Ep. 447: Trends vs. Timelessness with Lisa Staton

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 valordesigns.net. Now on with the show.

0:33This episode is brought to you by Peloton. Break through the busiest time of year with the brand new Peloton Cross Training Tread Plus, powered by Peloton IQ. With real-time guidance and endless ways to move, you can personalize your workouts and train with confidence, helping you reach your goals in less time. Let yourself run, lift, sculpt, push, and go. Explore the new Peloton Cross-Training Tread Plus at OnePeloton.com. Today, we're excited to welcome Seattle interior designer Lisa Stain to the podcast. With more than 20 years of experience, her team is known for seamlessly blending current trends with timeless appeal.

1:09Today, we're talking about trends versus timelessness. How do you incorporate both into your room so that you feel confident about your choices and have fun in the process? Lisa, welcome to the show. Hello, and thank you. Pleased to be here. happy to have you i really enjoyed getting to look at your portfolio because um you do just what i mentioned in the introduction you have there's so many really classic elements about especially the architecture and kind of the way you emphasize the architecture of your client spaces but there definitely is a currentness and you know there's some sleek lines and um And so it's just a really nice balance and something that I'm excited to hear your perspective on.

1:52Thank you. You grew up in Boston. So I did want to start there because we were talking a little bit before starting, but, you know, New England, it's very rooted in classicism, beautiful architecture. And so maybe you could just start by, like, how that informed your design perspective and how maybe you got into the world of interior design. I am originally from Boston. I am very much an East Coast girl living in a Pacific Northwest world. And I think that for me, growing up around neighborhoods of heritage houses that range from, you know, 1600 all the way up through, you know, that hallmark of pre-World War II, which is sort of where I see some of the stopping point of some of the true deep craftsman rooted authenticity of older homes that we work in.

2:46And I think that Boston gave me a very strong sense of place and time being relevant to design and being relevant to the work that we do. And I just have always loved things that have patina, that are handmade, that are crafted with purpose and thoughtfulness. I undergraduate have an art history background I worked for Sotheby's in my 20s in college and did a lot of auction work in Boston and so I've always cared deeply about antiques and one-of-a-kind pieces and you know we live in an age of immediacy we live in an age where there can be a bit of a global aesthetic that starts to all run together and we talk a lot in the office about the fact that you may think you're creating this amazing, unexpected space.

3:46And if you lean too far into Pinterest two years later, you're now publishing work that everybody else is doing the same work because they saw that same sink on the algorithm or they seen that same color or that same fabric. And so for me growing up in Boston and for me living and working in heritage homes and older neighborhoods means taking the house and the cues from the house and the cues from the outside and the cues from the neighborhood and giving it a sense of place that roots it in its original time and roots it in its neighborhood or location in the world that I think can really help you develop a design aesthetic for each house that is very personal and deep for the client, but feels appropriate for where it came from and where it lives.

4:42It's a great point about the algorithm, sort of homogenizing design. And you obviously have it in a specific way for your clients and maybe kind of seeing what's new and what's different and being able to put that into purpose. But I think, you know, we the consumers also are sort of, I guess, at the risk of doing the same thing maybe on a smaller scale, which is like that coffee table. I'm seeing it everywhere. Like, now that's the coffee table I feel like I need to buy. And I think that's sometimes where the algorithm is confusing because you feel like, oh, this is so timeless. It's a classic white kitchen.

5:21And then we see that regurgitated so many times that then it feels specific. So how do you decide or, I guess, know which ones to stay away from? You know, something that's really going to have staying power versus something that is. I think for us, I mean, you referenced our work being edited, but I also feel like when, and again, we do work on newer projects and newer houses, but I'm speaking to some of the older homes. when you buy an older home the house is a client on as well as the client being a client it is not uncommon it is more typical that the house has often been through many many layers of renovations and aside from the very wealthy up until about you know 50 years ago some and even more now some of the details that are added back into a house that we do are so much more accessible to everybody nowadays.

