Bonus Episode: Introducing our NEW Spring/Summer Catalog Items!

0:01Welcome to How to Decorate from Ballard Designs, a weekly podcast all about the trials and triumphs of decorating and redecorating your home. I'm Caroline. I'm on the marketing team. And I'm Taryn, and I'm a product designer. I'm Liz. I head up the creative team. We're your hosts. Join the expert team at Ballard Designs for tips, tricks, and tales from interior designers, stylists, and other talents in the design world. Plus, we'll answer your decorating dilemmas at the end of each episode. We love answering your questions, so don't forget to email us at podcast at ballardesigns.net. Now, on with the show.

0:34Okay, welcome back listeners. We have a special bonus episode for you today. I'm going to give you fair warning that we're going to be jumping all over the place because we're kind of just spitballing here. So tuck in. And we're getting lost in our own catalog here. Like we sat here quiet for a good minute, just like flipping through our own catalog. Yeah. Yeah. So this is very true. Yes. But basically we're going to talk all about our newest collection, our spring, summer 2026 collection had to think about the year for a second there um but we're gonna talk about all our new products the inspiration for the collection some things that are standing out to us and we're just gonna we're just gonna chit chat love it we're just gonna yap right yeah well and we've already introduced this slightly because we talked our trends that we were kind of like gravitating towards.

1:26True. So we've already said, you know, like, hey, we think we're going towards this. We're loving this. So I kind of made a list of all the things we had talked about. And we have talked about Carson. We've covered Carson. Yes. Yes. So we have Carson's launch, which is a big chunk of this beautiful season that we have. And then we talked a lot about kind of this again it's spring it's what we all need it's just this beautiful color palette of slightly earthy but beautiful pastels that really help your home feel fresh with the beautiful florals outside and bringing that outside in we've said that on repeat objects with patina lots of things with ruffles and embellishments and stripes being such a strong motif that of course is a classic and ballard has had stripes for years and will continue to have stripes um we talked a lot about um natural wovens we all know there's not you can't go to any store right now without running into woven lampshade rattan piece of furniture we continue to like love that natural material and the way the artisans are creating any objet i mean we have so many little quirky things ourselves that have come out.

2:45We have a little snail basket, you know. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Shelly. I forgot about the snail basket. It's so cute. So that was another one we talked about, just kind of that coastal chic thing that everybody is craving, especially this time of year. Everyone is ready to break out a winter, get themselves on some sort of beach and coast and see the ocean and regroup. So I think the catalog really, I mean, the season just really speaks to all those things, you know, and gives this really true life of like living things, if that makes sense. Yeah. It's truly living. Well, I love all the wovens.

3:27So first of all, we have like jumping back to Carson, too, we have that really incredible Westbury table. Yeah, like woven scallop table. The woven, yeah. Like the shapes they can leave. it is a great size it's what 30 or 36 inches yeah i don't have direct dimensions i'll look while you're meant to be a little like entry yeah it is so sweet it is so nice and like the the pedestal the kind of um dental scallop molding like a woven all around it is so great i don't even know what to call it it's so good um but they're a bed too oh my gosh again we have vena Veda. Veda. Veda. We got it, guys. Veda.

4:11I know. Things go through many naming processes here. But Veda is so pretty. Yes. If you guys are looking for like a wow moment for a room, this bed, it has this beautiful, subtle wave to it. And it has this little braided detail along the headboard. It really is a one-of-a-kind bed. Yeah. It's definitely sturdy. It's perfect to really bring that kind of natural material into a space you probably haven't before. And the scallop skirt on the bottom is so cute because you could have easily just done the headboard, but the skirt makes it. The skirt makes it. Yeah. I mean, you don't have to buy any kind of bed skirt.

4:52It's like own built in. Can I tell y 'all how much I love having a like, well, I have an upholstered bed, right? But having the skirted or the upholstered rails, to me, I mean, the skirts are important, but they're always moving around. It drives me insane. They get dusty. And I just feel like having the full rails, or in this case, the woven rails, it just makes you look so much easier. Yeah. Anyway. They're really nice. If you can sacrifice the storage, then I highly recommend. But there's so much more. Okay, let's get back to woven because there's so much more woven. There's the Rhea bar cart that has the rattan and it has a beautiful curve to the top.

