Top Interior Design Myths Debunked

0:00Whenever we're doing episodes that's like commenting on stuff that, you know, others are talking about is always the most fun to me because we get to get a little bit juicy. We say this a lot that designers and artists houses are like the most like fun for us to like really dissect because it's such a curated collection. Those, those are the houses that are the most interesting.

0:20Alice:But I think anybody can live beautifully. You don't have to be wealthy. Hello, everyone. Welcome to Dear Alice. today we've got a fun one for you but first I wanted to remind you that the modern heirlooms collection is currently out and available so head over to alicelanehome.com and grab your heirloom piece before you're gone. We're going to be diving into some of the biggest myths in our industry as interior designers and the last myth is something that we have been asked a million times and you do not want to miss out on that one. Yeah. So this episode is called debunking design myths. I'm curious to know, have either of you ever had a design myth that you've had to deal with recently?

1:05Alice:Does anything stand out to you guys? Myth? I don't know if it's myth as much as people always say, oh, I don't know if I could pull that off. I think that's a myth. I'm going to clarify. I do too. Define that as a myth. Yeah. Because people don't give themselves enough credit we say that like sometimes you you do kind of need a designer or someone a best friend or someone to help like show you like how cool people are what your experiences are like how you dress or you know just all those things I think people don't give themselves enough credit and you can pull off a lot more than you're giving yourselves credit to or the confidence to because I'm like it's it's so fun when we I think a great designer I think a great designer will pull that out of you Yes.

1:46Alice:Like you've got to work with somebody that you really feel like you've seen their work and you trust that they're going to be able to get that out of you. It should still be your story. And there needs to be a real trust, right? And give you the confidence to do it. Give you the confidence to do it. Yeah. And I guess give you enough vision of the project that you can see it and that you can go, okay, I'm going to trust the process because I want to get there and that's how I want to live. I want my story told by you. Yep. You know? Exactly. And I think that is so empowering. So Sue, I think you're right.

2:17Alice:I don't think you can pull that. I don't think I can pull that off. What if you lived your life that way? I don't think I could pull that off. You would never be pulling anything off. I just feel like you feel smothered by your fears. But I think a majority of people are like that. I don't think that majority of people like, I don't know, take the risk, like buy the colorful thing or like paint the room the crazy color, you know, just because you're just like. Yeah. I think I don't know if it's exhaustion or lack of confidence or just. I don't know what it is or just like again enough people telling you how how much fun you are and that you deserve to live in that color I don't know well said whenever we're doing episodes that's like we're commenting on stuff that you know others are talking about is always the most fun to me because we get to get a little bit juicy you know so before we get into these myths I'm just going to say to everyone listening if you you know have any uh interior design myths that you want us to debunk, post them in the comments on our YouTube or Spotify.

3:12Uh, if you're watching there or send them into dear Alice at alicelainhome.com. So let's make this a series. Yeah, let's do it. So fun. Okay. Design myth. Number one, small rooms should only be painted white. Lies. Total lies. False. We should have sound effects.

3:35So whatever that game is, we need me that thing.

3:38Alice:I mean, those of you that are listening, we're going to show you some pictures of some small spaces we've done and what color and pattern especially can do for these small rooms. Sue, tell them what they're seeing. Those of them that can't see the screen right now, what are they seeing right now on their screen? Okay. This is our Desert Oaks project in Odessa and they had like this little pocket behind family room built-ins that they want to make like this like secret little interrogation hidden room. And we're like, we've got to do something really great. So we got this amazing wallpaper that has like this tangerine color that we then threw on the baseboard.

4:11And it is so much fun when you open up a relatively neutral built-in to go to a very small space that is like covered in personality. I'm like, that's where I would go to eat my dessert. Yeah, totally. Like a million times over, like with my best friend, with my sister, with my daughters. Yeah. I'm going to say small rooms should never be painted white. I mean, That's where I feel like you can do it.