6:23So if I take a powder room as an example, you want to get it right. You want a cohesive design statement. You can use the house for the bones. But some of the most high-end work you're seeing across the board, people can replicate on their own now. You can find an amazing sink from Turkey for a reasonable price point to ship over. You can get, you know, de Gournay equivalent prints and wallpaper at a price point that might be more affordable with an amazing farrow and ball paint color, right? And so designed at a very high level is accessible to the masses in a way that it never used to be. And so you just have to be careful not to end up with these Mr.

7:03Potato Head of Houses. And if you use the house as the guiding life force of cohesion, then the things that are less permanent, like the sink and the wallpaper or the faucet, you know if 15 20 years from now you just want to change your mind it can be a different look but you haven't necessarily infused into the house something permanent that just doesn't feel quite right if that makes sense like sticking with the the i suppose guidance of the original architecture your your new thing your new thing you've renovated is going to have more staying power because it's aligned with the original thing so that's kind of what yeah and we really knit things together Something as simple as, you know, you do inset shaker face frame cabinets, but you leave a flat stop at the top and you run the actual crown molding from the room around it and you run the actual baseboard from the room around it.

7:56And so it doesn't feel like this appendage that got added to the house. It's got the detailing all knitted together. And that really gives you a level of cohesion that flows very cohesively. That makes so much sense if you have bought this beautiful old home that you love and you love the style of it and the vibe of it. What if you bought a house that you were like, this, you know, is the right size. It's the right neighborhood. It's the right price. Like, do I love the style? Is it my favorite thing? No, but like, here I am. I do feel like occasionally we get emails from people that are like, I don't really like my house, but how do I make the best of this?

8:36What do you do there? I mean, scale, proportion, and space planning is number one. So like really unpacking what can you achieve in the space. I mean, the power of paint, wallpaper, and window treatments is huge, right? So if the scale and proportion is awkward, you can really cheat things a little bit with window treatments. You can really give a space an amazing impact with paint. It makes a huge difference, I would say.

9:07and then just really thinking through the proportions and getting those proportions right of how you add furniture and add pieces. But should you still use that original architecture as your sort of guiding thread throughout? I don't think you can be heavy-handed about it. So if you are in a modern condo, building, it would be unlikely that I would introduce an entire Georgian paneled, you know, crown molding detail. But what I might do is, you know, paint it a really amazing color, put up some great window treatments, and then use pieces that are beautiful, old, classic pieces mixing with other things to get a sense of authenticity and warmth and, you know, a harking back to old age.

10:07But I think it can get goofy if you try to make something something it's not, is my general take. Now, say you're starting from scratch, because I do think that's part two that is just another kind of, you know, way to look at it. Mm-hmm. You mean building a whole house from scratch? And then integrating, again, just the style you want. And for instance, we talk a lot to designers about, you know, your location does somewhat decide the architecture. But it doesn't always match, if that makes sense. Like your love for Colonial, but you live in Arizona, does that actually, can you make that work?

10:54Great question. I have yet to do a colonial in Arizona. My general take, if a client called me and said, I'm a New Englander, I'm moving to Arizona, I just want my salt box shingled colonial that I have on Cape Cod, that's exactly what I want, I would urge them to consider materials and adjusting things to be in harmony with location and place. So sunlight makes a huge difference. how the materials manage the weather make a huge difference. And so I could see a house where you might have, you know, a Spanish colonial roof and you might decide to go with stucco, but you might introduce proportions that, and scale that really speaks to that colonial.

11:43But I would backwards infuse it with building materials and colors and tones on the outside that really work for wherever you are. And then when you get on the inside, same. You want to manage floor, paint color, all those things that the tones work with the sunlight of the place you're in. And then you can start to have a beautiful big farm table with authentic Windsor chairs made from, you know, my favorite place in Connecticut that makes them the old-fashioned way and, you know, sweet rugs and a beautiful brick fireplace with a little, you know, kettle hanging in it. Like you can do all those things, but I think you need to adjust it within the percentages that contextually has enough of a reference for place and seasons and sunlight that feels correct would be my pivot.