5:41The bar cabinet. Yeah. We know our product, guys. We're all over the place. No. I'm like, it's a bar. It's boozy. It's basically a new size of the Rhea sideboard. Yes. So it matches into that. But it's a really lovely height, too. Yeah. It is. It's good for actually, like, making drinks on. It's at the appropriate height for that. So, and that was intentional, too. We made sure to make it a little bit higher so that it is true bar in that sense of, like, you can make your cocktail on that surface. But I also love the way we've styled it. And here it's got this fabulous sort of Jacobean wallpaper with this new mirror that's kind of like a dressier Atoll mirror to me.

6:24it's sort of it's got these white scallop or um white floral sculptures and so it's sort of it has that vibe of etol but it's more feminine and more dressy um but all these pieces with that natural and they're all they most of those have all natural finish too so really lets that material sing and like you get to really appreciate it and it's a great thing to add into a room if you have too much wood and you're like, how am I breaking up all these wood objects in my room? It's a great next material. Goes great with metal, goes great with wood, goes great with plaster. If you're adding a little bit of that coastal or kind of tropical, not necessarily.

7:07It is definitely a whimsier material because it's so handmade. But I mean, the Routans. The Routans. So it's such a good way to bring in a little bit of artisan truly yeah um okay so there are so many good woven mirrors too oh no we went hard um we went hard okay can we and can we also talk about the henry console oh yeah that's pretty so this is a woven wrapped it's console it's a rope wrapped so they take rope okay and they literally we've created some shapes and they've covered it in rope so these balusters a double baluster base um little console so again getting we've talked a lot about texture we talk about texture all the time you can do a room just one tone all texture different textures and get that and it's another great piece this rope wrapping is a lot is again just another really cool thing you'll see out there finishes um that gives again that just more layering yeah i saw that in our store recently too and it was just wow it's really a wow moment on that console i almost y 'all there's so many good things that i had kind of forgotten about that console because there's so much there's so much i'm like oh yeah that one is good okay but going off of rope i feel like there are rope details too that are carved like in the ramona dining chair oh yes that one's pretty that that has this like really beautiful rope detail the tassel feet kills me oh my gosh right yeah the the did you do that rope yes i helped with that one the carved rope and then carson did metal rope very hollywood regency style so he did a lot of there's a lot of rope that tassel bar cart is everything that's like that's in my shopping cart Okay, you know what that looks like to me?

9:03What? It looks like the little, I think of like Aladdin. Oh, it totally looks like the magic carpet. You know the magic carpet has this little rope. Right. Feet. And there's so much personality in the tassels of the magic carpet. And this was based off an antique that Carson had found and brought to us. So he wasn't watching Aladdin. He may have been watching Aladdin. He didn't say that's what he was watching, but was he? obviously you know what what season of life i'm in when that's my point of reference when you're referencing disney movies yeah um but there's also the torino bookcase oh yeah oh yeah it's another carved okay you did your homework thank you i i flipped through i'm a little familiar with the catalog but um okay the torino bookcase that is another one that in the photography it looked great.

9:55We put it along a wall and we masked it out behind a dining room. Again, I saw it in person and was just blown away by the quality. Yeah. I mean, that's a really... It's a looker. It made me start to think, where do I need an extra bookcase? And I don't need an extra bookcase, but I maybe need an extra bookcase. The skinny bookcase would be so easy to put almost anywhere because it's a real small footprint you know and um we're not real small but it's a smaller footprint so you could put it in between two windows or right in a little corner or something or a hallway like yeah it it definitely can go a lot more places um but it's a lot it's a lot of look it's really beautiful tara let me ask you a question in something like the rope detail because I had kind of forgotten this as a theme, but it is in lots of different elements.

10:53Is that something that each of the different merchandising teams came to separately? Or was it something that you and Hillary and Will as a design team sort of thought, oh, this would be a great element to work into lots of pieces? Like, which side is it coming from, I guess? It's both. Like, the teams work together. I mean, we're both seeing a lot of the same things and going to a lot of the same show houses. and, you know, really as a team trying to talk about those themes and textures. My team kind of leads it off, but merchandising is very, you know, is very involved in that. And their, you know, their point of view, too, of like, does this work is really important because we can, of course, get kind of crazy as designers, you know.

