Ep. 461: The "Rusticator" Lifestyle with Laura Keeler Pierce

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.

0:33Last night, you spent two hours deciding what to wear to the party. This morning, it'll take you two minutes to list it on Depop and make your money back. Just grab your phone, snap a few photos, and we'll take care of the rest. The sheer dress and platform heels you'll never wear again? There's a birthday girl searching for them right now. Your one-and-done look is about to pay for your next night out. or at least the right home. Your style can make you cash. Start selling on Depop, where taste recognizes taste. Our guest today is Laura Keeler-Purse, the founder of the New England-based design firm Keeler & Co.

1:10Under her leadership, the firm creates spaces that thoughtfully connect contemporary living with heritage design sensibilities. Whether she's designing a private residence or an iconic commercial space like the Claremont Hotel in Maine. Her projects are always rooted in history, rich with narrative, and deeply connected to their sense of place. She's a recipient of the prestigious New England Home 5 Under 40 Award, and alongside her husband is the co-founder of the beautiful home furnishing shop Rusticator in Seal Harbor. Laura, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so delighted to be with you both this afternoon.

1:47I always love to hear people's journey into interior design. So let's start there. How did you get into interiors and where's, talk about your passions? Yeah, it's such a great question. It's been a really meandering road for me. I, my parents are originally from the UK and they moved over here just before I was born. And I spent a lot of my youth, all of my youth moving around. And so I think I'd lived in like 16 different houses before I graduated from high school, which was quite remarkable and all over North America. And when it came time to then go to college, I was highly ambitious and thought that I was going to be pre-med and a bio major.

2:35And, you know, time went on over the years. I ultimately graduated with just an art history degree and went into the world thinking that I was going to do something sort of creative adjacent, though really I had pursued the art degree because I enjoyed painting and the sort of physical creation of things. And coming out of school, I went into the art world in New York City, as you do with an art history degree. And then I decided that I wanted to do something a touch more creative and found myself in event planning. Eventually, that transitioned to fundraising in education, which is something I have always been passionate about on the volunteer side.

3:23And after a few years in that, I realized I had deviated from the creativity. And so I went back to school. I went to RISD in Providence and got my certificate in interior design. And I remember the first day going back to school, there's something really special about going back to school is sort of like, oh, I'm going to try this in a professional way versus just like going to school for going to school. And I did something I'd never done before, which is I sat in the middle of the front row. And I remember spending the entire time sort of like eating up everything that my teacher was saying.

4:06It was an intro to interior design class 101. And I left being sort of like, how do I do more of this? And so I proceeded to sort of figure out how to leave the fundraising world and go full-time and really jump into school. And two years later, graduated with a certificate in interior design. And having zero intention of starting my own business, a dear friend of mine reached out about a project, a renovation that she was doing in Boston and asked if we would help. And I said yes. And here we are almost nine years later. Sure. So and so I guess what I should probably circle back to is that like moving 16 different times before I graduated from high school, because I think that, you know, looking back, my parents always built a new house or renovated something.

5:12thing. And so I grew up being dragged to like the fireplace supply store or, you know, somewhere to look at light fixtures. Like lighting stores were so boring growing up. But I was always sort of around the sawdust of a construction site and trailing behind my parents as they were picking finishes and my mom would let me decorate my room. And so looking back, I'm like, oh, So it really maybe does make sense that this is where ultimately I landed. I love that because, you know, so much of what we of what we experience, you know, as little people ends up informing who we are. And I love that kind of tying back to to those experiences.

5:56And also, I think, you know, looking at your body of work, it's really interesting that your parents are from England because I feel like there's such an English sensibility. to your work in kind of the heritage aspect, the mixing of patterns, the very kind of comfortable feeling of your spaces. But you definitely bring an American modern twist to it, which I think is really fun. Thank you for saying that. I really resonate with the English sort of design sensibility And that idea of collecting over time and, you know, maybe sort of doing something once and then tweaking it over the year. And that's really sort of how our we've like approached our own home.