4:32Alice:Picture the powder bath in your home being a white box with a white toilet with a white sink. Exactly. This is your pocket square moment to really go for it. Nobody spends a ton of time in these rooms. And so you're really going to want to express yourself and make it somewhere that you want to discover. Imagine that hidden closet room going in there and it just being white. It would feel like that's where you should store your extra Christmas or Legos or something. Yeah. But here it's like a whole. and toilet paper. It's a whole hidden world now. No one's spilling any secrets in just a neutral room.

5:06You want to know what's not there yet. It's like this whole Etajere moment behind there to hold all of her little conversation starters. Love. That's so fantastic. Again, give yourself the opportunity. Give yourself credit to be that fun. Guarantee that's going to be one of their favorite spaces in their home. And it's the smallest space in the house. It is incredible. It has bright pink chairs and just a little poker table of a thing. Mahjong, whatever you want to do in there. I love it.

5:35Alice:Powder bass. Let's talk about it. We have a few powder bass here we're going to show you. First one being Tiger Oak. This is a space that has been beloved since 2018. Gucci Herons, guys. The Gucci Herons. The murals just wrapping around. We love a mural. Larger than life. We love a mural in a small space. We love it in a big space. But this just really was one of those surprising things, especially what if it was neutral especially seven years ago next time we're going to ai these neutral and put them like next to each other and after that would be amazing we absolutely should like and also here i want to say this stupid myth use the wild slab in the small space amen because that's when you can afford it that is when you can afford it exotic you go to the exotic style that's what you do that's what you're doing so that's what you're seeing here you're seeing a really cool almost zebrano yeah um marble paired with the gucci herons and the skirted sink and like all the tricks are done in a small space.

6:30I'm like, you can kind of stack heroes on top of heroes in a small space, which is so much fun. And again, there's no, like, what's the, like, what's the risk? Like if you do, or if you're nervous about doing something, you know, big, do it in a small space and like, see how that makes you feel. I guarantee you it'll be your favorite room in the house.

6:47Alice:And then you'll be ready to really go for it in the other rooms. There you go. Get started in your small spaces, really creating environments. And that will give you the courage to do more here are a couple other powder bathrooms we have our one from lovers lane who's that's like one of our very very favorites but again completely drenched in the sea kelp color and then again we have another gucci heron in green um from our capital heights project so again larger than life patterns like deeper than deep colorways um anything but neutral anything but neutral anything but neutral don't do white and don't go neutral don't and like take it on the ceiling wrap yourself in it like a blanket yes pantries pantries are small spaces and like seriously what would feel like timeout is now the party everyone loves this pantry this is from our manchester house and it's all green the tile's green we have william morris up top like again hero on hero on hero skirted like that skirted number who am i nancy myers it's so good sure are it's so good i hide in here and just reorganize the groceries on the shelves because Because the space is so great.

7:54Alice:I would just make drinks all day long. Me too. Put me in here. Yeah. You just really do feel like a historical moment. And if this were all white, I feel like I wouldn't want to hide in here and put away the groceries. I feel like a utility room. It would. A back of house. Yeah. I don't know. Bore film. But yeah, pantries are small. I'll say most closets are small. I know we do a lot of large, luxurious closets, but this is from our Manchester house. It's a good size closet, but it's not the biggest. and again it would have been really easy to go neutral but the fact that we took everything in this lacquered blue color like it was everybody's it's her favorite space in the whole house isn't that funny that the space i will say for most people they'll take risks and go colorful in their children's rooms because like oh they're kids or they'll do something fun in the basement no one's gonna judge them they'll do something fun in the basement because that's where the teenagers go and they all migrate to those spaces because they're just like gosh we just like we didn't say no we didn't like put up all the guards yeah seem to some just like the spaces that you're already considering doing like throw a color on them like they don't have to be neutral they shouldn't be neutral love that i think we debunked number one okay okay design myth number two everything must match yeah yep no definitely not yeah i think matching it is giving up the opportunity to tell your story, right?

