you mentioned it's in Dallas. The family that approached us, they're a young family, five young kids. And it was that same thing where they just, and he like deals in development and stuff. And like they were able to purchase, I believe it's actually two lots that had like this house on it because it does have like a pool house and a pool. But it was just very, very dated. and like it just wasn't like the way it was configured wasn't didn't fit the needs of the family again it was a lot of separate rooms which you know that there's a place for separate rooms and we love a scene but like for the way this family needed to live like they just needed like more space they needed a larger kitchen they needed an office for him a command center for her they just there were certain needs that they knew you know what they needed when they went into this and so it was just like now how do we like slice and dice this thing up right they had already purchased the home when they had contacted us so it was like okay yeah they had already purchased the home and actually we were at a site visit for another project in dallas in highland park and like it was early in the morning we only had like so much time and we got the call and i like slipped over there like in the morning they weren't there nobody was there it was like so early and i remember just like peeking through the gates i still have pictures on my phone just Just like, okay, this is the house is where it's at.

6:14You know, just like. Let's show. Let's show them really quick that just the exterior of the house, the way it was. Okay. Because I want them to be able to visualize. Okay. This is you peeking through the fence. This is the house. Yep. Yeah. So this is. What was this home built? Gosh, I don't even know. I think it was like in the 90s, like early 2000s. So Mediterranean. Mediterranean, like beautiful house. Like this is sprawling. All stone manor on the exterior. Fountain in the front. Yeah. Again. Paver driveway. really beautiful yeah lovely home and so like i saw this and i saw the floor plans and then we i mean we got started i mean they had a team like ready to go um already had torn it up and like just started to look ship finishes of the things that they knew they didn't like and but they just needed help with like now what do we do with it so anyway so this is the exterior this this is what became of the exterior that mediterranean tile roof though yeah yeah and then just kind of modernized this home went black windows and just a really crisp I think edit to what it was it feels really really beautiful and the fun thing too it lighter but even like from the exterior like from the street that it's on the whole thing is fenced by green so you don't even see the house like there's just like green everywhere around it so you feel just so enveloped so it doesn't feel like a desert you know that you're in somewhere a little bit more lush and humid definitely more humid um but this is like where we ended there's a couple things too that we're going to get into the floor plan real fast um that we might come back and revisit these because i want to show you a few things okay this is the floor plan um we're going to like be covering about four spaces like the kitchen their office both of their offices and my favorite room at the very very end but i want to first talk about oh shoot um just reallocating space remember how i said we're going going to slice and dice this is where you'd walk into the entry right here at the bottom of the screen and this is how it sat before okay you had an entry you had a formal dining on the right side and then you have like a walk-in like little butler's pantry with a regular pantry and then you have a pretty small kitchen actually these plans were older they didn't even have that peninsula they just had this u shape with a wreck a small rectangular island in the center which like their kids can't sit at like there's just like not enough space um also i feel like when homes were being designed back in the late 90s, early 2000s, it wasn't the open floor plan that we were today.

8:43And what we wanted to do with the floor plan here was to open it up and get a better flow. Because those of you that are not watching right now, we're looking at a really nice size floor plan, but because everything was sectioned off, each space doesn't feel that connected to the next. So you're having these really individual experiences in them. And this big family wants to feel connected. And I think a lot of people that inherited homes from this time have tried to feel like, how can we open the house up and share light? Also, they were craving a lighter, brighter experience. And this was feeling darker.

9:20And the kitchen was so small. Will you show them the kitchen before? That is so dramatic. There we go. Okay. So you can see, like, those of you tuning in and watching on YouTube or Spotify, you can see this kitchen. it's it's not only a stain grade dark um i feel like it's dark mahogany or cherry wood cory would you say yeah really dark kitchen um kind of a yellowy plastery finish the casings are that dark beige and you've got um precast around the windows so they went for it here we've got granite countertops but it's just a big u-shape and it it's not conducive to feeling open or gathering nobody can sit in there there's no island for five kids to sit at so it's just kind of trapped and feels really heavy for such a small space i know i'm like the whole thing like all when you walk through the house previously in these before pictures you're gonna feel like you're being pinched like it's just like it's too tight and again especially when you see the grand grandness of that exterior and the sprawlingness of it it doesn't feel like the inside like you should feel like that sense of grandeur when you walk into a space like that right you know what is nice about this home though is the high ceilings oh my gosh for the time the home was built absolutely so you had volume which is awesome and then just changing up the floor plan also gave you the width besides the height so yeah exactly good bones to work with i know so when we i'm going to go to okay so this is the before plan you've all seen it okay now we're going to hit the after plan we again we did a bunch of different versions of this but this is kind of this is where we landed to kind of fit the client's needs.