11:35We can get real weird and they have to be like, no, that's too weird. But the rope detail is something, again, it's kind of that faux bois. it's that it's it's not real rope in some of those cases and one of the cases it's not you know that entry is true rope but again just another trick to get texture um truly into a space yeah um okay sorry i just flipped to this page right here and y 'all the victoria's secretary i oh i'm obsessed with this piece it's so smart i wish i had a place for it quite frankly but That one was based off of an antique. Our team was traveling and it was in somebody's hotel room.

12:17And it was, again, a bed and it was a small room. And it just had room for bed and two dressers. And then it had this secretary with the tabletop down and a nice little desk chair. desk and it had the top cabinet open with the television because there's a hotel room so it was all you know of course but it was this what a perfect solution for a smaller space somebody who might have less square footage this is great because you can get your tv you can hide it and it's a bit you can fit a pretty good tv in there yeah i can't yeah i think it says what size tv but and now you have storage for things because it's got tons of drawers you have a place to sit and actually put your laptop, charge it.

12:57It's just a great, especially if you have to dual your bedroom with like an office, this is a great way to do it because you're hiding all of that away, which is fantastic. Yeah, all the things that you don't want to see. The hutch that hides the television is so beautiful. Yeah. And you would never know that a TV is behind there. Yeah. And it looks like a true antique. Like the finish does too. It is a rubbed finish. Like an artist Yeah. Like you can tell like one person came and like did the first coat. There was a second coat. Somebody rubbed it down. Third coat. You know, it's beautiful. We have it shown in the living room.

13:33Yeah, I could definitely see it in a living room where maybe it's a little dressier and you want to be able to hide the television, but in a bedroom too. I feel like we all kind of have mixed feelings about a TV in a bedroom just because, you know, you want it. Yeah. Because you want to be able to watch TV in bed, but being able to tuck it away and hide it is certainly nice. Yeah. It's definitely a great job. I just think your team did an incredible job designing it to where it would be hard to convince someone that it's not an antique. You know, it's just that well done. Yeah, that's our wonderful sourcing team who works with our beautiful vendors.

14:15Don't give us credit. Even the little pool drawers and the fluting on the front. I mean, it's just really, really pretty. Fluting, again, another way of fluting. Yes. We're still hot for fluting. Stripes. All of these textures are so great and so subtle. I feel like we're always talking about ways to bring texture into your rooms to make them feel more finished and more complete and more designed. And more interesting. Yeah. Yeah. But without saying, hey, look at me, I'm interesting. Yeah. Yeah. Veneers are another great way we do that. Again, all the burl still being such a beautiful material.

14:51I know we did it on this new office collection. Yeah, the Maris office collection. Yeah. It's so pretty. Is stunning. It's got a nice, like, medium-level brown stain over the beautiful burl. So, again, it reads just really rich. Like, this is going to feel like it's going to feel that way, like, very elegant. And I love the little hidden pull-out. Yeah, it has little wing trays on either side of the. If you need more space. Such a pretty detail. It allows you to really have a desk, again, in a more petite space if you need. But then like if you end up overflowing, you can just pop out those two sides.

15:29I overflow. I overflow. I do. But it's also so beautiful. And like the burl feels kind of like rich and masculine. But the shape of the desk has these beautiful shaped, elegant legs that feel very feminine. It's just it's a really beautiful marriage of the of all of the different things. Yeah. Yeah. It could go in a man's office or. Yeah. Like you could go either way with it, really. And the console, too. Yeah. I mean, is really pretty because it really would work for media as well. Like it's got a great open shelf that you can put anything you need to access very easily. and then it's got tons of storage underneath.

16:12Or you can use it in an office to file away. But it's a great looking little piece for sure. So anyway, burl. We talked about fluting burl. Again, stripes. They're everywhere from melamine. Well, we kind of skipped over color a little bit. But to me, I am loving the little touches of lavender. Yeah. And I feel like we used a lot of... So we've been really focused on green for a while. Obviously, blue is kind of always there, but we've been doing a lot more green recently. But the green we've used in this season is like more yellowy, I would say. Yeah, it's a little bit more apple. Yeah. Like sour apple type of.