9:18Alice:We can all buy the matching end tables. We can all buy the matching nightstands with the bed and the bench that matches at the foot of the bed and the dresser set. And then you know how the dresser has the mirror that goes over the top in the same oak finish or whatever. Such an easy decision. Those were the, I mean, that's what you did back in the old days. I think all of our parents dreamed of having a matching set when they were first married. That would be like the height of sophistication. And today, of course, we're debunking that myth and saying if you can really infuse the space with individual pieces that make harmony the symphony is going to be so much greater than everything playing the same note it's a curation it is a curation like a museum with like multiple artists and multiple you know mediums is so much more interesting than just one flat one and the story that you can tell like here right now if you happen to be watching this is um a home office for a gentleman in our um lover's lane project and we've got it's almost like a french club chair version of a love seat upholstered in this dark orange color his desk is covered in goat skin that's kind of this yellow tone he's got a triangular cocktail table loaded up with books and then a beautiful vintage chair covered in zebra and this space is such a rock star of a space and if everything was the same matching orange upholstery in this whole room it wouldn't be as magical as just seeing the one hot spot you know against that cool icy blue room.

10:45Alice:I just love how this space looks. It's really, really fashionable. The next house we have is a dining room. And one of the things we wanted to take away from this is, again, the old school thing that our parents would have loved was just they'd save up for that matching dining set, right? So that they could all entertain and the chairs match, the table matches the credenza behind or the china hutch. Today, we are not doing that. We're really avoiding it. So in this next image, you're going to see that we've got a dark stain grade table but we're using dining chairs and we intentionally chose this white color of paint and then we did this really beautiful persimmon colored leather on top in a green room and the contrast in the play and the and I feel like the rugs yeah and the credenza in this room is what was that credenza was it goat skin in the back I think it was like a little like brass lining on it yeah so smart and and I think the contrast between it feels like the red and the green and the blue and not having this whole set match just feels like a fashion house in the space so you don't have to match your dining tables to your dining table to your dining chairs how about that yep here's another great example of this this is house of harrington again um we've got a white lacquered dining table and then up to it we've got dark stained grade chairs upholstered in green leather with this really great welt surrounding those oval shapes and the welt ties is in the white table.

12:09Alice:Yeah. It's this sort of connecting piece and this black and white cool check rug underneath. But it just feels young and fresh where this dining room could feel really, really old, I feel like. And it was super boring before. Yeah. A lot of the table was existing, but we just kind of like gave it all like a fresh take and it's amazing. And even the Hermes scarves that are like lining. Yeah. The shades on it. Again, it's not like a repeated pattern, but it's I don't know it complements it's curates and I think along with this we say this a lot that designers and artists houses are like the most like fun for us to like yeah really dissect because it's such a curated collection like nothing really matches or feels like a formula because it's not it's been collected over time and over their story and life experiences and those those are the houses that are the most interesting I think also because they trust the process because they're always reaching in their own work to try and get that, that almost a harmony amongst unexpected players.

13:13Alice:So I think like this, this art in the, in the dining room, it's like a jungle scene with elephants and palms and reflective water. And I think some of those green notes hanging on top of the oxblood, you know, wall, it just kind of cooled it down, but made it feel exotic and gave permission to go for the chairs. And there are elements that quote unquote match, but they, They relate, I should say, but they don't match. So you can create a harmony within using artwork, using rugs, using accessories. But I think the big players not matching might be the formula that I continue to see in some of these.

13:50So if you're looking for a formula, it might just be that. Yeah, I agree. Agreed. Okay, design myth number three. You need overhead lighting to brighten a room. Nah.