10:58They wanted a larger kitchen. And so what we did, and they didn't need a formal dining room. That's one thing. Like look at your space, like your homes and what spaces do you not use? Like get rid of those and reallocate it for something that you need or the lifestyle that you want to live. This family, again, they wanted an entry that like a proper entry. The other one was like shared with the dining room. So we closed that wall off and then we opened it up to completely give you a big kitchen. and a large, we call it a keeping room. It's this like little adjacent room to the kitchen where you can have like a small gathering that's separate from a family room.

11:35You know, we're just like people can be conversing, can be talking to the cook. And it's just like another little gathering space that's still in the mix of everything. So nobody feels like they're in timeout. I feel like the last plan, you felt like you were in timeout in that kitchen. All these spaces were so isolated that you're like, okay, everybody's lonely and sad. Like soft sadness everywhere. So, but one thing that I think is interesting because we, again, we mix this a ton of different ways before we landed here. But this little space where those two windows were in that last pinched kitchen, those are these kitchen windows.

12:07Again, not a lot of light. It's kind of crazy to think, I'm like, I think we tried to avoid it for a while. The idea of covering up, like not having that be shared with the kitchen space. But in the end, it made the very, very most sense to, in order to get like a larger footprint for our island, to actually create the pantry back here with those windows, which is a pretty dreamy experience to like create an experience for that pantry moment, but really to just elongate that whole island so that we can generously seat, you know, all of her children at one time. Um, there's plenty of space between, and you have this keeping room.

12:44The keeping room is probably my favorite ad in this whole space. The kitchen's awesome. The pantries are great, but like this whole space, just like it is a party barge. Yeah. Like they entertain and they entertain really, really well in this space and there's some of these vacancies again on this floor plan that you're looking at you have the kitchen you have the keeping room at the bottom and you have this family room that's sitting over to the left of the fireplace that's still open to all this space like people in the kitchen can kind of yell and like at the game or talk to people over here but you had this vacancy which like was a perfect spot for a dining table like a large dining table i think we're like 84 inch dining table right here so that they can really again host and they have another thing we should show probably on our social we can't go into everything today but the previous owners had like this little bar area and our client wanted a soda bar and like an ice cream parlor with a service window out to the pad on the deck that's right and so yes yes and all their friends and so again thinking about like how are we going to use this space like are you big drinkers is that important to you or like you just need an ice cream parlor as a service window so that you're the house that all the kids want to go to.

13:52And that is this house. So good. It's very, very family friendly. I love that you mentioned kind of you like reworking it a couple different ways and had landed on this one and trying to like kind of incorporate those windows into the kitchen somehow. But just realizing like the best thing to do is like, hey, let's just give the pantry those windows and just, you know, lay the kitchen out this way. And I think there's always going to be a give and take in remodels. And yeah. And it turned out like dreamy. That's amazing. And then like taking the space that was really useless and like, hey, we don't need a formal dining room, but we still need something.

14:26And we're going to like go ahead and use that space. I feel like as far as square footage goes, you're taking advantage of all of it rather than kind of leaving voids in your home. So this is why I just want to put a plug in for it's it's nice to hire an expert, because if you're taking on the remodel yourself, you can only reimagine that kitchen as it was. and you're like, well, we'll just take out the old cabinets and put something new in. This is something that the designers just really broke their brain over. And I just want to say the designers on our staff, they have interior architecture degrees.

14:57And so they actually did this. They didn't hire an architect to do this work. They sort of scraped the four plan clean and they reimagined it several different ways with the client to come up with this. And then you can use engineers to make sure what's load bearing still gets the support that it needs. if it is load-bearing at all, to be able to come up with a brand new solution for this old house. And you can live the way that you want to live if you get creative and think outside the box. That's why it's worth hiring a professional. Because look at the difference in living like this versus the befores, right?

