Ep. 465: Nathan Turner's New Book "I Love Decorating"

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 BallardDesigns.net. Now on with the show.

0:34Today we're joined by a designer who perfectly embodies American laid-back high-style design. As a fifth-generation California, his work is infused with sunny colors, natural textures, and bold, fun touches. He's a top interior designer, a lifestyle and entertaining expert, and you've likely seen him on the Today Show or in the pages of Architectural Digest and House Beautiful. He's already shared his passion for design in two of his best-selling books, American Style and I Love California. But today, he's here to talk about his highly anticipated third book, I Love Decorating, Creating Stylish, Thoughtful, and Personal Spaces.

1:12It takes us behind the scenes of his creative process, blending English bohemian influences with global inspiration. Please welcome to the show, Nathan Turner. Thank you. What a nice intro. Nathan, it is so exciting having you here, and this book is really fantastic. Oh, thank you. Thank you so much. Let's kind of start about your inspiration and your start into the world of interior design. Oh, my gosh. It kind of happened by accident, you guys. It was, it really, it's one thing that I always tell people starting out in any career, young people especially, to be open. Be open to opportunities and open to experiences.

2:00And don't ever close yourself off because you never know where it may lead. And because it's kind of what happened to me. I grew up in Northern California, and I went to college and studied business and economics, which was a crushing order. Like, I wanted to, like, throw myself off the Bay Bridge because I have very conservative, practical parents. And they said, you know, you can't go to college and get a degree in, like, basket weaving, which was always their thing. And I was like, you think you're funny, but like, I'd actually love that as a degree. I think I would have excelled at basket weaving.

2:44But I did that because, and I had no idea what I wanted to do. So I didn't even have an argument of like, well, I really feel strongly about this. So I did it. And I got actually a double major, which was like weird because when I realized how close I was to getting a degree in economics as well as business, I was like, oh, I'll just do that because I'm so close. So it was super boring. And to combat the boredom, I had learned about an international program that you kind of like did an international business degree. And so I understood that you had to go abroad. And I was like, oh, that sounds great.

3:26So I went to Italy. And I had already been studying Italian, and my Italian was pretty good, and to the University of Siena. And I had done, I'll take you back, I had done an exchange program in high school in Parma, Italy. So I was already like in my Italian era and loving it. And so this all made sense. And I did that and I loved it. And it was really fun and satisfying. And I was like doing on-campus interviews in Italy. And I remember getting a job offer from Piaggio, that scooter company. And I was telling my parents. And they're like, you have to come home. You realize that, right? I was like, no, no, no, no.

4:06I already have like, see, I see my Italian life. I'm not coming home. I'm like staying here. So I came home because I had a year left of school. And when I left college, I still had no idea what I wanted to do. And I was doing, you know, they had recruitment interviews come to campus. And I remember interviewing with like Deloitte and Touche and Chevron and like getting like high up in the interviews because I was a good interviewer. I was like great in the room. Obviously. And people, yeah, questionable, but I don't know how I got through this, that stuff. And I remember just being like, I don't want to do any of this.

4:48This all sounds really like not the right fit for me. And I moved to Southern California with like no idea what I wanted to do. I just finished, and I moved down to Southern California, and my parents had a beach house in Laguna Beach. We kind of grew up going there. And so, much to my parents' dismay, I moved into their beach house, which was a great life at 22 years old. And but I'm through my my mother. I met an antiques dealer in in San Juan Capistrano and he was doing a buying trip and I spoke Italian. So he said, oh, you could come be my assistant. and so we did the Parma Fair and then all the fairs in Europe and all the things and I was like wait a second this is a job you go to Europe and like go to France and England and Belgium and Italy and buy old crap and bring it back and sell it and like I'm like sign me up this is fantastic and so I worked for him for several years and Then, probably prematurely, decided to open up my own shop in Los Angeles.