12:40No, that's a great, I mean, that makes the most sense. I just was wondering in this day and age too how because we are so inspired all the time and we are there's such an influx of imagery and things like you said that we enjoy and again that we think are a trend and or things we find out we love and it is hard to make sure it's timeless so how do you help your clients with inspiration? Like, what are you giving them? What are you telling them? Where are you telling them to go and look? Yeah, great question. So I guess step one question is, you know, what is the relationship between client and, you know, designer and architect in terms of inspiration?

13:35And how long do you keep looking and when do you put the pencils down? and the computer down. And for us, the process is very collaborative in the beginning in terms of gathering and imagery. It is very common. People love colors that look good on them, look at people's closets, get a sense of what they're loving. I find it incredibly helpful to understand what is the energy? What is the mood? How do you want to feel? How do you want to live? You have to get really people get really stuck on imagery or Pinterest or very specific things that they like. But there's a point at which you need to get enough of what I've just described from clients and and and and then let us do what we do.

14:26and we'll go back to them and make some adjustments. And if it's a two or three year project, you need to leave space for evolution. You need to leave space for things to change or for someone to travel and see something. But it's the thread of what you're doing. It does not need to be literal. The other thing I will say about that, partly because from a designer and client relationship, We have really been working hard to understand in this constant moving, constant imagery world, how do we leave space for us to really do what we do well, while giving clients agency to feed us things, but not backwards edit, micromanage, or flood us with our entire design presentation is, you know, an option for a backwards reverse Google search with 20 more options.

15:21and I have always joked that someday I'm going to rename the firm Soup and Symphony, because you would never say to somebody, take a bite of garlic, have a bite of salt, have a couple tomatoes, and you are not going to ask them one by one, do they like all those things as they take a bite of them. It's putting that soup together. Same thing. Do you like the oboe? Do you like the drums? Do you like the violin? It's putting it together. So for me, it's my job to understand are we doing a really melodic symphony are we doing a really robust symphony and then it's and feed enough from that client and they may find things as we go but it's the spirit it's the energy it's the emotion of where we're headed um if that makes sense and that's as important to me it's like it makes complete sense to your point yeah you can only add in so many other ingredients that weren't expected before you yeah what is it now and it's the way they work together that's the magic not eat yeah ingredient individually yeah but i do have a question about that because i love that idea and i think it really speaks to why working with a designer is valuable or at the very least having a cohesive plan is valuable right because it's how they interact the different pieces that makes it feel special but how about if you've, you know, you've done your house, you've got a living room that every item works together, it's created this magical space, and then you move.

16:52Like, should you, you should still at least like each individual item, right? Because there is a chance you could put it in a totally different context and still want to like it. Or do you feel like that's not... Actually, I'll speak about it personally, because I think I actually could bring that to a really personal level. Um... I have moved many times. I have owned a Greek revival, a Victorian, an old Tudor house. When my husband was getting his PhD, the most boring 1980s townhouse blah, you know, situation. And I think that you have to edit and re-put the puzzle together each time. And every time, for me, there are things that go in storage.

17:39um most of my artwork always makes the cut like really passionate about my art but um when you move you have to go backwards through the same process and it is remaking a brand new you know puzzle or recipe and um it is a new challenge and some things work and some things don't and some things you love you put in storage because maybe there's the next time but you do have to be an editor. It's the way it gets done well and gets done right. Yeah. And I guess how you put those pieces back together, maybe in a new way, but... Well, and things can end up in completely different rooms too. So something that was a great living room side table could be a bedside table in the new house.

18:24So you don't have to think about like, this is my living room furniture, it goes in the living room. A sofa that was great in the old living room might fit at the end of a bed or, you know, in an upstairs reading book. Yeah. So it can kind of maneuver, I would say. One of the things that I really loved about your portfolio is, you know, there was a lot of sort of like classic, what's the word I'm thinking of, like cabinetry and, you know, the woodworking had a very classic feel to it. And then sometimes you would throw in sort of a modern counter, a barstool or not, maybe not modern is not the right word, but like sleek, sleek lined, you know, clean line silhouette.

