Ep. 423: An Intentional Home with Caitlin Creer

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.

0:34Fall is the perfect time to refresh and reorganize your space. At the Home Depot, find power tools and tool sets starting at$50 to help tackle DIY projects, home updates, and more. Whether you're drilling brackets to support new shelving or sharpening your hedge trimmer blade with an angle grinder, The Home Depot has the tools you need to check projects off your list. Shop Labor Day savings at The Home Depot and gear up for fall projects with the right tools to keep your projects moving. This week, we're delighted to welcome Utah-based designer Caitlin Crear to the show. Since 2009, she's been helping her clients remodel and build their dream homes with purpose and intention.

1:13She's just released her debut book, Unintentional Home, Creating Spaces for Living Beautifully. Caitlin, welcome to the show. Thank you so much. I'm so excited to chat with you today. you know i used to read your blog way back in the day um i know you still have a blog i'm just not you know following blogs as much as i used to i'm more of an instagram gal now but um yeah i remember you blogging from new york and here you are what 10 15 years later yeah 15 16 years later wow that's impressive i don't know if i should be embarrassed or flattered that you were following that you know what there was such an amazing blog community and it's so fun to see how so many of those people have really turned it into a fully fledged business with books and anyway it's very fun yeah lots of opportunities yes yes and of course okay you just released your debut book an intentional home creating spaces for living beautifully so that's what we're here to talk about.

2:19Congrats, by the way. Oh, thank you. It was such a fun and really personally fulfilling project to work on. It kind of, the book for me was kind of this nebulous thing. Like, of course, if you work in design and you have a, you know, kind of a collection of projects, it's kind of a fun thing that's out there on the horizon. And so when the opportunity came up, it felt, the whole process felt a little intimidating, but I'm really glad that I was able to find the time to kind of put the effort in and create the book. And it really actually, for me, sort of honed in on and solidified a lot of my design ethos and my mindset behind why we do and how we do what we do with our clients.

2:59And so it was great to work on and I think just really strengthened my vision for what I want to take in to that first meeting when we meet with the client. I imagine in your design projects, you're so attuned to like every single detail and it's a very detail-oriented job. But then And a book is a very like high level, almost you kind of have to have like a philosophical point of view. So it's definitely a different gear to be in. Do you tell them a different way? And luckily, I had an amazing editor and publisher at Jumel Press that like managed a lot of those details for me because that is, you know, I think the editing process and the writing process is very tedious, but they were able to kind of help make it seamless for me, which I'm so grateful for.

3:41And it was something that I think, you know, you think is a project based concept, right? Like a book is a project based concept. The work that we do with clients is project based. And so I kind of took the book on as like, okay, this is my project. And it has, you know, a different client and different needs and different criteria than my other projects. But like, how do I utilize the system and the skills and the logistics that we use on our design project and kind of infuse that into the book so that it feels, I think, you know, both familiar to what we do and also felt more approachable for me, I think, in just in terms of how to get through the project and get through the book step by step.

4:20Yeah, when you were writing, where did you start? I imagine that's the hardest part, just getting those first words on the page. Yeah, you know, it's interesting because I it's not unlike how we start with design with a design project. You know, I think for me, I had some general ideas of what direction I might want to take the book and the content. And it definitely morphed and evolved over over the process. And kind of I think things started to solidify and sort of take on a current together. But a lot of times when we begin with design projects, we begin with sort of this high level idea. Like, what's the vision?

4:53And, you know, looking at what are other design styles or what are other influences or inspiration that we like. We like the way that, you know, this home we saw in a magazine or this space we saw in a book was designed and taking kind of inspiration from that. And so we did look at that. I looked at other books that I liked and what did I like about them. And that was down from like the formatting to the cadence, to the vibe, to the style of just, if I'm going to make a book, what, you know, how do I want to set that up? And there's so many decisions like a design project. There are so many really tiny, minutiae-based decisions that you have to make when you're taking out a book.

5:30And so, you know, really kind of getting an overarching framework for the book was where we started. And then we just sort of honed in on that. I would say it was a big brainstorm process to begin with. And from day one, though, I really wanted to leave the reader and kind of leave the book with this overarching idea of make your home your own. And don't be afraid or hesitant or overwhelmed by figuring out what you like and putting the energy into creating something unique to you in your home. And there's a lot of ways that we do that with our clients organically, sort of things that are baked into our design processes that help us pull that out with the clients and figure out where to put it in the home.