6:12And I say that just because I had the aesthetic chops. I really had developed my eye and had an understanding of buying and putting things together. But, you know, I probably could have had a little bit more practical experience. I joke that I opened my store in September and by January I had no money. I had overspent on inventory and was like, oh, God, yeah. You're sleeping in the store now? Rent and other expenses. I forgot about those. I would get overzealous on buying trips. Um, but, you know, I figured it out. And, um, my, my original shop was this really charming little house and it had a fireplace and it had a little kitchen, which I like reinstalled the kitchen and I started cooking and doing dinners and lunches.

7:11And it garnered a lot of attention at the time. And back when we had a home section at the LA Times, shortly after it was this big giant cover story in the home section. This guy's cooking and having events, like dinners in his shop. And it was so funny because LA is so LA. and I would get calls and say, like, I'd like to book a table for two. And I'm like, oh, no, no, no, it's not like that. And then if you tell people no, they're like, all of a sudden the assistant calls back and they're like, I'm calling from so-and-so's office. And I was like, girl, it's not like that. Like, I'm not like trying to be coy or exclusive.

7:54It's just like a shop. Like, you just come in and shop and we'll be friends and I'll invite you. um so that was really funny and um the events went from like literally like my very first thing was like a dinner for like six decorators it went from that to like i'm tenting the whole inside of the shop in white gauze and putting a table down on the floor and doing like a turkish dinner like all these big fun events and um so the shop was really where everything started for me my my obviously my antique dealing career, my whole entertaining thing. And then I really think because the shop was a home and I kind of set it up that way, that it really gave people a sense of like my aesthetic.

8:45And so that's when people started like asking me, oh, I'd love to hire you to do my house. And I'm like, okay. And I had done my own and like, you know, helped friends. But again, going back to what I said earlier, I'm not like, I'm an adventurous yes kind of person. So I was, even though I was maybe a little nervous or like, I don't know how to really do this, but like, I'll figure it out. And that's how I started decorating. So it all kind of just like fell into each other. And it sounds like much more simple than that because it came with a ton of hard work. But yeah, it wasn't something I didn't go to design school.

9:32I never had the practical experience of working for like a big design firm, which, you know, I feel two ways about it. sometimes I'm really envious, like, to have missed out on that, like, experience of what it's like to just have gone into this knowing how to, like, run a big job, interface with clients, billing, all that stuff. But then the other, like, I try to think on the positive is, like, sometimes it's really hard to get out from underneath the shadow of working from somebody. And so I didn't, I just was like, me, I just always did my own thing. So whether it's good or bad, I, you know, have figured out.

10:16Well, I think it's worked out for you following your instincts. It's really worked out. And this book in particular, you're showcasing projects that you've worked on all over the globe. Yes, it's really crazy. I think this has worked out for you. Yeah. That part is really something that wasn't, you know, on my bingo card to be working in like all over Asia. I work a lot in Asia. I recently finished a giant job in Sydney, the islands. Like, it's really fun and interesting and exciting and really challenging at times. Like, customs and containers and, you know, all that stuff that comes with it.

11:10All the logistics. Yeah. But, okay, so you've worked on all of these projects that are all over the globe. I've got to say, not one of them looks the same. And you have a really incredible way of dialing into who's living in these spaces and where they're located. Can you talk just a little bit about how you're able to get to know your clients and the location so well? that's a great point because it's something that i learned early on in the decorating part of my career that this process is not about me per se you know what i mean it's like my job is to take the home and the people that are going to be living in the home and give them the best version and use my skill set to do that.

12:08So, you know, I don't, I have a look, like this is my office and I love, probably, you know, because I started in antiques, I love collecting, I love things. Minimalist, I am not, personally. And so when I get a job that the client has that same kind of taste or aesthetic or likes that kind of collected look, I'm really excited because it's very easy for me to lean into. But again, like you're not going to see, like open the book and see everything kind of has the same vibe to it because of that. So I'm not going to do this in Singapore where it's like the first time I ever went to Singapore to meet a client, it was smoldering, like humid and hot.

