Ep. 448: How to Style Accessories with Page House Studio

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 of 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. We are thrilled to welcome Meredith Page and Liz Livingston, the creative minds behind Page House Studio, an Atlanta-based interior design firm. With a combined 15 years of experience in the industry, their studio focuses on interior design projects of all size, as well as their own bespoke collection of accessories that Linda polished, touched, any room.

1:18Meredith and Liz, welcome to the show. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you for having us. Yeah, we're excited to be here. It's always fun to have a duo because we are a duo. Yeah. We don't go anywhere without the other pretty much. Two brains or one mind and two bodies. Exactly. Okay. Y 'all have a great origin story. So maybe we should start there. How you met and how you started your business, H-House. Sure. I guess it's kind of a multi-part answer. We are both from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and we met, I guess, probably in high school. And it didn't take long. We just became best friends. We went to college together, University of Alabama.

2:02Then I moved to Nashville and she moved out to LA. And then I called her and said, I was hired in Nashville. I'm coming out to LA. And then years later, I moved to Atlanta and she decided she was coming to Atlanta, so we don't leave each other's side. The other day I was picking my kids up from school and I saw a teacher who was my daughter's old teacher and she was trying to tell someone else who I was and she said, oh, it's Liz's other half. And my husband was standing right there and he was like, exactly. So yeah, that about sums it up. We are kind of inseparable and it's great yeah um so we lived in LA together and Meredith worked for some incredible firms in Nashville and Los Angeles um I worked previously in the entertainment industry and um left to go work in textiles and um we always talked about starting a business together we wanted to do this in LA and the timing just wasn't right um and once we moved to Atlanta and had our our kiddos um we felt like it was time time to do something together um yeah it was probably summer of 2020 my husband chris and i moved here uh he's originally from here so i had been working um since i was out of college for other designers and i was like this is finally my time take all what i learned and all that experience and really go out on my own and my in-laws were instrumental in introducing me to all their neighbors and friends who needed design help.

3:47So I got busy really fast. And then we were house hunting and kept striking out. So we decided to build a house. So that was my first really big project that I was thrilled about. And yeah, we've just stayed busy. Fast forward to a few years later is when we started the product line together and that's when Liz really came on the team and yeah we just made a brand out of the business I had already started I feel like it was finally time to focus on products and really strengthen what our design aesthetic was and our perspective and so together with all of her experience working for e-commerce and retail and marketing it was just kind of a no-brainer it kind of was just serendipitous and took off.

4:43I love your collection. It really echoes your design style and what you do for your clients because you have such an edited eye. And then the product, I guess it's not just accessories, but it's more decorative accents, really emphasizes that and kind of embodies what the rooms kind of channel in, you know, in each item. Sure. So our foundational product is the pedestal. After working in Nashville and Los Angeles, so many different types of environments, there was always just this one design element that was in the equation for how we finished a room. And it was a pedestal. Whatever material it came in, whatever shape it was in, we always integrated one into the style and it finished a room so perfectly.

5:40And so then when all my friends were moving into their family houses and their forever homes, they would invite me over. Of course, they would ask me what to paint their living room and all that. But they would always have like a dead corner, something, a blank wall. And they were like, I just don't know what to put here, what goes here. I have too many tables. I have too much art on the wall and I just started kind of thinking a pedestal do they not know about this item uh has this not crossed over into like more mainstream and I would say it and sure enough like they didn't um so I realized that there was a huge gap and people who had worked with a designer and those who hadn't really had that opportunity yet um and so at when we were working on what the product line would be, I really wanted to center around the pedestal because it's such a product that's like a blank canvas.

6:39You can wrap it and you can have so much fun with it. Such an opportunity and a great way to finish a room and style it. And so, yeah, that became our niche product and we've kind of expanded from there. But that was the aha moment of going into my friends' houses after they had become adults and they really wanted it To look like they had styled it properly and it was elevated and polished and all of that. And there was just always a blank but that they couldn't figure out. An empty corner is a challenge. Taryn made a great point when we were chatting. I don't know when. Let's find out. Well, just about Ballard.