15:34It's just more, it's like more collective. It's more together, you know, rather than like, hey, we'll be in here. You're in the kitchen. was in the kitchen before probably felt like they were in time out like Sue said because there's not a ton of room in there and it doesn't there's only room for one cook in there you know and like cooking is such an experience and I think more and more as like the decades have gone that we just that's the party is making the dinner together. Totally. Okay this is just a study sketch on how we wanted to start allocating and kind of see we had tall cabinetry on the left on that far wall and that's where we're going to put our fridge and everything in that doorway that I have shown in the sketch right here that goes to that back pantry area so we needed the old kitchen windows yes which is old kitchen area but then we gained like all this space for our big range wall because again the range that is your money shot like that is what you pay for when you park a car underneath that hood and then again with the kitchen with the pantry here's another little sketch of just like how are we going to utilize like try and get as much vertical storage for pantry but then floating shelves over the window again just to kind of keep it open um but still have usable pantry space because that's where you go to shop definitely and you don't want to get rid of window light also on the front of the house you don't want to lose windows oh yeah no yeah okay okay and then this is this is like in process picture um i think we're there like styling but you can kind of see here through that pantry door we have a pocket door also pockets like don't underestimate the power of a pocket i also love that you did yeah glass pocket door.

17:08So like kind of bring in some, some of that light. Don't block that light. Yeah. Glass, glass pocket doors are awesome. And the nice thing about a pocket, I know some builders will like kind of like raise their arms and have a tantrum. They're super hard and you have to double frame a wall, but you just don't take up real estate with the door swing. And if it's open all the time, people can peek back there. Cause it's always fun to see those transition spots and to see like what is beyond the door. Um, so still be able to close it off, which cause you don't want it just to, yeah. Yeah. Um, I know this is just a cell phone image.

17:36It's on the screen right now but look how bright this kitchen is this is also isn't a white kitchen this is a dark green kitchen yeah but there's a lot of shared light that's coming in from the keeping room and from the pantry because you did the glass door and then also from the room that's not in here which is that kitchen table area it just feels so good it's so bright it's amazing that that other kitchen has the windows right in that space. Yeah, this really is a story of shared light. It feels lighter and brighter than the other kitchen, even though technically has windows. One thing, again, you think that this island is long.

18:13This was before the butcher block portion was added in. So it's about to get even better. Here's, you can kind of see that butcher block that just extended that even more. Still have like at least a four foot pathway right there. But really funny, you can kind of see back to the pantry and just how the space was filled in in these next images and I just think it turned out so so beautiful this is kind of looking in from the keeping room yeah it's just and again I like that you pointed out that it was dark dark green just because like the client was fun they were young and they were willing to take a risk and this was you know this was back in 21 2021 and so again in this kind of sea of gray still back there we were trying to introduce color love love I love these were just like snaps from my cell phone but you can really see that pocket door is just so dreamy and that reeded front detail on the front of that island anyway it's just such a crazy like dramatic transformation there's so many classic elements about that kitchen with you know the brass corbels holding up the the marble shelves those ralph loren pendants in all brass picture lights it really feels so so good you know there's a lot of classical details in it and the dark green also just feels like such a classic and I know they've said in like restaurant design that you want to use like green because it feels living and produce and fresh and everything looks good in it right and reds I think are also great for restaurant design they always say no blues it doesn't make the food look appetizing so this is like such a money shot and a great idea if you are considering a color kitchen i think green is probably going to be top of the list don't you think it's the color that we use the very most when you get into pantries and for kitchens just because it does pair so well with whatever you put with it right always yeah and it just feels classic and it still feels young like it still feels really fresh like that's a piece that her sister painted and like anyway there's little personal touches that like she had one to us to incorporate stuff suz i heard you got coziers a new luxury blanket and i want you to tell us about it I did.

20:18It's my very favorite new toy. It's the bubble cuddle blanket from Cozy Earth. And it's this faux fur that is the softest blanket I've ever experienced. All my family, we all go downstairs and we watch movies together almost every night in the summer. And we all fight over our blanket. And I think I won. I have the bubble cuddle and it is so soft and furry. And I just, I love it so much. Cozy Earth also has amazing bamboo sheets that come with a 100 night sleep trial. So try them out. If you don't love them, return them hassle-free. There's also a 10-year warranty because once you feel this level of comfort, you'll want it to last a decade.