13:01And I was planning my next site visit and everything. And I said, well, when does it cool down? And thinking that's when I'll come back. And my client started laughing. She's like, it doesn't. We're basically on the equator. It doesn't. This is it. This is what it's like all the time. So because of that, like, I'm never going to do like, you know, like the New York apartment in my book with like upholstered walls and velvet sofas and deep colors. Everything needs to feel light in a place like Singapore. But it's also incredibly sophisticated. I mean, it's one of the banking centers of the world, and it's such an international hub that the people, my clients included, are wildly sophisticated, interesting people.

13:49So it's a funny line of like being colorful and relaxed, but at a certain level. So this is what I'm thinking about constantly when I'm working on projects in different places. Well, let's talk a little bit more about the Singapore spaces, because there are two of them that you did. And am I right in that they're the same client? Same client. And I've done probably 10 projects for this client. And it's really fun when you get to be super, like you have a shorthand with clients. And this happened with us. And I've worked with multiple members of this family. And I've done their offices and vacation homes.

14:43And so, yeah, the main apartment is, and I feel like a lot of my Singapore clients, nobody lives there full time. It's kind of an in and out kind of situation. There's a bigger apartment, and then there's a small apartment, which was really fun to do because it's like her office slash closet. So we converted most of the bedrooms into like rolling racks of like one of the most incredible, I'm like, who am I kidding? One of the most impressive wardrobe I've ever seen in my life. And so that's fun. It's fun to do like different, you know, take spaces and transform them into very specific uses for specific people that like maybe isn't the norm.

15:35Yeah, I just thought that one was so fun because the main living, the main apartment condo space, I don't know, penthouse. I mean, it's incredible. It is so incredible. And I love how you took the fact that you are on the equator and it's warm and amazing all the time or hot all the time, and you put the dining room out on the balcony. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

16:30see them using it for dinners and such more than like going out there and lounging like on a sofa so because i feel like they're going to use it more at night anyway when it does like cool down um yeah so that that was um always looking to maximize spaces no matter where i am you know yeah and then i found it so fun to like see the other side of the personality in the in the other space. But one thing that I really love about this book is that at the end of every project, you walk us through the highs and the lows of every project that you've worked on, but then you give us your favorite places to visit.

17:17And so the book becomes interior design plus fantastic stories, plus a bit of a travelogue of your favorite spots in the cities. um what brought that about well it's very similar format to I Love California my last book where I focused on different parts of the state and then I would kind of I didn't give the back the behind the scenes but I would always give my favorite things in said city but when we started laying this out um we knew we wanted to kind of try and and mimic that format a little bit but it really came from the fact of like, I thought I wanted to make it a little bit diary-like and share my experiences because I do think it's a little unique to work in a place like Jakarta, Indonesia, or go down to Turks and Caicos, or, you know, it wasn't like I'm an LA-based designer and most of my work's in California, you know, so I've had so much fun.

18:22Hi, listeners. If this episode has inspired you to tackle a project in your own home, we want to help with a special offer just for podcast fans we know how exciting it is to bring your vision to life whether you're updating a room or starting a refresh you'll find everything you need to create a space that feels uniquely yours as a thank you for listening enjoy 20 off plus free shipping on your next order with the code podcast 20 visit ballard design.com to get started your dream home is just a click away use podcast 20 for 20 off plus free shipping codes not combinable with other offers. See terms and conditions for details.

18:55All right, happy decorating. Let's get back to the show.

19:00Working in these places and had so many crazy like adventures and incidents and things go right and things go really wrong. So I thought, you know, I'm going to like bring people along for the ride with some of this stuff. And because when you are working, I've been working with, you know, clients in Singapore and Indonesia for 12 years now. So I know I have some good info. I have some good intel on like what I like to do there. And if you, you know, if you are going, like I have a pretty good list. Okay, that's awesome. So it begs the question, if you were going someplace not for work, where would you go?