7:21Ballard. Yeah. I don't want to steal your thunder. I was saying it's so funny that, you know, you're, you know, you had this one thing that everyone kind of wanted and needed. And you're like, great. And really, truly, that's historically how we started as well. It's like Helen Ballard had this one table and then everyone wanted and she's like, well, let me. And the column was like a huge. And the column was in our logo until when? Forever. Forever. I think up until maybe 15 years ago. Like the 2000s. Yeah. Yeah. That's so right. Yeah, I remember that now. I had to reconnect. It's like wherever we go.

7:59It had like the pedestals follow. And think about like the 80s, all the pedestal tables and stuff. So that was sort of the Ballard origins. I didn't even think about that. Yeah. So I just loved how almost your brand and kind of where you began, you know, is the same kind of. Yeah, it's very similar. It really was. it came out of the realization that like it's something so easy and a go-to item for us and others may not know about it and how much of an impact it has in a room and how easy it is. It feels like a very slender silhouette and very simple, but it really makes an impact if you put something grand on top of it or something like a statement.

8:43And yeah, it feels like a perfect solution to any little dead area. It's a great focal point. Okay. Tell everybody though, the fabrication and what you do with your pedestals though. Okay. Right. Because you're talking about just a pedestal and you're making it seem so like la-di-da, but yours are gorgeous. And they're, you know, very special. They're very clean, but the details are very special. So maybe walk everybody through that. Oh, yes. They weren't always that way. It took some iterations of prototypes. I'll let you. Yeah, we kind of wanted the pedestal to also be its own piece of art. So we wanted it to also be, you know, jewelry in the jewel box.

9:29So it's we started actually Meredith's father retired and he helped us make our first prototypes and he's still very much involved in our business, which is incredible to have such an amazing family member involved. And he just makes me laugh so much. I love him. Adore him. Shout out to Jerry. Um, so, uh, he helped make our first frames essentially of the pedestal. And then Meredith and I felt really strongly that we wanted to touch and feel and make all the first prototypes ourselves by hand. Um, it was really important for us because we know wallpaper can be so temperamental and the thickness, um, a vinyl versus a paper, um, and how it's wrapping around, you know, for 90 degree angles is different than just applying it to a blank wall.

10:24So we actually were in Meredith's garage in 32 degree weather. No, it was 19 degree. I have it stamped on the story. Our fingers were frozen with wallpaper glue, like stuck together, trying to wallpaper these pedestals. But so we have very funny photos from that. But we learned so much. We worked with some incredible wallpaper installers that helped teach us the craft so that we could do this on our own. And we got very technical pretty quickly because we care so much about the product. So like you said, we put a lot of care into our seams, how the wallpaper is applied. Probably shouldn't be giving away our secrets, but sometimes we use razor blades to make every single cut.

11:15So it's a very tedious process. And it looks so simple. Like we wrapped a pedestal on wallpaper, but it's not. It actually takes some incredible labor to produce them. And we work with now, work with really great artisans that help us pull them together. Right. So you have, you know, wrapped in grass cloth, some in wallpaper, they can send you a wallpaper. Yeah. They're paper mache. Maybe kind of just walk through like because, you know, Meredith, especially your your home is so edited and I love how clean it looks. So I think from far away, some of the pedestals like they blend so effortlessly, but they're you know, they have really beautiful textures of those.

11:59So we've been accused of being neutralist. I don't think that we are. I think we celebrate color in a very intentional way. But all of our pedestals are typically a neutral. The grass cloth comes in an ecru and a saddle color. and then we have the paper mache and we also have the lime wash painted and the plaster and it is meant to feel like a little tonal to a room and something where you can really play with if your room is I just love the a space that feels very layered with texture and materiality versus a ton of print and pattern. So we really wanted the pedestals to feel very natural within the backdrop, but play along with the furnishings.

13:01So there is just this like fine art of feeling like it kind of comes out of the wall and it's like a part of like the drapes and everything that is vertical and the hard surfaces, but also really a delicate piece that kind of speaks to your coffee tables and your other tables and your seating and upholstery. So that's where we just wanted to give options as well. So we feel very confident that the grass cloth and the plaster and the papier-mâché are all just great materials that fill the like they elevate any space. Yeah, we kind of always play with this idea of like this nod to a classical form or a classical medium with this fresh and new eye to it.