6:49and when I'm thinking about working with clients we're trying to bring that same level of like story and history that comes with having things that have been around for forever and were passed down and sort of landed in that spot and or you know refinished or painted to be brought into the world in a new with new life that are ultimately something that that's been rooted in the place for a long time. And it's funny going back to the UK. We go back all the time. My family is still there. And a lot of the wonderful crafts people that we work with are over there. And, you know, you go into these truly English spaces and their tolerance for the imperfection is so high.

7:40I'm always like, can you imagine if we as Americans put like a row of four square tiles with no edge piece around them as a backsplash on a sink, we would be shot, right? Like I'd be out of business. But you go over there and it's like so charming and wonderful and delightful. And everyone is, you know, walks out of the bathroom and they're like, that was so cute. And so it's that constant tension between like how much of that like imperfection can we bring to our work? And does that like American market have the appetite for and how much of it is like, well, this really does need to sit extra comfortably or the trim needs to be perfectly placed or whatever it is.

8:26It's a fun balance. Those details are really amazing. And so talk to me a little bit more about some of the details you think make a space perfectly imperfect. One of the things that we are really lucky to often have the opportunity to work with, we work on a lot of multi-generational family homes, especially in Maine, but sort of all over the East, up and down the East Coast. and oftentimes those houses come with treasures you know they come with this slew of things that the family's been living with or even many times when families are buying them outright they're not inheriting them they're still coming with furniture because the family couldn't figure out what to do or that comes with the sale.

9:16And to me, one of my favorite places to do that sort of initial shop for a project is in the home itself and going through what's already living there and what can we keep and save. We've recently renovated a family house up here, my family, and it was a new to us house, new to our family, but it came with a lot of wonderful pieces and part of the charm was going through and being like, okay, which twin beds are going to stay? And do they stay? You know, are we going to paint them? Do we refresh them? Or are they, you know, brand new? And, oh, wait, we've kept these ones and they had a custom size mattress that came with it.

10:03So I guess we're keeping that too. But it is, it's for me, so much of that story and collecting comes from retaining the old and then being really sensitive about the new that comes in and making sure that we're allowing for things to function beautifully and have that appropriate conversation that's happening amongst the pieces. And we're very sort of layered with textiles. And so often there can be that layering that happens around the pieces themselves that have lived this life. What are some of the things, kind of taking off of that, like what are some of the things that you think about when you're layering patterns or textures or kind of bringing some life and history and personality into your spaces?

10:58One of the things that I think really allows for us to be successful in the layering process is kind of thinking about the story of who is there and the reason why they're there, and then understanding the appetite for, you know, what they want this place to represent. And I'll use Maine as an example just because I'm in Maine at the moment. So much of our work is here. And our corner of Maine, Mount Desert Island, is where Bar Harbor is, among others. sort of summer classic summer cottage classic summer village enclaves filled with summer cottages and um bar harbor used to rival newport in the gilded age for sort of summer colony and so there's this rich history of decorating on mdi and so we're trying to understand with our projects and our clients okay how traditional do you want this to feel and are you up for all of those beautiful classic florals everywhere, the wallpapers, the sort of trim on trim on trim, that sort of more refined way of decorating a summer cottage?

12:21Or does this mean to you something that's much more simple? Is our use of layering color and pattern something that we're doing in maybe a more, a larger scale versus the small scale. And so what I mean by that is, are we really looking at how these rooms play together and the layers that come within a room? And so maybe it's a little less maximalist, but we're getting those layers in a different way versus that sort of traditional approach where it really was like more is more and more and It's so wonderful. We can't get enough of it. It's so interesting because I feel like maximalism has been such a big theme for a while now.