20:55So head to CozyEarth.com and use our code DEARALICE for up to 40 % off. That's CozyEarth.com, code DEARALICE. And if you get a post-purchase survey, make sure to let them know you heard about Cozy Earth right here because your bed should be more than a place to sleep. It should be your happy place.

21:16Cozy where are you laying stuff out there was or and and preparing at the same time it's like there's there's and having five kids yeah right yeah so and like even in this like it's not like it's a clean countertop like it's in the middle of an install and kids and like there's a lot of a lot of stuff happening there but it's still looks beautiful just because like it's just it's well allocated beautiful yes and when you do have a closed off pantry you can do a fun tile on the floor i don't know peekaboo on that guys and then the keeping room the keeping room like in the actual plan development was probably one of my favorites just because it was just a created space that like she didn't ask for she wanted a bigger kitchen but it's just a space that I knew and like we both know like the power of a keeping room and just like when someone's cooking like if you're you're pregnant or you just need to sit and like not have a game on you just want to have a conversation this is where you go if it was just like her and her husband that like in the morning that's where I would eat my breakfast is right there with that pull-up table and with the big windows and with the live tree just canopying over me and just like that's my thoughts if this is the holidays this is where grandma's gonna sit and the nursing mother on the sofa and somebody doing a puzzle at the table and so this is their own little social thing but but they're feeling connected to their sister who's hosting thanksgiving and she's in the kitchen cooking and there's just all these cute conversation circles going on and or if grandma wants to talk about a story everybody leans in and listens and i don't know you just feel um you my mom just has a little love seat within her kitchen and everybody fights over it there's always there's always somebody that's there or there's like a toddler napping on the sofa he got tired and just fell asleep it makes the kitchen so accommodating and comfortable and more people can be with the host and you're probably getting a sample of whatever the like the chef is cooking like i'm just like come try this more salt doesn't need more sugar what does it need and i'm like this is this is the hot spot y 'all totally so and then this is like just a process picture we're still in the works with like the gallery so we're just trying out some pieces but just so you could kind of see just like they wanted you know something that would be really cozy for her husband and so he did this like really kind of rough floriny wing back and then anyway kept things like relatively light since we were living in such a heavy time but still the opportunity to add color like forever and always is there which is really exciting so beautiful so and then this is a little before and after of this like bar they had like this actual um like wine room beyond this there was like a little art door so anyway that's where we put our soda fountains back there and then we created a whole service window above this like counter that where that window's at so that they can just like slide that open and have the ice creams and all and the sodas out to the kids which is really really cute and then after we use the same floor tile here that we used in the pantry so just seeing some of those like repeat bits are so beautiful went a little bit more dramatic on our stone in here because it's a soda bar and we're going to put a picture of it i didn't put in the slide but um they wanted a neon and they're really really fun and so we're like what should the neon sign say and um it was pour some sugar on me no no no no no no let me some sugar oh gosh She put that right.