14:00So something like paper mache was something that we just fell in love with of really celebrating that medium. it's an incredible process to see it being made and so when we started playing with pedestals and understanding like all the different textures that we wanted incorporated we loved that kind of imperfect nature of the papier-mâché and so that has been a really incredible art form that we've had the opportunity to work with and we've expanded that line throughout so from the papier-mâché pedestal came our papier-mâché frames which have been so well received um we're obsessed with them we just launched uh three smaller scale frames to accompany our larger elizabetta frame and so we're just going to continue working with some of those art forms that you know haven't been celebrated recently and trying to kind of bring them back in a fresh new way yeah you know it's it seems like the this art we've been talking about this internally a a lot more artisanal and artistic.

15:05Even handicrafts has been. I was pitching to Erin on grandma crafts recently. But have really been coming back just because, you know. We have to. I mean, we have to offset all of the fast shopping that we do. I mean, all of that is a little necessary and it's addictive and, you know, just way too convenient. And we have to slow down, especially when it comes to our houses and our homes and what these backdrops are that are making all of our memories and our kids' memories. We want really timeless pieces. Those types of pieces take time to make. And yeah, that's our intention behind the papier-mâché is to slow down and bring in just something that has really been, it is art and has been just carefully crafted.

16:00And it will stand the test of time. It will be there for your kids who are our kids who are toddlers now to inherit one day and be that piece that mom was always putting something different on it. I never knew what to expect. What was it? You know, we always knew it was spring because the dogwood branches came in and were on the pedestal. And so it just like is that great unicorn kind of piece for the interior. You can just use it however you want. Okay, that is actually one thing I love that y 'all do is you do supply these gorgeous pedestals, but you also give us something to put on it. Because I think, you know, you can see where maybe a pedestal might live in your house, but where do you acquire just that perfect item to display?

16:51That also is sort of a piece of the puzzle that feels intimidating, but you've solved that. Yeah. It feels like when we are designing and when we're building and we're packaging them and sending them off, we're hoping for that person that opens it up and says, oh, I want to do so many things with it. This is how I keep my interior fresh. I'm going to this is my item in the house that keeps me accountable to kind of keeping things moving and seasonal and celebrating all the different pieces of nature that come around all year long. But, you know, if they're not, if you want to put your favorite thing on it and stick it in a corner and never touch it for a few years, that's fine, too.

17:40as long as it's doing its job is taking up space and drawing your eye to what you want it to but um yeah i think the vessels play a huge part in that and we think about it constantly how like uh brown is the or how large is the diameter for this one and this one and how well people can't stick branches in that they're just gonna you know fall to the sides like we really want to Yeah. Consider all of that and then offer just such an array of them. Our favorites are the ones we make in-house and the other ones we want to feel like they are such good partners to the pedestal. Like we really try to keep it edited.

18:24um so yeah we have some um more like uh moroccan compotes that have the large mouth and you can fill with whatever you know dried artichokes or ornaments or you know just that's such a fun way to do it we have taller vessels uh with narrower um diameters that are great for the branches so we we do we like to think well hopefully someone wants to buy a lot of these and change it up and offer just such a different outfit for the pedestal given the mood given the season given the occasion so yeah and we have some really amazing new pedestals launching in January and February of next year so just a fun little teaser teaser all right yeah help us through this whole like What am I putting on a pedestal?

19:20Because that's the other. Here I am. I know I can use a vessel. I get it. But give me this step by step. Well, it is going to be your favorite thing that you've ever bought when you finally build. You will love it. You will love it. When you do a thing, I'm going to be like falling pedestals in. Yes. You need this. Exactly. So you can have like three and different heights and tier it. In the same room? Mm-hmm. Okay. Would you put it next to one another or spread them out? We have in our studio a great little vignette with varied heights. And it just all has one big, beautiful, or each have a sculpture that's similar.

20:03And it just tells a great story. Everyone that comes in the studio comments on it. Mm-hmm. Hey, Will here. You may remember me from our yearly Trends Report episodes. I'm one of the in-house product designers for Ballard Designs. One of my favorite pieces that I designed that's launching this spring is the Maris desk. I was in an antique store a couple of years ago, and I saw this beautiful little detail on this desk, and it instantly was like the most unique detail that just spoke to me. I took that detail, added a contemporary finish with these graceful sweeping cabrio legs and a very seamless silhouette, bringing a touch of Parisian chic to any home office.