13:11And now I feel like the term I keep hearing is minimalism, where it's not quite over the top, full of everything. And it's not quite minimal, but it's kind of an in-between space that's a little bit more. and I think your work kind of fits within that where there are some really kind of modern pieces or modern colors or a twist on things that end up being layered in with things that would be traditionally maximalism. I totally agree, Liz, about the minimalism thing but I was just, I fell in love with your Northeast Harbor house the one in your portfolio and you know everything you said Liz about it it does have a lot of layering but it doesn't feel it doesn't feel maximalist and it doesn't feel overwrought and I was also struck by just how coastal it felt despite the fact there weren't a ton of those you know coastal tropes that you kind of lean many many houses kind of have within them not not necessarily that that's a bad thing but I kept thinking, why does this house feel coastal?

14:26Because I can't put my finger on any one thing that makes it feel that way. So I was curious if you have thoughts on maybe what, there were certain things that maybe I, after digging in, felt like, oh, maybe it's this, maybe this. But I'm curious what you think gives your client spaces a coastal feel. When I think about coastal, it's really hard for me to separate coastal from the sort of specific location of the home and like what coastal. and so you know coastal and hope sound florida is so different from coastal in on cape cod and so different from coastal and on mount desert island and that northeast harbor house is situated right in town just up from the harbor peaks over the trees to the boats beyond but you can also get on your bicycle there and you can be in acadia national park within five minutes and up a mountain on your hiking shoes and, you know, maybe 10 or 15 minutes.

15:35And so part of the kind of magic of being in Northeast Harbor is that proximity to ocean and mountain and sort of the culture of coastal is getting out on the water, on the boat, going and picnicking, and then it's getting outside and into the park. And so when we thought about that project in particular, I think you really, I mean, the easiest thing to do is to take advantage of the place and the outdoors and the color palette that comes from the view out the window. And I think you really see that in that house, the blues and the greens, and they're not those tropical blues and greens. They're those muted sort of main blues and greens that feel sort of tranquil on a foggy day and feel sort of bright and airy on a sunny summer day.

16:33And those particular clients are here not just in the summer, they come up in the winter as well. And so we wanted to make sure that that house felt, had the joie de vivre of being a summer house, because that's their reason for being here primarily, but had the comfort and sort of felt like a retreat the way that you want a winter house to feel. One of my favorite parts of that house that I think is just such a nice sort of subtle nod to the coast is there's a television in their family room that is concealed, and it's concealed by these two wave panels. They're Gracie wallpaper panels that you open them, and you get the reveals the TV, you can watch football, whatever, close them and they go away.

17:23And that Japanese wave motif, I think, speaks to what's happening outside. It also speaks to, you know, some of the collections that the clients have and, you know, the sort of classic Asian influence that I think for a lot of folks really resonates when they think about what they grew up with. And so how do you have a updated version of that? You don't necessarily want your grandmother's China surrounding you all the time. Maybe you do, but how do we take sort of a piece of that, an element of that, and create an updated way of living and experiencing that? Yeah, I think the palette is what gives it that coastal vibe.

18:14And I was just, I just loved every single, there were so many shades of blue, and they were so muted and muddy, like you said. But there were also lots of shades of green, and sometimes they sort of blended together. And so it was kind of hard in places to be like, is that blue, is that green? There's a little bit of both. What is your, what are sort of your guidelines when you're pulling colors? Did you know there's a Ballard Designs store near you? If you haven't already, now is a great time to go check out our store in person. We've just done a total makeover of all of our showrooms in preparation for spring, and we'd love for you to come see all of our new items in person.

18:55You can pick up swatches, test out all of our seating, and talk to one of our free interior design consultants about your latest decorating project. If you're curious where there's a Ballard Designs store near you, just head to our website and look in the top right corner for all of our store locations. And when you come see us in person, be sure to tell them that the podcast sent you. All right, let's get back to the show.

19:19Of what works together and, you know, what's going to maybe fight one another. I kind of feel like anything can go.

19:32it's it just always needs a friend and so we're really thinking about okay if we want to introduce and I think one of the challenges with that house in particular is you know our clients love blue they also love green and how do we not overuse them and you know end up with a house where you walk around and you're like every every room feels the same but and so that you'll see a lot of different shades because of that reason. But when I'm thinking about color, I mean, we're pretty fearless with it. And to me, it's really just finding a friend for it within the space. And sometimes that's as simple as a wood tone, which is going to offset like a little bit of yellow or a little bit of orange.