24:25Anyway, from, you know, Heya. Yeah. That's awesome. So good. So good. Okay. Love it. So good. So that was the kitchen. The kitchen transformation. We're just going to show you two more spaces in this home, even though there's a whole home. You'll have to check it out on the portfolio. It's called Lover's Lane. But we want to go into his office and her office, which they call the command center. Yes. Okay. so in the six-year shot you can kind of see there's like this like very very um caesar's palace deck right here happening for those arcs then no but you're in dallas like so you have a very short time where it's not like hot and sticky this wasn't really being used so this show is the before of that that deck area and he had the great idea he's like i wish it was just a little bit bigger and so we're like why don't we still that and actually just like create a windowed box within your office so you get all that light but you expand your footprint and so this was it before again kind of kind of pinched again um and this was just like again studies of just like how we wanted to like expand that that's where we put the sofa right there in the window and then put his desk just so that he could have built-ins on his left and the view out of his right this is some process pictures showing just that windowed wall now getting framed out the deck is all enclosed and just some of the finished work and rhythms that we were playing with with the windows and how that integrated with the built-ins and then this is the after it's just it's such a crazy before enough let's do that one more time before after I mean I mean it is Yoda I'm so glad that you noticed that they were they were like pulling out art and it wasn't framed and he's just like this is something that I just got and I was just like that's dope anyway so we got it framed and highlighted it and he loves new york and the city and anyway he loves tag graffiti and anyway so we have a lot of like little like winks at at the homeowner throughout this office and throughout the home but just really interesting i think not only it's the like shell of the room like i think so lovely and warm and timeless and cool um it feels really young but it also feels stately and collected and just something of like old books um but just all all the pieces have like i don't know a character name to them like even that sofa i remember like the design team they had like a bunch of orange like more rusts and i'm just like oh no he's so much more fun than that you know like go more like we need neon orange like as neon as we can like afford to go right so anyway not one chair is the same but it's a really interesting collection of people in here so cool so good so good okay now so that's his office now we're gonna go to her command center again you have this like i think a lot of people have formal dining rooms formal living rooms spaces that are like i guess nice to have but if it's not the way you live and you need something else like rip it out um so in this living room there was a fireplace and as we like did a bunch of different planning we're like really what we need in here is storage and like she just had a lot of requests where she's like i want two kids i want to be able to like store all my stuff i want to be have filing in here i want to have like any tools like for crafts for projects for anything in this command center um i need a spot for like two kids to be working including myself and i need storage and i need a chaise she's like i really want a chaise or a space for like me to just do my own thing and so we're like hey well fireplace has got to go and so she actually is we were doing like the planning of everything she was like when cruella came out with emma or emma um stalin thank you right anyway cruella came out and i don't know if you guys remember in like their office of the baroness anyway they had like all these arced windows and the client screenshotted this and she's like i love this door and so we see it here we see it here just some of this like old british like iron work and so we're just like that would be she's like i think i want to do a door into my office like that so we did create and because we had some of these things happening on the exterior we brought this on the inside too which i thought was a really really successful little venture here and then this this is kind of after when you like look in there so you can kind of see I love um all of the arcs you guys brought in off of those doors the peninsula has that rounded edge that big pedestal underneath it the art even makes a circle the big chandelier you're feeling all these rounds within the square and it's probably my favorite room in the house when you're just in the common area and you look over and you look in there you're like what is happening in there it is just so fantastically designed it's smart you can tell that it works but it's so beautiful and really unexpected yeah I haven't seen anything like this before and the color combination too so good for you to see even that chandelier was probably my favorite light in the whole house yeah okay so this is how it turned out do you see that marble do you see that pedestal base again you see it on our table over here as well but one thing again that fifth wall the ceiling i think was such a big win in here can you imagine if that ceiling was white like yeah or a fill i can't imagine because it's what everybody does and when you set the ceiling off like that in black all of a sudden that light fixture becomes four times more impactful that little pinstripe pulling that down onto the crown is just such chic tailoring yeah it's so good and unexpected yeah so yeah she yeah that's what maybe is like one of her favorite colors this yeah this chandelier it feels like a halo it's giant i want to say it's like 48 inches round like it's huge um but the drama of that scale is so impactful when you go in here and you do feel it at night yeah holy cow it's so dreamy when that thing's dimmed on oh it's so pretty i'm gonna say this about those doors i love those doors and i think that's a testament to like building building the right team around you because you need to be able to have some flexibility and leave some leave some space for magic to happen because when you're in the middle of a remodel that's all you're going to think about your mind's going to be obsessed with it and then that's when I that's when you're like eyes gonna catch things and be like oh this would be cool to do here this is you know and then that's where the magic can happen and if you like give that to your team and they're rigid they're wrong team yeah it's the wrong team yeah so yeah you should not feel uncomfortable to speak up if you're having an idea or something that's inspiring you because I think you know like through everybody's filters we can like turn that into something great that's why I just that's why you work in teams too because someone will have this idea but then someone's gonna have this idea and then this idea and then this idea and then just like combustion happens and like miracles miracles happen y 'all so true it's so good because this this is like heavenly like who wouldn't want like if you had to like pay bills like yeah serious you have to pay for the remodel this is exactly where i'd be writing my checks right here right here that's awesome okay okay all right so that concludes his and hers spaces okay now we're going to go to my favorite space, which actually existed.