16:56I'm not usually a chartreuse person. I know that Taryn is, but I'm really digging it. I just, this room in particular to me is just so stunning with the purple and the green. And I. And look, we've got a pedestal with rope detail in the corner. We've got a what? Oh, a pedestal. A pedestal that has the rope. Yes. Carved. Yep. That's great too. But the purple just goes so well with the green. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And that purple ecat is just really fantastic. Yeah. um there's also a new bedding collection that has a chartreuse green colorway and i'm i've been oh it's been in my cart well it's been in my cart i have to actually you know pull the trigger but it's called violette and it's a real chartreuse but it's such a good shade i really like it yeah i know you are you are the queen of chartreuse that is very kind to say Yeah.

17:58Should I be like appreciating the fact that like a shade of almost acidic green is my color? But yes, I love it. Yeah. I love it. And I mean, even this front shot. Yes. Yeah. It's got, again, that very yellow toned green. Right. It is what when you take a walk in the spring outside and you're like, this is the color. This is the color that just like explodes. Not the pollen. But. I mean, it may be. Yeah. Yeah. Pollen does give that nice yellow glow to everything. Yeah. It could be us down here. Yeah. Right now I just feel like it's my porch or my car, but yeah. Yes, that's very true. But I also love this.

18:40Okay. Can we talk about the skirt on this bench? It is so precious. and I love the mix of the green with the Freya multi-fabric on the pillows and on the drapery panels. And a skirt hides so much too. Do you know how much you can put under them? That's a good call. That is a good call. As a person who's shoving stuff, I could definitely... You know what? But you'd never know that she's shoving anything in here. I mean, there could be... Keep all your dinnerware under there. Just pop it out. right you know what i just remembered is this new new rope wrapped uh light fixture with the tassel detail yeah that is called um regina and i think it's it is such a great size and i love the little she's got a good classic like her little right brass tassel is so cute yeah the brass tassel yeah natural weave over it it's a beautiful it's a good traditional shape but with a modern twist and i love that i love how exaggerated this the shape is um anyway it's really pretty so many good things for our homes indoors should we talk about outdoors okay wait um oh you got more no okay we're not ready we're not ready she just okay yeah keep going um our roman shade our new roman shades oh my golly i don't think i think we've like truly rolled that out as a PR thing.

20:18Well, we've got two right now. So we're kind of still in the... More is coming. Yes, more is coming. More is coming. This is a stocked Roman shade. There's a flat with a contrast border and there's a relaxed with a contrast border. Oh, a Patreon. Just kidding. 45. Thank you. Yeah. Just a great, simple... piece that kind of goes anywhere, you know? Yeah. And I really love how we're showing them with drapery panels too, to really just kind of layer in that extra bit of texture and privacy without needing to pull your drapery closed every night, like pulling a shade down. Yep. We talk about Roman shades all the time.

21:08They're so great. They're so great. And they look great you know what you need to do is you need to add a tassel to your drape free hardware uh we do we have some really fun stuff coming that's what hardware you guys are gonna lose it it'll be something in a good way like it looks so good just wait okay don't worry you'll be well gosh i'm gonna wait a year for it thanks a lot well maybe more how what are you designing What are you working on right now? What year? Are you working on fall 27? I'm working on Christmas 27. Merry Christmas. That's where I'm at. So, yes, outdoor. Okay. We have a new porch swing.

21:51And speaking of that kind of outdoor in lattice work has been so prominent. It's one of those kind of motifs we've been gravitating towards as well. The Berkshire porch swing, I have to own. It is a beautiful curve. It has the lattice. Yeah. It will look gorgeous on my white house with a little last work. It is so pretty. Where are you going to put it? On my side porch. On my side porch. My little covered porch. I want to sit there. The boys can ride their bikes up and down my driveway. I can sit there with my glass of wine, like this picture. Like where your back door is? Or the screened-in porch?

22:24Okay, yeah. My side door. Okay, yeah. Okay. It will fit there. I've measured. Okay, nice. That's amazing. That's a big side porch. And it also comes with the little side tray, the sidecar tray. Yes. Very important because we all like our wine. Or chips. We need a snacky. You got to have a snack and a beverage. So we didn't disappoint. Yeah, we weren't going to forget that. Okay. Can we talk about the Bedford collection, the Suzanne Kassler Bedford collection? It is so, so pretty. It has such a, it's a woven collection and it has a beautiful and subtle curve to it that is just really gorgeous. Really gorgeous.