6:14But I think in the day and age that we live, we're just bombarded with constant inspiration and influence. And there's a zillion images that flash across our screens and in front of us, you know, on a daily basis. And so there's so much stimulation and inspiration. And I think being able to separate out what really feels true to you and also just what's personal to you as well. It's interesting when you work with so many different people in my role as a designer and you meet, you know, sometimes people come in really confident in knowing what they want or the style that they like or what their tastes are or or in different ideas that they have for their home and sometimes people come in and they don't really know that they maybe don't have that sort of clarity or or strong opinions about that and so we get to kind of get on their level wherever they are as as the designer in that role and really i think work with them to distill that out of okay well you know maybe you don't have clarity on this but can we get clarity?

7:18Or what are things that you always come back to? Or what's something that's tried and true for you that you know that you like? Or what's something that's part of your life history or life story? And how can we use that as a building block for what we do with this project? And so I think that it's really fun to get to work with the client in that way and get to understand them and know them on that personal level so that then you can start to find ways to sort of reiterate and integrate those ideas and those stories and those preferences within the design project in big and small ways. And so the book really touches a lot on that, on how we do that, on where that applies, on how that matters.

7:59And it's something that can feel real intimidating. I think, again, back to all that inspiration that we have, it can be overwhelming. And so when you can kind of pull back and take a step back and pull out what's true for you, I think in the end, you end up with a home that you really love, that feels more signature, that feels more authentic. And that's really kind of the work that we try to do with our design projects. You talk a lot about the intention in the opening chapter and running with, I guess, a vision that your client has. And that was, you kind of alluded to this just now, but I wanted you to expand on it.

8:34I imagine it's even harder to do with someone who doesn't know what their vision is. So like, what are the, I guess, like prompts or questions you ask to try to get to like create the vision? You know, I imagine there's someone who's like, okay, I know I want to build a home, but like you could go anywhere with that, right? There's a level of deep reflection that goes in. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. How do you get that out of your client? So the first chapter is called reflect. Like that's the first chapter in the book. And I think reflection is such a huge part of it. I think knowing, you know, I say in the book, and I talk about this with my client, like, who you are, and where you come from, and also where you want to go, right?

9:13Because I think a home, it's all things, it's past, present, and future. And so we really love to look at that holistically to our clients and say, great, you know, what about the past? Like, what's something about the home that you grew up in that you loved? Or, you know, for me as a child, I really reflect on homes that I spent time in as a, as a, as a young child that left an impression on me. I think about my grandmother's home and she had a very specific way of decorating and like we didn't call it styling back, you know, they didn't call it styling back then, but she had a very specific way of styling things in her home and colors that she liked.

9:48And she really knew her own taste. And I think about friends' homes that I spent time in and how they left an impression on me. And I think we all have that, right? We've all lived a life. We've all been places. We've all traveled. We've all had had places, whether it's it could be a city that's inspiring. It could be a specific hotel you see that it could be a singular home you went to. It could be a book, you know, a book that you read as a child that had, you know, even nuances to the aesthetic that is something that stayed with you. it's different for each person but I think when we take the time to reflect there are things that sort of feel native and familiar and and things that we are drawn to personally and those are the things that we love to dig deep and find with our clients so that we can pull those out and say great you know we love that you took that trip to Morocco and that really inspired you and you want to lean on that to bring a color palette for your project or you know we love that you you know grew up going to Maine in the summer.

10:47And that's one of your, you know, most amazing childhood memories. And how can we incorporate that feeling of Maine and the vibe and, you know, what Maine represents to you? How can we incorporate the best parts of that into your home? Or just all those different things. And, you know, I think we talk about that in the design sense. Of course, that can apply to the way things look. It can apply to materials and colors and, you know, and an essence that we're trying to create in the space. But I think it also applies on a more macro level to the feeling that you want to create in your home. You know, what do you want to have happen?