19:13Yeah, more contemporary. Yeah, I would say more edited. I mean, that's sort of how we think about it in the office. But yeah, so sorry, ask the question. or you know or a or sort of a like beautiful edited um pedestal table at a banquette and so i loved sort of the way there was and it would be like a really beautiful wood but very you know clean silhouette um and so you could see like here's where you've got something more contemporary and it's mixed with the thing that is very classic and so i loved the way you were bringing those pieces together. So I was curious, maybe talking, if you could talk through a little bit of, you know, what makes you go for the more clean lined, you know, bar stool or table and how you're bridging those two pieces together, maybe with the traditional cabinetry to make that special moment.

20:12Yeah. I mean, we do a lot of the interior architecture on the projects that we work in. So all the paneling, all the cabinetry, all the trim work, all the mill work, like that is sort of on our shoulders. Different projects, if we have an architect involved, we'll collaborate with them. But generally speaking, we're the ones designing and doing all of that. You know, I do think we're living in a time of maximalism. And it's interesting because I...

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21:25You know, we are all influenced by what we see, what we experience, what we feel. Back to the emotion conversation, I have always found that the projects that we complete most successfully in the houses I'm drawn to just have a quiet elegance and restfulness to them and it doesn't mean they're boring and it doesn't mean that they're not layered but um to your point given that if a house has a more traditional slant and the cabinetry is more traditional it's easier to take the less permanent things and whether it's a light fixture or a bar stool and give them a softer more sculptural more edited quality because those are the easiest things to swap out and change, almost like you would an earring, you know, in an outfit or a great pair of shoes.

22:17And so if the architecture's done well, there can be room and space over time to adjust those things. But I also think that it takes steadiness to, as a firm, to kind of understand what is the story we're telling and And we are collaborative with our clients, but there should be a through line to the work you're doing, particularly once you're a more established firm. And I think that is a piece of who I want to be and the work I want to do just gives you that great exhale when you walk in the door and that it is edited, but also warm and approachable and livable and all those things. and I personally live in a house that is more layered with texture through artwork and books and you know, stijl and wool and linen and like real textures.

23:17I'm not a pattern on pattern on pattern person in my own life and so I think while we use patterns in our projects we don't we don't use tons of them and we are apt to want to find a sculptural moment. So you're probably seeing that there was one in particular that i was like this is so pretty it was um well now you have to tell me breakfast banquette i know i'm trying to figure out like all my tabs yeah it was a breakfast park yes yes yes yes it had this great cushion that's sort of a plaid and then um you know and the the mantelpiece was a beautiful marble mantelpiece in the room and the kitchen, you know, very classic paneling.

23:59And then the table was sort of a tulip table and this beautiful oak. But I felt like the oak and the wood textures sort of had enough of that maybe traditionalism. Like it had this traditional material, but in this, you know, contemporary line and I loved the way that came together. Well, thank you. And what's interesting about that reading nook is that, and I will give a shout out to Lauren from my team, who was the senior designer on that project. I will say I do have team members who are super talented and have perspectives that grow mine and are along with the clients. And what's interesting about that is that when you have a small nook, you know, a pedestal table is obviously the best way to get people around it and not have legs in the way and you can access a banquette.

24:44You know, the classic Saarinen table is always a great go-to, but that is so clearly 1960s, mid-century and so the pedestal table that we had custom made for that project has a fluted angled base with a little bit of a pitch to it and it's an authentic oiled oak table and so what you're seeing is that like okay you've got this really classic house that has the dental molding on the trim and the dental molding goes around the kitchen hood and then just by giving this fluted moment to the base and warm oak material you've taken something that could have been a little more cold and sterile and given it a warmth but like winking to be a little mod and so that is an incredibly geeky way of over explaining one table choice um but thank you for noticing and it was purposefully doing the job in a couple different ways to do what it's doing yeah well you know and it it's like there aren't a lot of elements in that little breakfast nook Right.

25:46Like there's a cushion, a back cushion, a light, a rug, two chairs and a table like you. Each thing had to be really beautiful and match together perfectly to where, you know, because there weren't a lot of other flourishes. Nothing on that vignette came off of a container ship from mass production. And so that is something I should raise my hand to say, that something emotionally changes when you use real materials. And when you have people roll up their sleeves and make them with their hands and nothing has a really candy shell poly on it, nothing is synthetic. This client was very sensitive to chemicals as well, so we were careful about those things.