20:42So go check out all of our latest arrivals at BallardDesigns.com slash new. I have a feeling you're going to find some pieces you really love. All right, let's get back to the show. We should photograph it. Oh, yeah. I'm like, okay. Put it on the to-do list. Yeah, it will become your favorite theme because it does solve such a dilemma when you're walking around your house and you're like, I've always just like, I don't know what to do with that one. with that one little spot. What are some examples of the empty spot? Like, is it a corner? Is it in a window? Is it a hallway? It's where, like, I always think of a living room.

21:20If you, my living room, we have these big sliding doors and our sectional takes up a lot of space. And then we have a side table, but there's still space behind it that just craved to be like a moment. and the drapes you know it wants to just have some verticality to what you're looking at when you're entering the living room you have the art you have the seating area you have the coffee table it wanted just one extra dimension to yeah to feel like okay this is such a layered room And yeah, yeah. Yeah. And the idea of layering a room also was just such an important part of our ethos and what we wanted to do with our products.

22:14So the pedestal we felt like was that kind of designer secret weapon that we're trying to bring back to life and like educate the customer on. And then we just felt like, OK, every time we walk into our friends' homes, it's like they have the empty corner, but they know how to buy the sofa and the coffee table and maybe a rug, but they don't know how to layer a space. And so from there, we started really expanding on, OK, what is how are we how do we layer a space when we're designing for our clients? And we wanted to create products that kind of touched every surface of the room was the intentionality behind that.

22:52So that's why we expanded into stools and with an incredible fringe that has that movement so that you kind of have that natural ease that you feel in a room as opposed to just so structured. And then obviously with softer goods like pillows and we have candles for your tabletop. So we've just really been expanding on like what is that essential layer and how do we bring that to life and make sure that everything coordinates together. So we also sell sets for someone who's really struggling with that. It's like at the click of the button, you can buy the entire page house set to elevate and lay your room effortlessly like a designer.

23:34Yeah. Yeah. You know, while we're talking about this, I'm like thinking about my own home and I'm like, I need a pedestal. I apparently need a pedestal. But how do you, like, you know, I think for most of us, we know that something's missing from a room. Like it just feels like something's missing. But yeah, I think to your point, Caroline, how do you know where that corner is? Like, can you just like tell somebody, like, just go stand in that corner and like. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Use your husband. Yeah. Test it out. I want everyone listening right now to bring in a partner and just have them go stand somewhere with like something cool on their head.

24:17and see if it brings you joy and makes you feel like, okay, that's it. That's what I've been missing. It's just when the spaces feel like you've got art over here. I don't want anything to compete with this art. I've got drapes over here. There's just this wall. I don't know what to do with. So I have a blank wall in between our pantry and our bar, and it's like kind of in a corridor. And it just felt like I don't want it to be flat. I really want it to feel more of a vignette. And so I put one there as well. They're all over my house. Okay, so how many do you have in your house? I know. It depends on the day.

25:08We're constantly flipping them out as well. Could we have created a less heavy product that we're carrying around? We both have standing appointments at our chiropractor because the kids and the pedestals. So, yeah, there's just this one short wall that felt like if I put a piece of art there, it would just. OK, hi. It just not be quite enough. It wanted to feel like more depth there, like it was more considered because it is a very high traffic pass through and pedestal is just not that, you know, that you could put a console table and a lamp. It felt a more interesting choice because we have console tables and other places with lamps on them.

26:06It felt like just, oh, this is a perfect thing to just make it a more interesting walk. And it is so close to the kitchen as well. And it feels like it's more of the like casual. I, you know, play around with it with more pretty china. And, you know, I sometimes have like a little plate stand for it. If, you know, it's a, yeah. What's your favorite height? Oh. Or do they all? So for the trade, we do offer, and for anyone who really does inquire, we want to accommodate everyone. But for the trade specifically, we always let them know we will do custom dimensions and sizing. And so we've gotten some pretty interesting.