20:18And sometimes it's being a little bit more literal. We have a project that we finished a year ago in Hope Sound, Florida, that is sort of that Florida coastal. And that has a lot of those very vibrant blues and greens. Our clients came to us with a pretty fun art collection as well. And we partnered with a dear friend of mine, Hadley Powell, who owns a fine art advisory, and she helped to fill in a lot of the pieces there. And there was this constant color that we were seeing in the art, this like pop of coral. And so we were like, how do we pull this in? Because this feels like we're getting that like really fun, playful accent that allows us to celebrate where we are, why we're here.

21:10We're here because we want to, you know, get outside and have fun and be together as a family. And it's sort of like this energetic home. And so we really took advantage of that. Like the sconces have the pop of coral, the pendants over the kitchen island have the pop of coral. And so it was sort of this way of getting out of that like classic blue and green, which we all know really jives in these places and sort of saying, well, what else can live here without being too trite? I'd love to talk a little bit about the Claremont Hotel that you worked on. I know that's a space that Taryn, who couldn't join us today, was talking about and has just said it's like the talk of the area.

21:56It's a beautiful space. It's very different than the Claremont Hotel here in Atlanta. And if you know, you know. But the Claremont Hotel in Maine is just, it's such a beautiful space. What are some of the things that you thought about with that hotel? And what are some of the things that you thought about differently about the hotel versus private residence? One of the things, so the Claremont is this, it's sort of like one of the Grand Dom hotels on Mount Desert Island. It's overlooking some sound sort of at the mouth of the sound. And so it's overlooking all of these outer islands and the Hinkley Boat Yards are nearby.

22:41So there's all sorts of lobster boats, sailboats, every, there's all kinds of activity happening around it. Um, it's history is, uh, as a place that people would come year after year to spend summer, uh, with famous for its croquet courts. And, um, and it had really sort of become a little bit tired. And I was so delighted and also slightly petrified when, um, we were approached to help with the interiors because it really is one of those properties that means so much to so many people. There's generations and generations of people who have celebrated weddings and birthdays and milestone events there.

23:28And as soon as you start working on it, you realize how many more of them there are. They all come out of the woodwork. and so it was a big sort of I felt a big weight on our shoulders to make sure that we really got it right but one of the things that I am just kind of obsessed with and I think have always been primarily due to the moving around growing up is this idea of place and the role that place plays within an interior and how it informs the design. And to me, Mount Desert Island is a place where it has that rich history of decorating. It has that the mountains meet the sea. It has this sort of culture of gardening and celebrating the outside world.

24:19And so how do we take all of these different elements and create a space that is worthy of being the backdrop for, you know, multiple generations of celebrations that are going to happen and continue to happen there. And so to me, again, we, you know, the first thing we did was we shopped the hotel and, you know, it's like, okay, this dresser looks like it's just fine. Let's paint it and pop it in. But it was really so informed by what was here. And when it came time to sort of the tactical side of it, I spent a lot of time thinking about how do we incorporate things that really say Maine. So a lot of the wallpaper throughout the hotel is from Sister Parish.

25:11And Sister Parish has that beautiful home on Islesboro, which is not too far from us here. You'll see William Morris. William Morris is found in a lot of those old Bar Harbor homes. You'll see it's sort of vestiges of it that still live on. So really kind of thinking about how we can incorporate that. And then that layered sensibility, I mean, how do you take the idea of nostalgia and, I don't know, there's like a sweetness and a sort of, I don't know, innocence to summer. And it was how do we embody that? And I think it's colorful fabrics and prints that are playful and not being afraid of a little bit of patina.