26:35that light is handmade from a small batch Etsy vendor. Like that does make a difference, you know. I was curious about your, you know, you're in the Pacific Northwest. You were talking earlier about really being focused on creating a mood and a feeling in the room, right? And that's sort of like your guiding light. And I was curious if there are certain things that your clients are looking for because they're in the Pacific Northwest, you know, is it, you know, you were talking earlier about how you don't get a lot of seasonality there. So is there something that you're like, are your clients more apt to be focused on natural light or coziness or something just because of the environment that they're in that you're trying to create?

27:21Is it real down to earth quality to life in the Pacific Northwest? Because we don't get harsh winters like we do on the east coast we're just out and about all the time and i do think that people want to live and love the outdoors and have you know they want to be able to walk in and out with muddy shoes and be able to handle the house i think lighting things and managing things in such a way that during the darker months you know things feel warm and lush and inviting. I should add that picking paint colors, which I touched on earlier, I think it's relevant. The way the sunlight during the winter months casts through the sky, it's like living in Scandinavia.

28:08So managing it that way, I think is really important.

28:15Generally speaking, the projects we engage in and we like engaging in, our clients want something really beautiful and special, but They don't want super flashy. They don't want blingy. You know, it's not a show-offy kind of town. It's a really get out and hike and kayak and come home and nestle back in. And so I think there's a layer of that that informs our design. Yeah, like a relaxed quality or something. Definitely a relaxed quality. Let's talk a little more about painkillers because I love your, you know, we always, always everyone always wants to know about painkillers so if you were talking to a girlfriend or something and they were asking for you know your wisdom about picking painkillers in the pacific northwest what kind of things would you tell them like you know grays are going to be grayer worms are going to be warmer like what kind of things are sort of i like a pink color that's not a screaming bright white um sherwin williams alabaster is a go-to it um has kind of a chalky english plaster quality that i really love about it um if you do want a white that is true and does not go pink and does not go yellow benjamin morris simply white just has enough warmth in it to not be sterile and so that's another really favorite go-to um we do bring a lot of warm creams into our whites as well.

29:42And that feels great, I would say, in the winter months. Cool tones can actually feel great around here, but you have to marry them with an earthy side. So there have to be, you know, rich browns and textures and other things in the room that kind of offset it. The colors that struggle a little more in the Northwest, I would say, is if you try to go with some of the more, you know, like some of those like crazy, crazy deep ochre yellows that you might see in New Orleans or in Mexico. You know, you go on vacation and fall in love with all those. You paint them here. Like they just don't quite jive with the blue light that we get as well.

30:24A smidge of that works, but you have to balance it with some other things. I would imagine that would be a real challenge moving from one part of the country to the other. You know, like your whole scale of paint and picking paint would have to change just because the light's different. Well, it's different per house. And then you move to a whole nother, you know, climate. And I imagine your whites that you or your favorite whites, have those changed through the years? Yeah, they have a little bit, I would say. A little bit. There are a couple still tried and trues, but yeah. Your tried and trues for cream colors, because I feel like those are really hard, too.

31:02It's that area that's a little like, well, now it's this, too much of this and too yellow. Lancaster White is really pretty. And hold on, look this one up because it got painted and I was looking at it yesterday and it looked so good. Yeah, that one, Lancaster White's a real creamy one. Uh-huh. But pretty. So Sherwin-Williams Kestrel White. We just did a whole house where the walls were Benmore Swiss Coffee. And then the base case in Tram was kestrel white. And it is so pretty. I have a white house in the South. And I had to pick the white for the siding. And it was the most stressful just based on quantity.

31:47And to not make it a... Because the amount of blue white houses in my neighborhood is so much that I went... Horrible. Offensive. So I leaned cream no matter what. I was like, I would rather my house go creamy yellow than at all end up in this like stark, sterile color white. So and I know outside is so different. And I think that was the interesting part is I really had my heart set on a certain kind of a sagey green for the shutters. And the color I assumed would work once we were outside became completely baby blue. And I was like, I don't. Yeah, it was one of those where nothing. I just had to keep pivoting to areas that when I look at the colors, like this is not it.