31:34Like this wasn't a reallocation of space. It was sitting there. So it was just like the low hanging fruit. This is the power of just like, this is the room that you already have. That's just like, not that great. That could be great. Right. We always say that even like when we're like DM stuff all the time, we'll see something and we're like, well, she forwarded me something last night and you're like, it could have been great. I'm like, I know that's the saddest thing. It's just like, oh, if you just like take it to that next level, if you just get a little bit, it's okay. If you're nervous if you just like go for it like those are the spaces you're going to want to stay in I was thinking about that they're like what is your favorite space in this house and I was thinking about like what were the spaces that you just wanted to like sit and keep talking that I couldn't get myself out of I just wanted to stay and it was it was his office like both the offices but you know I love saturation it was his office and it was this next space it's called the powder room guys I love a powder room but I spit like of all the powder rooms that like Alice Lane has ever done this is my this is one of my powder this is my favorite I agree I think it's a space too um I'm gonna go back to the floor plan just really quick so you can kind of like orient yourself I also want to say shouldn't admit these things on air but I also want to say her office is my favorite in the history of Alice Lane of all of the women we've worked with.

32:53Yeah. It's just, yeah, it's on another level. It really is. It's so chic. It is, but it's also so smart, you know, the amount of storage and, and everything in there, you could tell that she had a big, a big list of things we had to accomplish. And like Corey was saying, oftentimes when there's constraints can come great creativity around it. And the way that the problems were solved is so good and so striking and it's a space that you just want to be in yeah and you know anything could happen they could pull anything out of those cupboards you could have kids doing homework in tandem she could be on a chaise making sure they're really doing it you know but but working on something else it's just it feels like a space where creativity can can bloom yeah yeah and homework wouldn't feel so sad and drab it's magic it's magic i just want to remind you this i'm going back to the floor plan this is that powder room so you walk in and it's kind of you know you have the toilet over to the right and so we looked at that and we tried to like re-spend it a few different ways but we actually we did actually occupy a little bit this closet right here ended up becoming like a hidden little closet okay so the powder is my favorite room in the whole house that's a really that was a really hard drum roll that i come to because the whole house is amazing but these are just some like the study sketches um because it is kind of like this like little l-shaped space and so how do we expand it before like they just had like this kind of rinky pedestal but you had like all this opportunity and the square footage to really like do something with so we did a floating vanity that could just like stretch from wall to wall we had a great window in here um we had room for an edit like a really like lovely like 100 % brass ediger not even ediger it was just like like a cabinet yeah a brass front brass cabinet like that's been And we saw it at market.

34:39Like every time I'm like, someday. Someday I'm going to use that cabinet. And I got to use it in this powder room. Anyway, we nested this great little ottoman there. And I'm really excited that we did this because we redid all the flooring. And just with little turns of your hardwood and just kind of giving people direction on how to use the space and how to go and where to find it. Just like all the wood planks. And it wrapped around the sketches. And these are the details I feel like people would phone in. Yeah. You know what I mean? Just run it straight. Just run it throughout. They wouldn't even tell them what direction to run it.

35:09Just come off the hallway. That's hardwood. This room's hardwood. But if you really get into the details of design, you can get a payoff like this where the hardwood floor actually kind of tells a story and meanders through the space. And the payback is just so tremendous. One of the many genius things like you've done, you did in that powder bath. That's, it really is just putting that on a miter and 45ing it. That's yeah. It's super smart. Yeah. And it miters through the hallway too. So like, it's just like you kind of follow that miter through into the space. And this was, this was the powder.

35:42If he had clients come in, you know, or anybody, this is the powder that they use. So he's like, I want this to be awesome. I need it. Like, I want it to be impressive. Like I want it to be great for me, but great for like the experience for other people, which, oh gosh, music to my ears. so I just love this and we put it okay now okay let's go let's go the afters this is the powder you've probably seen us like flash this up on on our website before and on our social but I just love this we used a portertelio um wallpaper but we customized the color a little bit because they have like stock colors that are beautiful but you see them and so we're like let's just like turn the dial up and like just make it a little bit more rich a little bit more interesting and it just reminds me of just like deep sea like help I don't know It's just like there's something that's so mysterious about it that you just and you're completely drenched.