14:03Alice:Suzanne Hall's life is proof positive. Proof positive. Okay. Yeah. You guys, most homes, if you're living in a house, likely you have like cans happening overhead. Most clients we do, we try and like minimize the amount of cans that we have just because it becomes acne on the ceiling. It goes smaller. But you're only turning those on for cleaning. If you like have to clean these like massive houses, right? But you don't have to. You don't have to have all those lights on. you rarely are going to use them or people are going to accidentally turn them on it's going to ruin your vibe 100 so you're going to like you might have like one overhead light that you're going to have on a dimmer and but most of the time you're going to put on lamps because that's more romantic like just like it's your vibe right and so in the house that we we buy i noticed when i was going through i was like 1971 cowboys you didn't give a damn you just like you completely avoided any not even one central over the head like there's no cans no over the head and i love it i for when we first moved in i'm like oh should i put in track what am i gonna do here and then as i've lived in it i've actually really really loved just having the dimness don't dust my corners they'll be fine but like i don't know i'm like i just wanted i want to debunk that because I do think architects and I think lighting engineers, they put so many.

15:24They put those cans, I swear, every four feet. Yeah. And it's too close and they're too big. And it just, again, it ruins your vibe. So, out Adam. Okay, the design myth number four. Stick to neutrals. They're always safe. Yeah, I mean, they're always, yeah. There's a place for neutrals, of course. Like in most public spaces, we go towards something that's more neutral, but we have to add interest. We have to have interest. Like obviously we're going to probably in these other spaces, your powder room, your dining room, your, you know, these individual offices, we're going to like try and like do something that you really feel.

15:58But when you're in a public space with neutrals, you're going to have to do more work with your art, with your window treatments, with your furniture and your rugs. So don't think that like you push the easy button because actually you have to do a lot more work in a neutral space to make it interesting. And I'm going to say just because it's, I think people like the relaxation of neutrals, but I think with that, it just looks so stale and boring. And I think we've moved on from that. It's not 2015 anymore. Like we're past that.

16:33Alice:Definitely. These spaces that we're looking at right now on the screen, this is a Washington, D.C. office or library for him. Actually, they both use this space. And it's lacquered this really great red tone. It's almost like a cross between. It's like a cranberry almost. It's really got a lot of depth in it. And a marble mantle, this fractured looking mirror, and a needlepoint little pillow. Lucite just glows in this space. It has been a rock star of a thing. One of our favorite projects, I think, to date. And a client just really willing to go for it. again in the beginning of their project they went a little bit more neutral didn't take as many risks and then once they saw the space they kept getting more and more daring so you might find that in your project or in your own home that as you've taken a risk and you're like oh that actually feels really good I feel my personal style I feel like an individual in my house then the next space you're going to just like crank up the volume a little bit more because you felt that as you come and you can feel we can feel that as we look through the portfolio images from her from where her journey started to where her journey ended and this was where it ended in this room and we just love that we won the trust to be able to really go for it and if this room were painted neutral it wouldn't be as interesting or jaw-dropping as it is in this it's a scene you know it's almost theatrical and it's so great it feels timeless because it's all in it's super intentional i think intention creates timelessness i really do i love that and rachel parcels library i think again this is probably we did this in 2000 gosh when was this 16 17 yeah anyway when like these saturated colors were starting to like hit the pocket and i think it's just it's been a fan favorite ever since again it's a full color drench in this peacock inky color and again it's off of some like relatively neutral spaces for the public area but like people against moth to a flame man like you just look into there yeah and there is this like sense of history with this depth than like that history i think that historic nature does make it feel timeless you know so like this whole idea of neutrals being the only safe way to go is like it's absolutely wrong oh my gosh what are we looking at now jessica bennett well this is not professional photography but um this is my living room that i just recently painted you guys remember that episode.

19:01Alice:This was a neutral space with sort of a bronze grass cloth, white casings, white mantle, white trim. And I just decided this year that I was sick of myself. And we went ahead and lacquered the entire room, high gloss, the grass cloth, along with casings, along with the wood windows, which I felt was so crazy, base, case, everything. And I feel like I've been reborn just getting to live in color. It makes my day to walk in the front door and to look left and go, oh my gosh, wow that is so exciting and fun and a mood and you want to invite people in to sit down and hang out because it's just it's fun to be in it was beautiful before um as a neutral but now it just feels like I'm like I'm living you know so yeah I I think um since we're on that topic of neutrals to color this has been transformative and the ceiling in this space is um this high gloss peach tone which has been really fun to sort of color block with some of the furniture and I've played with different pillows and I really feel like I have a crush in my house.