26:56Pretty large. In width. Not necessarily in height. What's the width? 30? 40? They want a table. Yeah, they went big. They went big, but they sent us photos after and it was gorgeous. I mean, it really took up the space that they needed with this very large room. And the scale didn't look oversized in that room, you know. And so it was really awesome to create that and see how it looked in the finished space. We love when people share their faces. I think ours are 40 and 42. too. That's a perfect height for then putting like a nice size vessel on it. And then I keep referencing branches. That's my favorite thing to go pick in the backyard and bring inside.

27:43It feels like it's hard to get a great tree in your house. You know, this kind of is the placeholder for a tree when you have something at that height and you have these big sprawling branches out of it. it feels really grand and nice. And you don't have to worry about killing your tree and replacing. You don't need a grain thumb. I have several times. Yeah, or an arrangement for a certain holiday. Exactly. So now I'm wondering, though, like, okay, so heights of ceilings come in so many different. I'm sure that also changes the scale of which you are bringing, you're buying your height of yours.

28:18So if you have eight foot ceilings, would you maybe go for a shorter one versus like a 10 foot? I actually have eight foot ceilings. Okay. And what's your favorite height to play with? I love the 42 inch, especially in my dining room. I actually have a very large piece of art that my father-in-law gave us, but it's not like my exact style. And I put two pedestals on either corner kind of in front of it with vessels and it just kind of made it feel a little bit more... Hidden? Residential? Yeah. It made it feel like just more lived in. And I have some of our vessels on top and love selling it for the holidays.

29:00It's a very graphic piece of art. So I think softened it with some nature was really. Yeah. Okay. Sorry. I know y 'all both have kids. So obviously maybe this is not an issue, but I just picture like a child running into it. Oh, that's the first thing my dad sure. Oh, yeah. Yes, because he's protective of his grandkids. Yes, we've made them pretty sturdy, which, again, is why our backs are hurting. And, yeah, shipping them out is both. Yeah, we've played around with the weight being in all different areas of the pedestal, like the middle, the top, the bottom. And so we've really tested that out in so many different ways.

29:45And we're still continuing to improve upon our process, like, every day. um but we've definitely my children are very rambunctious um and mine no not to even don't go near the pedestal just with the like baby stroller like ramming into it you know um so we've we've tested them in our own homes with our crazy children i mean i figure you know if you've got several then they're probably yeah yes um we did consider that for sure they are pretty um pretty sturdy and yeah not unlike any other precious item in the house sure things get broken i just yeah i don't know it's more of the big lampshades in my house the um that always seem to be a magnet for any ball that's being thrown.

30:42Minus the marble like table top on like an antique piece of furniture that slides, you know, that's been my biggest scare with my children. Yeah. That marble's heavy. Yes. And when they not, I don't know. Yeah. We're trying to figure out how to secure this better. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I like that you mentioned that height is so important. I remember when I moved into my very first apartment, my mom gave me that piece of advice. She told me, you need to have something at every level. And I always found that a really hard piece of advice to put into practice because you've got drapes. Okay. I guess you have, yeah, you have wall art.

31:23At the time, I didn't really have that great of wall art. But maybe a tall bookcase, but you can't have more than one in a room. And so there was always sort of this, everything's low to the ground. and how do you bring more stuff up and to the pedestal is really kind of perfect. Yeah, I just feel like it's a very, and this ties back to designers really understanding its impact and it not being something that was quite as accessible to others outside the industry. But I feel like it's just a very sophisticated way to highlight a space that may otherwise just feel like just not supported and kind of blank and like you didn't care to, you know, acknowledge it was there.

32:11I feel like everyone has that in their house. Everyone has a place. They have like surveyed friends and family be like, this is a weird spot. What do I do here? So it's a great answer. That really was the aha moment of just being like, okay, I thought I came to meet the baby, but you should paint that, you know, some is bulky. and yeah it was always the same sort of just like space that felt it just deserved a little moment little more like a second look and like have you tried a pedestal and I would get kind of a blank stare I'm like hey remember that for when you have time to develop something in that space and we often talk about how every room needs something living like so many people come through here and But like every room just craves that, whether or not it's cut fresh florals, fresh branches, or if it is houseplants.