26:03We were really fortunate to have great collaborators in the client. Their creative director, Krista Stokes, was really fun to work with. And it really kind of like allowed for this creative explosion to happen. You know, I think about the bar at the Claremont and the idea it's called Harry's Bar. It's really kind of this like cozy, it's like the perfect bar for a foggy day. It's this cozy sort of ship captain-y. You can imagine someone coming off the water and coming in for their drink and, you know, creating this handsome, warm space that's totally covered in these incredible collected things that Krista found throughout her journeys up and down the coast of Maine.

26:52It really is just such a delight to be able to come into a place and find a place to nestle and really sort of speak to that like Maine weather and then also find a place to sort of have the like whimsical moments where you just feel like you're away from it all too. Your work has so many like bright colors that kind of pair into kind of these darker, more masculine tones. And it's, there's always an element of surprise, I feel like, in all of the spaces that I see from your portfolio on up in Maine. What are some of the things that you're thinking about too? I mean, with that storied of a space, you want to use traditional fabrics, but you also have to make sure that it's super durable, right?

27:45How do you find that balance and what are you looking for in some of the more of the durability for those pieces? Yeah, well, we know a lot about fire certs coming out of that project. You know, we recently had the opportunity to work on a social club just outside of Boston and one that has a membership that is using it very heavily. And so materials were of the utmost importance, you know, they're going in and with all of these commercial properties, you know, the investment is huge and you kind of get one shot at doing it. It's a sort of not going to come around for another 50 years. And so it's really, really important that whatever we're putting into that place is going to live up to the lifespan or the required lifespan of that project.

28:40And so I find that it can be helpful to use dark colors. It can be helpful to use a light pattern, like a plaid is more forgiving than a solid. And I do think patterns actually work to our advantage because they completely distract your eye. But it was really fun with the Claremont thinking about how do we, you know, our go-tos are often like a nice linen cotton blend and everything is treated or cleanable or depending on the family's lifestyle, you know, we don't have to overthink it. And it was really fun to be challenged to have to look at these more commercially rated materials and how do we integrate them and not lose the lightness and brightness of really a summer place.

29:36did you find the options limiting at all? You know, that you, as an interior designer, I feel like, especially with, you know, to the trade, there's just endless options for pattern and color and you can get custom colors. And, you know, I imagine the contract options have improved a lot, but, you know, it might, was it an adjustment? Definitely. It is limiting in a way that it's, you know, if we wanted to go out there and use, sort of everything off the roll that we wanted to, you know, with a residential house, you can. I will say that it's pretty incredible when you want something created, how willing people are to step up and make it happen.

30:23And so, and really have to credit our vendors and the lines that we work with regularly when we said, you know, this would be the perfect headboard. How do we make it happen and how do we make it both fire rated and live up to, you know, years of use. Oh, we just print it differently and we'll, you know, we're happy to do that for you. And so I was really grateful for that. It really, that helped us out a lot. Yeah, I was wondering about that because you had like some of the headboards that you use are so beautiful and have that William Morris or William Morris-esque design on them. But I think all of those tips are really great to think about for our own homes, too.

31:07Like, and think about, you know, bringing pattern in on those high traffic areas or, you know, thinking about materials that are a little bit more durable. Are there any other things that you would bring into a high traffic home? And I would say, like, don't be afraid of the patina. If you go back to that English sentiment that we were talking about earlier, nothing is too perfect. and I sort of feel like it's a joy to live with these things and truly live with them. And I have a three-year-old, so I'm really learning that. And it's part of the story when, you know, the mug gets left on the table a little longer than it should have without a coaster.

31:56That's part of our story now. and I will say we're pretty good with coasters, which I'm very grateful for. But I think, you know, in terms of objects and things that are really usable, we also like to just stick with your, you know, like a wool carpet is going to hold up to the test. It's going to stay in the test of time. And so, you know, we are always thinking about can we buy it once, do it once, do it right. buy something that's going to hold up that you can clean easily and use materials that are not necessarily the things that are, I don't know, going to deteriorate over time. Liz, you mentioned this, and Laura, I love this in your work.