11:19What do you want people to feel when they walk in? What kind of activities do you want to have your home set up for, right? Are you guys loungers? Are, you know, is the client a reader? Are they someone that loves to do art projects? Are they someone that loves to cook and entertain? Like, what are those values that represent the way that you live? And how do we actually create a space in a home that not only represents that visually, but actually supports that from a lifestyle component, right? And that's not something that's necessarily visible, but it's very, very intentional when you're designing a space with a client and you're looking and you're picking furniture pieces and you're looking at fabrics and know where are people going to sit and how are they going to use the space and what are some of the functions and flow of the space.

12:05And, you know, I love when clients do have really personal and idiosyncratic, like things like that, that we're like, great, you guys are all chess players. Let's create a chess corner in your house. Or, you know, if it's a big family of readers or, you know, we had a client a couple of years ago that she and her husband, her kids are all grown and they love to garden. It's like their activity that bonds them. They work in the garden every day together. And we created these magical sort of garden adjacent spaces for them. And they had the most beautiful vegetable cutting garden in their home. But we really styled spaces both indoors and out that would make that just a highlight of the experience of this home.

12:45And so it's really fun to dive into that with a client and get to create something really special for them that you know on a daily basis or on a regular basis as they're living in their home, they're going to value and they're going to use. And it's going to really be sort of a backdrop for, you know, foundational experiences in that home. Like I love it. And I love occasionally we'll get messages from clients, you know, and they'll send us their Easter table or, you know, the kids gather around the fire on Christmas Eve or, you know, I'll get little glimpses into these moments in their home.

13:19And I love it so much because that's really what we're designing for. Like, yes, it's so fun to pick all the fabrics in the wallpaper and, you know, make it beautiful and memorable and get that perfect cover shot of the space. That's so gratifying and so fun as a designer. But knowing that the space is reaching its full potential from a lifestyle point of view is even more gratifying. And it's really fun to see that come full circle. Do you find that your clients are willing to be like, there's a certain element of dreaming, right? And like almost creating a fantasy where you're like, oh, my life is hectic, so I want the serene space.

13:59But like your life is hectic. So I guess like, how hard is it to juggle the practical reality of your life with the sort of dream that you're hoping to create and like bridge the gap between the two to where like potentially you could have That's a good question. Because I think, you know, I grew up in the era of like, like form and function was a phrase that like, I feel like is so, you know, inherent. And we still use that phrase all the time with our clients, like the form versus the function. And I'm more of a believer that you can have form plus function, I don't think it's always that you have to choose.

14:34And sometimes there are things that we do just for beauty sake, or just for the aesthetic value of that 100%. Like there are things that we design that are just meant to be the visual moment or, you know, be that aspect of the house that just grabs your eye. But for the most part, we, in our projects, we're designing family homes. We're designing second homes that are vacation gathering spots for extended family. We're designing spaces that really have to work, right? Like a lot of our clients are really the big entertainer in their family. And that's part of the reason behind the project is that they want to have a gathering space and they want to be able to, you know, better meet the needs of their, their family or their kids or whoever, you know, whoever's using the space, they want to be able to better support the goals of the space of the home and the space.

15:23And so the form and kind of how that goes is often secondary to great, but we have this higher list of needs that we need to make sure those boxes get checked first, right? And we definitely have some ways in our process that we, we kind of start there, Like we build from the ground up. And so oftentimes on a design project, we primarily do new builds and large scale renovations. So really, we're able to start at square one and really build from there with our clients often. And so we usually have a meeting and we call it the functional audit. I don't I made that up. I don't know if it's the right name, but we really go through each space in the house and we analyze with the client.

16:04Great. Like what's happening in this room? What kind of storage do we need here? And we actually have a very detailed list of questions that we ask in this meeting. Everything from, you know, where's the vacuum going to go to, you know, what kind of organization do you like for this type of thing to what's your routine for doing laundry? And if you don't have a routine, let's make one for you and let's design the laundry room so that it's supportive and has that ease of use. And so there's a lot of things that we do that really go into the structural components of the house, first and foremost, that make it work.