23:12And that's, I mean, it's like if you love that wicker, like traditional wicker, this is definitely for you. And it's done in the Suzanne way. It feels clean and refined. Right. And it's not your 1980s with the big rolled arm of wicker. No. It's very clean lined for what it is. I do like the arm of it a lot. It's very elegant. But Biloxi is super fun for you guys listening, still listening and wondering. Again, more rope and woven. It has this big kind of open weave. It looks so good. It's a lot more modern feeling, but it scoops so nicely and sits so comfortably. It's shockingly comfortable. And you don't need a cushion.

23:54We did have it in the office for a while. Yeah. Sorry. Sorry. I know. Go ahead. And we try to sit on everything. Yeah. No, I just, we haven't mentioned it. It's cushionless. So I think when you see that it's cushionless, you might be concerned that it's not super comfortable. But it really is. And it has some give to it. So it's not, you know, like sitting on plastic. It has like a little give to the rope. so and the frame is teak so like you'll see in the shot it looks kind of like of course it's that natural golden color right now but like again next season it will be slightly gray and match like the weave it's going to be like again it's one of those i think it's going to be prettier as it like yes some too outside and the turn i mean i love the little turn top um it's a great and like the the turning on the um the arms it's just really pretty yeah okay there's also the Athena collection from Suzanne Kasler.

24:56And that is a console and a dining table. So it is a really beautiful resin. They're made of resin, right? The table. But it looks like stone. Is it resin or is it one of those volcanic ash things? Volcanic ash might be too light, don't you think? Or maybe it's volcanic ash and resin. What does the coffee say? I don't know. This is when we need Sarah Hall. This is the console. And it's so pretty. It's so classic. It's very traditional. But again, but she cleans up. Where are you going to find something like this? Oh, you're not. No. Like, unless you're like scouring some antique halls. I just think it's.

25:47Yeah. Well, we do that for you. But guys, this, I can't get over the outdoor rug collection this year. Oh, there are some great colors. There are tons of patterns, tons of color. Like, you can really make your outdoor space feel so personal and, like, really layer. Look, I mean, this little Kelly performance rug with the squiggle, come on. Come on. It's a cute, cute little squiggle. And it's got a pile to it. Like it is completely outdoor, but it's going to be super soft. I also want to talk about outdoor upholstery. Can we just like. Sure. Talk about this for a second. We now have two outdoor upholstered sofa collections.

26:30There you just passed it. The Santa Clara and the Somerset collections. They are fully upholstered sofas and chairs that have marine grade teak underneath. so they can be outside good for a covered porch but like talk about living outside with an indoor look i mean it's really fantastic it's it is nice all these products now there's just so much of that it can live outside it could live inside i mean even these outdoor rugs i speak of if you love the pattern like it doesn't mean they have to live outdoor right they're so nice you can bring them inside especially if there's a pile it'll look it won't look any different and yet you could take it outside and bleach it but i love it i don't know if that's what the copy says everyone be advised do what the internet says not me taryn's gonna bleach it but yeah um let's stay right oh outdoor guys i have we have these striped velamine plates yes they are just striped but they are so thick they have such a great weight i have the sample and their blue and white stripe are wait i love all my food on them every time we eat on them i'm telling you it looks amazing what i know it's like a little wait wait wait what page are you on i don't know it's i'm not on a page i'm just telling you oh here we go to stripes page 91 okay is it i was gonna say let me it's on biloxi i don't even know what the shot looks like okay it is something subtle but we did a layered plate with these little like um lily of the valley there's some plates that have lily of valley on them that kind of pair with them i don't have those yet but the striped plates in blue and white i'm telling you all summer long you'll be eating on them and you'll be like god my food looks good i don't know why i know we always say food looks best on white but there is something i mean i made like lemon chicken the other day and had some bright yellow lemons i was like god i just want to eat it was a weird phenomenon and it was just a striped plate.