20:01Alice:It's been so fun. I feel like I'm alive again. Oh, I love that so much. Yeah. And Sue, in your little, um, in your little bath. Yeah. I mean, you're not living in a white bath to make this feel bigger. No, I'm not. And like the neutral and actually the bedroom that it's off of is neutral. It's reticence that we did in Tiger Oak Century. It's like a tissue pink, which I'm like, oh, I'll just do that for me. I've done color for all the other bedrooms. I'm so bored by my bedroom, especially when I get to like look into here and feel that green. Like I just can't wait to go in there in the morning because I love the way I feel in that space.

20:37It's so much more interesting. Suze, before we started recording, you were telling me about your bubble cuddle blanket from Cozy Earth. Let's tell the people about it. Okay. I want to shout it from the rooftops. I love this thing so much. The bubble cuddle blanket is the best faux fur blanket out there. I know because my family all has versions of all the other ones and they look like flat tires, but the bubble cuddle has a structured grid that's quilted on the front and the back. And it is so soft and it like, I don't mind having it out on my sofa with all my other beautiful curated things because it's that lovely.

21:08And I say it is cozier than all the others. So I love, I love, love, love my bubble cuddle. So if you want to get a bubble cuddle blanket or any of the amazing products that Cozy Earth offers. Head to CozyEarth.com and use our code Dear Alice for up to 20 % off. That's CozyEarth.com, code Dear Alice. And if you get a post-purchase survey, make sure to let them know what you heard about Cozy Earth right here. Because home isn't just where you live, it's how you feel. Let's go home with Cozy Earth. Okay, design myth number five. Mirrors only belong in bathrooms or entryways.

21:44Alice:Gross. Lies. Yeah, we love a mirror. This is, I mean, well, on screen right now, those of you that aren't watching. Mic drop. This, yeah, this is the ultimate mirror trick. This is Tan France's closet we did in his last home. He had an attic space that he wanted us to transform into a closet. So, I mean, you can see all of the angles and pitches and things that we needed to overcome. And mirrors absolutely doubled the size of this space, not physically, but visually. And it's like a magic trick walking up here. And it feels like a tented ceiling because we wrapped stripes around every single pitch and eve up here.

22:25Alice:And reflecting back in itself is just like the most magical green stripe tented room in all the land. I mean, just even coming in at the ground level and then stretching up to the second story. The whole journey is so fantastic because we used mirrors and because we used stripes. And also we only had just a tiny little window at each end of this thing. The window is probably like 14 inches wide. So it's bouncing daylight around in here for us also. So talk about smoke and mirrors in this room. That was absolutely transformative. We also love a mirror above a mantle. You can see this on your screen.

23:00Alice:This is also a feng shui practice that we don't necessarily practice that in our firm or know a ton about it but there's a rule that with the opening in your home like a fireplace so the energy can go out and so to balance the energy and bring it back in you put a mirror above the mantle so here we've got a mirror above the mantle we love a mirror above a mantle we probably do it 97 percent of the time yeah so i love this practice again it bounces the light around it reflects you can see the beautiful staircase reflected back in this mirror. Basically, it's a much less expensive window that you're putting in a room.

23:33Totally. That is the rule of mirrors. This is one of my favorite tricks that I've seen more often lately is the mirror above the nightstand next to the bed.

23:43Alice:Again, you're going to reflect light. You're going to reflect the room back in itself. These are antique mirrors in our Coastal Contemporary Project. And they're the full width of the nightstand. And then it also reflects that lamp back in itself. It fills up the entire wall with the headboard and the whole thing just feels so grand. Such a good trick to do a mirror above the nightstand. We love using our Phoenix mirrors above the nightstand, the clear Phoenix mirror. We've been doing that in a project. In fact, I was just meeting with a team because we're getting ready to transform the floor into holiday and they were going to use the Phoenix mirrors in six different vignettes.