16:38Right. And, you know, laundry rooms, kitchens, pantries, mudrooms, bathrooms are really the places where you that really tends to matter the most because there's really functional, logistical, storage, routine based needs that happen in those spaces. Right. And so we really get nitty gritty with our clients to, you know, what's, you know, I mean, we'll ask them and they sometimes laugh like, well, what's your morning routine? You know, is there a coffee routine? Is there like a smoothie? Are they a smoothie family? And they do smoothies every morning. And how do we set up the space to support that?

17:09So it ends up being so specific to each client. But I think we start there is the point is that we start with those functional needs and really know what they are and have a clarity on what is going to work best for the space. so that when we go to do the actual creative, fun, aesthetic design, we already kind of have these building blocks in that. Like we already know, okay, we need to address these needs. We're not just going to design a beautiful space and then figure out if the needs are going to work. We start with the needs. Fall is the perfect time to refresh and reorganize your space. At the Home Depot, find power tools and tool sets starting at$50 to help tackle DIY projects, home updates, and more.

17:54Whether you're drilling brackets to support new shelving or sharpening your hedge trimmer blade with an angle grinder, The Home Depot has the tools you need to check projects off your list. Shop Labor Day savings at The Home Depot and gear up for fall projects with the right tools to keep your projects moving. Oh, my God. I feel like bathrooms are like the worst. Like you. OK, you have an electric toothbrush. Where are you plugging that in? Is there a plug that like is not out on the counter? Do you want it to be out on the counter? Probably not. And where are you putting it? I don't know. Whoever renovated my bathroom did not think about that.

18:31And it's very annoying. Well, the funny thing is that, you know, if you are an aesthetically minded person who, you know, is is interested in home design and and, you know, making your home beautiful and pleasant and visually appealing. A lot of the daily things that we live with are not that right. They are not like they're not always visually appealing. Like we talk a lot with clients, like I think pantries are a great example that a lot of the food that we buy, the branding is not necessarily beautiful or aesthetically pleasing in your, you know, your beautiful Cotswold inspired pantry. Or, you know, it's like, I don't want to call out any brands, but we always make sure in pantries that like we have that closed hidden storage because I don't want to see all the labels on the food cans or the keg mixes or the cereal boxes or things like that.

19:17Right. Like there's things that we want to be able to thoughtfully like close the door on so that what we're seeing can bring that feeling of peace and serenity. Like you were saying, like life is hectic enough. I think there's so many things you can do to just sort of like contain the chaos, right? And I think that's the best we can do. So if we can be thoughtful about the storage, if we can be thoughtful about the routines, if we can be thoughtful of knowing, great, we know that you're going to have 500 pairs of shoes by your back door every day after school because everyone, you know, comes over, all the neighbor kids come over or whatever.

19:50Like, we can actually plan a solution for that, you know, problem before you even move in, right? Like, we can think ahead and we can be intentional about how we're setting things up so that they will meet the needs of your life day in and day out. And I think that that alone comes through in your work so clearly because so much about the spaces that you end up building are about function. And they're such clean and beautiful and functional spaces. You would never know that there were, you know, 50 neighbor kids in the house. But I love that you plan for that and build these dream spaces that not only speak to how people live, but kind of dream and shape the spaces that they want to be and who they want to be as families.

20:45So I think that's really exciting. I love that you said that because we often say with our clients, we want our work to be both inspirational and aspirational. And I think that, like, you kind of touched on that with your comment. I think that it goes to that idea of like, great, what's the reality of the life we're living? But also, what do we want to create space for? right? If we want to create space for more family togetherness, if we want to create space, like in my house, we've intentionally created space for snuggling on the couch. The guys still have little children at home and they are snuggly children and they always want to snuggle.

21:19And so we literally have multiple spaces in our home that are kind of the snuggling spaces and they're comfortable seating and there's a blanket nearby and there's a lamp nearby. And, and, you know, then when one of my kids comes to me and they say, Hey, mom, I want to snuggle, you know, we're not far from a spot where I can just pull them onto my lap. And, you know, that may sound a little cheesy, but I think for the phase that I'm in with my family right now, that really is supportive of just those little moments of connection that we're able to have. And what different families need at different phases is totally different.