19:40Oh, gosh. You know, probably the Californian in me loves Mexico. we go to Mexico a lot there's a hotel that I was just at recently that we go try and get to at least once a year called Hacienda San Antonio and it's an 18th century coffee plantation that's a hotel and it's aesthetically one of the most beautiful places I've ever been and it's just the whole vibe of it is so me, my family we're cattle ranchers from Northern California so I love to be able to get on a horse and be out in the country. And so that really ticks all those boxes. I love Mexico City in Mexico also. We go to Scandinavia a lot.

20:31We go to Sweden and Denmark. That's a summer favorite of mine, which isn't necessarily the norm because most people like to be in warmer water and the temps go above 75. But to me, I love that. I love, like, I don't mind having to put on, like, a sweater and go to the beach in July. But I love the whole, I also love the whole, like, aesthetic of Scandinavia, the food, the furniture, the design. So that's always very satisfying for me, too. Well, I think we need a full travelogue. This book is just a great, like, dip into all the places that you've traveled and all the places where you've done incredible work.

21:22the other thing that you talked about I mentioned that you kind of go into the highs and lows of of all of these projects and you know I was wondering you know and by that I mean like you're highlighting some of the issues and layouts or budgets or you know the real the real life constraints that are happening in design and in these projects I'm wondering do you think that you thrive in those kind of environments? And is there any challenge that really sticks out of you when you think of like, oh my gosh, how am I going to get out of this one? And then you hit it out of the park. You know, it's just, I always say to people that are starting with me in the office that I just need to remind you that basically decorators were just problem solvers.

22:17That's all that like it comes down to. Like no matter how on top of your game you are, and we're on our game here. We're like, I have an amazing team. It's just the nature of the business because you have, you cannot prevent human error. And if you take, look at one piece of furniture, like a sofa, and you look at the process from the shopping for the fabric to ordering the fabric to the fabric being delivered to then the sofa being made and then the trim arriving and then all the things and then it has to be delivered and then how many hands touch this one thing and then you times that by a gazillion in a big old house.

23:00Things are going to happen. Things are going to happen. So my whole like, you know, motto, whatever you want to call it, is don't flip out and solve the problem. You know what I mean? And this is how I feel about vendors that we work with. I detest when it's like people are scrambling to find the blame. Who's at fault? Who's going to fall on the sword for this? because if it's my fault, the first thing I'm going to say is, oh my God, you guys, I'm such an idiot. I ordered the wrong fabric or whatever it is, or they cut the wrong fabric or whatever it is. Okay. That's figured out. Great. Ultimately, who cares?

23:51Because the bigger question is how do we fix it? And how quickly can we fix it? Because I need this piece in two weeks. So if you stand by me and you fix it, and, you know, obviously if there's costs involved, that part you figure out or you split it or whatever it is, I will work with you forever because we're in this together. We're all like, this will happen again, you know, and not because somebody's being, you know, somebody slipped up or it's just stuff happens. so I am not a screamer I mean it makes me laugh even because I know so many I've a lot of stories of hearing like you know decorators that are lunatics that scream at people not me not my vibe I just want to fix it so um you know that's a huge part of what we do is like having the skill set to jump in and problem solve.

24:53So without that, I don't think you can really excel in this world because like I said, it's kind of inevitable. Yeah. No, that's really great life advice too. You know, you just got to keep moving. It's like recognize what's going on and keep moving. I think my team knows that the bigger the smile, the bigger the problem. I'm like, okay, Let's sit. Let's get moving. Yes, I know. It's just not, it's also not worth it. It's like, it's not worth it. I am not a, like, stress-prone person. You know, there are bigger fish to fry, you know, in the scheme of things. So let's just keep rolling, you know?

25:41Well, thank you for your honesty in the book. It made for a really, really great read. How do your clients deal with that, speaking on the other side? So I know it sounds, you know, from your side, something gets messed up in office. You chill it. Cool. Let's fix. But how do you work with your clients to make that work, too? Same. Tell them to. You know, to be perfectly honest with you, most of the time they don't even. That's when you're doing your best work. You know what I mean? It's like that's like that's our job. Like they are hiring us to facilitate this entire process. So I am not going to come to them unless there has been such a delay with something.