24:22Alice:And I was like, you guys, I know it's the best trick in the whole world. Like two above a nightstand, the small ones, they've got a big and little presentation going vertically above another place. We've got two above French chess. They are so amazing. So if you haven't checked out the Phoenix mirror, that's a really great designer trick for above the nightstand. It's ready to go and ready to ship. And you don't have to do any measuring or get glass cut or anything like that. So anyway, that's the primary bedroom in the Coastal Contemporary. And then in the living room, we had a screen made out of mirror, folded back on itself, reflecting the room and just creating a little bit of magic in the corner, which I think is such a good trick.

25:00Alice:So good. Yeah. You guys, you can use mirrors in so many places. Yeah. The next myth is follow trends to stay current. I think so. Well, follow trends to stay current. Do you want to fight? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. You go. I think. Don't get me wrong. I actually love a trend and I'll participate in it, but I will do it the way that I like it. Yes. The problem I think with investing big into a trend is that at some point it will go by and you will still be stuck with what you have there. And we've all experienced that long. We've lived long enough. You guys have lived long enough. You've seen that happen.

25:42Alice:But I do think that there is something about what's happening in the zeitgeist, in the atmosphere, on the runway, where we are tuning in. All of us love design. That's why we're listening to this podcast right now and why we're sitting down to do it is because we love design and design holds hands with fashion and so many other elements, right? So it is fun to see what percolates up because there's evidence of history in so many of the trends. I know one of the things that's happening right now is I'm seeing women tie a scarf around their waist and make sort of a triangle shape. I did that in middle school and I'm like, I could never do it again.

26:19Alice:I can't do it this time, but I love seeing people do it. And I kind of want to see my daughters do it, which is so fun. But we all see these little bits bubbling up from our past and maybe we loved it or maybe it feels historical. like on the screen right now, we're showing you sort of some of the biggest runway trends that were happening. And you've got this very Chanel Jackie O look on one end of the spectrum. And on the other end, it almost feels streetwear with this great plaid, kind of almost like a fringed pained eyelash situation. Yes, it's so good. There's something for everyone on here, even, even like the Terry track suit, right in periwinkle.

26:57Alice:So what we're trying to show you is there's a big, huge spectrum for anybody to play in for your personal style. There's different colors that are popping up and bubbling up in different silhouettes. Maybe you're a belt person, maybe you're not, but it's fun that belts are back. So it's fun to see different color combinations, you know? I was going to say, to your point, I think you look at trends just to stay. It's like proof of life. I don't know. For me, when I look at trends or when I look at runway or by a Vogue at the airport, Like I'll usually be going through that on an airplane just because it's so fun for me or like see like, I don't know, clips on TikTok about different designers and how they're developing or what was the inspiration.

27:36I find that fascinating just as a creator and a designer. I'm just like, that's such like, that's so relative to home and the space that we create. And so I'm like, or if you, everyone occupies a space, everyone dresses themselves. Like we're not going to stay in one decade for a long time. You're going to be inspired and you're going to implement things that make sense for you. I'm like, I love this image because you do have such a broad range. I'm like, anybody can find like one little piece of one something on here to be like, I love that. And that's going to freshen up what you're currently doing.

28:09Because I'm like, you could say, I have a leopard skirt and I love the way that she paired that kind of crop jacket with that brown. And I want to try that, you know. And again, it's just like getting a new something in your wardrobe or getting a new piece in your house. And it just kind of like makes everything look new. It makes everything look new. It's just like one little thing and one fresh take on it. That's why I'm like, I think trends, if you look at it through your own personal lens and say, what is something that I can pull into my house that's going to make me feel alive? That's why we follow a trend.