21:53You know, some people want, we had families that were big puzzle families, and we've created these magical puzzle zones for them, Or like I said, families that are readers or, you know, I mean, like TV is a big part of life, let's be honest. Like and so everyone's trying to hide their TVs in the design world. But, you know, gathering on the television or watching a movie together, if that's something that bonds your family or, of course, eating and cooking together is a huge part of it. We have a client that we're working with right now and their kids are kind of teenage, preteen age and their kids actually all love to cook.

22:25And so we're designing this secondary pantry and the secondary pantry is actually geared toward the kids. Like we got feedback from the kids on how they wanted to use the space and what kind of things they like to make. And so we're able to sort of design that space so that it can be sort of the family cooking zone. And so I think that those, you know, those kind of opportunities to, you know, really, you know, just be specific with the design. I think a luxury of either renovating or building a custom home or, you know, whatever opportunities you have to make your space specific to you in big and small ways.

23:01You know, it is such a luxury if you can really take a step back and say, you know, what do I actually need or how would I actually use this space? you know, if it's a room in your house that maybe, I think a classic example is we've had clients that had formal living rooms that didn't get used as a formal living room, right? It just was sort of a space in the house that had furniture in it. No one went in there. And, you know, sometimes we'll say to clients, well, great, what could we do with this space so that it would get used so that people would go in there? You know, do we modify it and make it a music room?

23:29Or, you know, is a reading room, is a library a better use of this space? And let's not make it a formal living room, let's make it a library that has seating in it. Or, you know, how do we, I think, make those adjustments or tweaks to our home so that they actually meet our needs and they actually support our needs? And I think that all goes back to the intention. And I think to be able to hone in on those intentions, you have to really get a clear understanding of, great, who is my family? What are our actual needs in this home? Which ones are met and addressed and which ones are not? and what changes could we make for it to be better, for it to be more supportive, for it to live easier.

24:09And I don't know if you guys have experienced this, but I'm a designer and I spend all day thinking about these things. But even in my own home, I'm sometimes just surprised when I make one small change, what a big impact it can have, right? Whether it's adding storage for something that we didn't have storage for before, or it's saying, oh, you know what? I would love to be able to do this, great. you know I'm gonna modify the way that I'm using this room and I'm gonna add this piece of furniture or I'm gonna get this tool or whatever whatever it may be but you know even the small changes can make a big impact in the way that you live in a space daily and so it just takes sort of that that contemplation and reflection and understanding of how we're living in our homes to get to that place where we go great now I know what I need how can I address those needs I've just like never understood the not the form the like why people don't like a formal living room because to me it's just a living room that doesn't have a television and it's still like super comfortable I don't know I love our TV our living room that doesn't have the TV because I feel like it's quieter it's in a really sunny spot and we're in there as much as we're in front of in like the TV room, I feel like if you just make it super comfortable, you're going to want to go in there.

25:25Then again, my house is also much smaller than your clients. Well, we do on all sizes, but you know, in my own home, we have a room like that, that we don't have a TV and we really debated, should we put a TV in here? And we didn't. And I actually have never thought about it again. Like since we've, because we do use the room all the time, my kids go in there and read, or that's where we go to have a conversation. And nowadays, you know, we don't have a TV in there, but the iPad will often end up in there with one of the kids. So it still can meet that need, you know, if we need it to. But yeah, it's, I love formal rooms too.

25:58Like, you know, so many people, I think the formal dining room is a room that's gotten a bad rap too. And I actually love formal dining rooms. I love the process of setting a table. I love, you know, I love all those details. I love that special effort of, you know, making time and putting energy into a special celebration, right? And so I'm old school that way. I'm in the same camp. I love all those specific rooms, even if sometimes people aren't necessarily on board with them in our modern age. Yeah. Do you, okay, this was actually touches on something that I was curious about because so many of the houses in your book are quite large, or at least they seem that way.

26:40You know, tall ceilings, And I was curious because they are so vast, and I don't mean that in a bad way, but like they are so large, but they feel cozy. And so what is it, like how are you creating that warmth in there when sometimes that scale can feel like more, I guess, gives it like an echoiness and like an emptiness, I think, that sometimes isn't cozy. So how do you make the posing? Yeah, that's a great question. Well, I think in any space, I like to think of layers and really how we do our design, like our process specifically with furniture, but also with sort of when we do the hard finishes is we think about the layers.