28:37So if you are looking out of a way. Do you eat on them every day? On the melamine? A lot. A lot. We eat on melamine. Yeah. I think it's any time we eat on our back deck. We pull out the melamine and then having children, we use a lot of just, I don't have like the kid plates that have like dinosaurs. We just have pretty melamine that I want to see. Yeah. And that's a me household thing. And my boys are older. So like we could switch to plates, but I just love, we just have some really pretty melamine and they're so thick. Like it doesn't feel like you're cheaping out either. So I just love it.

29:10So I fully, I know it's like a silly thing again with all the other product that we're talking about and all the other beautiful, amazing things. But you did ask me on. So here I am. Oh, and striped mats. Have you seen the art with the striped mats? Like the picture? Oh, sorry. That took me a minute to cut the picture frames. Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes. Yeah, those are fun. Talk about again, a stripe just adding. like those the details the details in the matting just looks so fantastic we have a couple different um art pieces with the pattern mat and i do love yeah more how it it feels like it's just so fun yeah i'm trying to find another example yeah there's the there's the um it's like a floral with a green stripe um and i think there's one there's this like this guy yeah oh yeah yeah um oh and that bedding is striped with the floral yes oh i do that bedding but i don't remember the name it is called essie speaking of more is more essie is one of those we developed because we kept noticing again the trend of like pattern on pattern and like they're doing that within a fabric and so then we played with the whole what would it look like if we layered on like what are the two layers we could put together what would stripes look good with and then we're kind of into the again just these floral you know do we spread how spread out do we make it so you can really read stripes but a little bit more feminine so but there's also that um stripe drapery that is in that room too that has a little ruffle oh my gosh at the top oh those are the The flop over balance is very on trend.

30:54So, so sweet. Very on trend. You'll see it at a few different places. So I think the striped with that flop over, it gives a very relaxed, casual look. Again, that whole like, come, stay, like nothing is too precious. Yeah. And I think that's just what is so nice about it is it really reads like comfortable. There's a matching skirt, too. But like much more favorite. Like linen pants. That's the better. Something very comfortable, but still chic. It's a good travel set. It's a nice linen set. Yes, it does. Anyway, it is really pretty, too. And it complements it so well.

31:36Flop over balance. I've never heard that term, but I like it. Yeah, I haven't Googled it to see what comes up, but that's what it is. Okay, that's something you might not. Let's Google while you look up. I've talked about, I mean, everything in the book. So you guys flop over. No, I, you were all into the outdoor rugs. I've been loving these pillow collections because to me, outdoor pillows feel harder than indoor pillows. They are. I'm not entirely sure why because they shouldn't be. But I love the way we've shown them in groupings and you could kind of like pick two or three. Right. And change them out.

32:16Yeah. I love the large Greek key pillow. Oh, my gosh. I'm obsessed with that one. Those are so, so cool. But then I love... And a little tassel. Oh, they do have a tassel. A tassel fringe. I just think it's the fact that there's these perfect groupings. Like, you're like, I have blue and white stripe. I have the cornflower and white stripe. Yeah. And I truly was trying to pick which one I wanted to purchase because I love the green and blue gingham as well. Oh, my gosh. Gale. Gale is cute. Gale. Gale is so cute. Yeah. The green and blue gingham. And then there's another colorway that's just like a brown in tow that is so pretty that we put on a banquette.

32:55Yes. And it just, it looks so fresh. It's so fresh. But familiar. Yes. Yeah. Comfortable. Like maybe a linen set. No sweatpants. Sweatpants. Sorry, I went the wrong. I went way too wrong there. Sorry. The sweatpants and a pillow. I don't think anyone wants their living room to be described as sweatpants. Yeah. No, I was trying to think of what if you need to put something on your window that was sweatpants, what would it be? Okay. It would be those like vertical blinds. It would be the sweatpants of the window. It would be plastic blinds that you twist. Yes. Oh. That your dog hits once and it's like ripped.

33:37So there's like a few rips in them. That is a good pair of comfortable. Womp womp. Yeah. Yeah. Those are you who don't leave your house. Like those are, yeah, sweatpants. You only put them in rooms no one goes into. Okay, not. Saguar conversation we need to have is about sweatpants that look like jeans. We will discuss later. What? This is a thing. That's a thing? Sweatpants that look like jeans? And they look like jeans? Wait, do we like this or no? I don't know. Are we getting cat-ish by sweatpants now? I don't know, but there are sweatpants that really look like jeans. They're like printed with denim.