26:19And I'm not even going to get into it with them. I'm not going to tell them, like, someone ordered the wrong fabric or somebody did X, Y, Z. Because, again, like, that's my job is to, like, diffuse all of this stuff. If it's a situation where then, okay, said item is not going to be in the install when we install their house and they move in, I just explained to them. There was a huge problem. We have fixed it. And that piece will come in two weeks after you move it. You know what I mean? And if it's something that's like an important piece, like a nightstand, before I even tell them, we've like bought something from Ikea and we put it next to their bed.

27:00And so there's something, you know what I mean? Like we're never going to just leave an empty spot. and I buy it myself. And you know what I mean? So it's like I'm not charging them for that. It's like this was on us or on somebody else. So we do everything in our power to keep them out of it. So you start this book by taking a tour of your own home. Yeah. And you have the most warm and loving living room that is in a beautiful pink. Yes, I finally got a pink. I always wanted a pink living room. And I finally got a pink living room. Everybody looks good in pink. They do. And that, I think it's Calamine Pink by Farron Ball, is at least in the California light, because I know things look different everywhere.

27:47It's just perfect. I really love it. It is such a great room. And I just want to kind of double back on some of the things that you mentioned in the book. You're even honest about, you know what, I put the wrong drapery panels in there. I did. But the draper panels that you have in there now are absolutely perfect. See, they needed there. I knew it. You know, I, as a decorator, people always ask, like, you know, is it like the shoemaker's children with your own homes? And it's kind of the opposite for me. Like, I have I make decisions too quickly sometimes because I just am such a machine and I just like go, go, go.

28:24And I trust my instincts. But sometimes I make a mistake because I didn't think it out with a client. it, I'm never that fast. I will put, you know, I'm like, okay, wait a second. Let me think about this for a second. Let me look at this. And then I marinate and then I come back. I'm like, yes, let's da-da-da. Myself, I'm like, okay, this, this, this, and that. And that's what happened in the living room. And I just, it didn't have enough like weight to it. And we got, we made them, put them up, everything. And I was like, and the second they went up, I was like, okay, I made a mistake. But, you know, nothing goes to waste.

29:01Those are in the guest room. They're fine. They look great. You know, but I really appreciate you sharing that. And like, it really does feel like your home is the designer's laboratory. Always. Yeah. So I'm wondering what is going on in your house right now? What's bringing you joy? What are you experimenting with in your own home? um well right now i'm kind of all about outside um i've just uh was just this morning drove down from ojai we kind of live between la and ojai california and um we are having an unusually hot spring it's been in the 80s and 90s um so everything's just like bursting very very early Like, we have some orange trees and grapefruit trees, so all the orange blossoms are out.

29:53And it's my favorite thing. That's my favorite scent, period, is orange blossom. It's just like, I can't get enough. So I've been spending a lot of time outside. We have a really great outdoor kitchen in Ojai. So I've been kind of fussing out there with the garden and, like, changing some stuff. And really unglamorous stuff, like power washing or swimming pool. And yes, I do it myself. You know, so I've been like very outdoor focused. Yeah, I think most everybody is right now. I know I spent the entire weekend outside just trying to make everything in that extra space that we have just so wonderful and it expands your home and expands your life to be able to have something outside.

30:38I mean, it's like my favorite art. I actually love the decorating process when you get to outdoor spaces, because I always tell people to like, you have to treat them like rooms. You have to like create different sitting areas for different activities, like make sure you have shade, you know, accessorized through like potted plants and trees and found cool like elements. We totally live outdoors. And when we put in our outdoor kitchen. I was like, I want an outdoor kitchen. I don't want like a barbecue. I have a range with like an oven and a gas stove top. And like, I am like cooking and my friends call me grandma because I'll do like, I just put up a huge batch of orange marmalade and you know, like I do, I do canning.