36:29Like the ceiling is that color, that trim. We have this like rad proof of Mick Jagger with royalty happening over the toilet, which is so cool. It's a Slim Aaron's proof with his handwriting on the slides. And there's just something kind of raw about just the handwriting and the looseness of it. And then the Portotelio hand-painted wallpaper is a study in Japanese pottery. when they break pottery they fill the cracks with gold so it's sort of a take on that um that's why you see this sort of gold leaf running through irregularly um that feels like cracks it's just so artful it's smart it's sophisticated it's interesting you're i mean if i was if i was a client going to that bathroom i'd be like where do i sign sold this is yeah this guy is is in the details and we i mean at the end of the day like it was me the other designer and the client we we all hung out in the powder at the end of the day.

37:24So maybe that's why I'm just like, that was a really great conversation on a really like tired, exhausting, gratifying, glorious day. Yeah. Because the end of the day we ended in the powder. And that is why I just love this room. Probably everybody gets to feel that way about their remodel at the end. They're tired, but it's glorious and gratifying. And you're so happy for your client. You're like, remodels are exhausting. This was a two-year remodel. And so just like some of them can go quicker, but a lot of them drag out longer because you just find surprises things don't happen it was in the middle of like the covid you know and so just like there are a lot of things that were being thrown at the client and in the middle of trying to raise a family with just the hope that like fingers crossed it turns out awesome you know because it's a lot of money and i actually talked to the client not that long ago and i asked her i'm like is there anything that you wish you did differently and and she's like no she's like it worked awesome she's like there's this one swivel chair that blocks a little bit of a cabinet but that's my kid's fault it's not your fault but anyway but just like to be able to say that like years later years later yeah that works like the way you needed it to and like surpasses any of those expectations is like i think just the it's the cherry for a job man like it's it's so good i bet the reason that is is because they just went for it you know had they phones had they phone stuffed in they would have been like i I wouldn't, I wouldn't know what it's like, you know, to have that if I just didn't go for it.

38:54And I'll also say besides being trusting, they were in it because she's sending you pictures from movies. They both were in it. Yeah. And so I think that sort of that trifecta of you're in it, you're trusting, you're sending ideas because you're in it and you're feeling them too. It's kind of like, like you're riding a wave, right? Like you're surfing. And if everybody's feeling it together, then you can make decisions or text each other, we're staying here and this is inspiring. And, and, and it's this energetic ball that's like sort of volleying through the air and everybody's kind of hitting it around.

39:25And, and like Corey said, they left space for magic to happen. And I just think this has been one of the most lovely remodels. I think, um, if you guys are in the middle of a project, hopefully this has been helpful. Um, we can continue this remodel master class, maybe one a month, just to sort of share some of the problem solving and some of the solutions that you come up with the constraints of a remodel. So this is the great work of ALID. That's our Alice Lane Interior Design Service. And they actually just are in the middle of a bunch of installs, which means we're opening the back door. If you guys have a full remodel that you want to do or a new build, we can take your project in the back door because you guys are listeners and we would love to help you.

40:13So if you're interested in that kind of work, that's a different design service. Corey, same thing, the tab on the website, will you tell them how to find ALID? Yeah, go to alicelanehome.com and then design services tab and then it's Alice Lane Interior Design. There's a form there. Fill that out and we'll get back to you. Yeah, that's great. Guys, thanks so much for tuning in. we are if you don't mind leave us review that helps our show grow and leave us a comment we love to hear from you or if there's an episode that you guys want us to talk about a topic you can always send that to dearalice at alicelanehome.com and we'll catch you guys next time

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From the publisher

In this episode of Dear Alice, we take you inside our Lover’s Lane Remodel Masterclass, where we explore how to create a timeless home makeover that balances beauty, comfort, and style. Whether you're planning a full remodel or refreshing a single room, you'll learn expert interior design tips, layout advice, and styling ideas to elevate your space. Join us as we explore the principles of timeless design and share insider insights from the Lover’s Lane project — a showcase of soft curves, curated details, and enduring style.

Check out our Lover's Lane Home Tour: https://youtu.be/HJ21cFyGLoE
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