Latest / Around the House with Eric G®: Home Improvement Remodeling & DIY / Fall Decorating Trends: Warm Lighting, Rich Colors & Smart Home Tips (with Designer Wendy Glaister)
Transcript
- 0:10Ready to turn your house into the home you've always dreamed of without the headaches or huge bills.
- 0:16You're tuned to around the House, the nation's number one home improvement radio show and podcast with expert advice that's helped millions tackle everything from remodels to repairs.
- 0:27Hosts Eric G.
- 0:28And John Dudley have got you covered with the best advice and information about your home.
- 0:34Now let's get this hour started.
- 0:37Welcome to the around the House show, your trusted source for everything about your home.
- 0:41I'm Eric G.
- 0:42Thanks for joining me today.
- 0:43We have got another great episode and Wendy Glasester from Wendy Glacier Interiors is back.
- 0:49Welcome back to the show, my friend.
- 0:51Thank you, Eric.
- 0:51I appreciate being invited back.
- 0:53Thank you so much for having me.
- 0:55We always have so much fun and you and I here.
- 0:59Boy.
- 1:00Last month got to contribute on an article with Parade magazine and it was really fun to compare notes after that was published.
- 1:09Yes.
- 1:10And we had a lot of them that were in common as well, which I thought was pretty funny.
- 1:15Yeah, absolutely.
- 1:16Because as we go into fall, it's just absolutely crazy actually how early some of the trends show up in the stores.
- 1:24It's like as soon as July 4th is over, all of a sudden everything's on closeout and the fall stuff's in the store.
- 1:30And I'm like, are we doing Halloween, Labor Day?
- 1:32I guess we are.
- 1:33That's just retail now.
- 1:34I think it's just that way.
- 1:36And I think.
- 1:37I don't know if you've noticed this, but we have a really darling store in our area called Sweet 52 Living and they go big for holidays.
- 1:46And the second all that fall stuff was out, I walked in the store and it was like, oh, this is so pretty.
- 1:55It feels so cozy.
- 1:59With everything going on in the world, it just felt like more and better than usual.
- 2:06I don't know if that makes sense at all.
- 2:08It does.
- 2:09Yeah.
- 2:09It was just like, oh, we made it to fall.
- 2:11We can make an apple pie.
- 2:14Pretty soon we can have friendsgiving or something nice to celebrate just being buddies and being together.
- 2:21Where I think this year in particular that is more meaningful than it has felt in the past.
- 2:28I agree.
- 2:29And I think some of it that that has highlighted that even much more so is just because the colors are back.
- 2:35And when I say that is is we've lived in a decade and change of grayish.
- 2:40Yeah.
- 2:41I'm in the Pacific Northwest, so as soon as October 1st comes around, it's the rainy season usually for us.
- 2:46So between then and June is we count Days of sunlight on her two hands usually.
- 2:54So when you have the house, it's gray too.
- 2:57It's not comfortable?
- 3:00No, no.
- 3:01I think.
- 3:02I think there's a heaviness in the world is a little more pronounced than in the past.
- 3:10So it's almost like we have to intentionally work at keeping our homes and environments more uplifting and more filled with cheerful things and maybe nostalgic things or things that give us comfort more than before because we just.
- 3:28There's just this uncertainty that human beings just don't like.
- 3:33And so I think fall is a great way to kind of recapture those cozy feelings and the feelings of safety that we all wish we had every day.
- 3:44Totally.
- 3:45I think there's so many things with that that just makes it feel like home.
- 3:51And when you're getting a little less daylight, the sun's coming up later and the evenings end earlier outside.
- 4:01Having a place inside that's warm and cozy that is your kind of place of solitude, I think is mentally healing.
- 4:09I agree.
- 4:10Yeah, I have a hard time.
- 4:12I don't know if this has happened to you, but when I come home from a really long day at work and it's dark at 4:30 in the afternoon and I walk into a dark house, it just.
- 4:23And cold, dark, cold house just really does not help me.
- 4:29So I've done a lot of things putting things on timers, putting even candles that have.
- 4:35They're not lighted candles, but the flicker battery candles, all on timers, the lamps, the heater, the any.
- 4:44And the second I walk in, I turn on my little gas fireplace or my little electric fireplace so that I have that flame.
- 4:51Just because it's.
- 4:53It can get to you.
- 4:54You really have to be intentional about trying to develop habits that keep you feeling cozier.
- 5:02Wendy, I need to help you get the smart home set up.
- 5:04So when you.
- 5:05And you hit the I'm home button,.
- 5:08It goes like this.
- 5:11The fireplace is already.
- 5:13The heat is already on.
- 5:15I'm ready.
- 5:15It's cozy.
- 5:17The lights are down, not too bright, but right where you want them.
- 5:21And that way you've got that just beautiful entry that's for you.
- 5:25Yeah.
- 5:26So when you do that, do you use Control 4?
- 5:28You can, but you can also do some stuff with much more consumer friendly products.
- 5:35So Control four and those guys easy.
- 5:38You can even do some of that stuff with some of the basic smart home stuff.
- 5:42If you put the Lutron casita and do some stuff like that.
- 5:47And then if you're on a platform where you've got whether it's matter or one of those.
- 5:52You can just create it to.
- 5:53If it links the fireplace links up into it.
- 5:56Awesome.
- 5:57Then you can just do the good night, good morning stuff.
- 6:00And I had that at my house where I would hit good night, and it would turn the lights on outside that I wanted.
- 6:05It would make sure that my garage door was closed, that I didn't leave that open, that the blinds would come down.
- 6:11And I had everything set, including the thermostat.
- 6:14Just the smart thermostat would go, oh, I know.
- 6:17You want it cooler.
- 6:18There's the basic settings.
- 6:20Perfect.
- 6:21And it was easy out in the country.
- 6:23Yeah, I would really love that.
- 6:25That's great.
- 6:26Yeah.
- 6:26Okay.
- 6:27Well, I would like to sign up for you to be my tutor.
- 6:30There we go.
- 6:32There we go.
- 6:33And it just makes it easier.
- 6:35Yeah.
- 6:36You know, with fall trends, some of the stuff that has driven me nuts sometimes.
- 6:40And again, you walk around the stores, and I'm like, if I see another gnome, I'm kind of done with the gnome thing.
- 6:46And the mushrooms are not my thing either.
- 6:49Yes.
- 6:50I do have a client who just bought a home, and she has a gnome collection and she eats her own.
- 6:57It's her own.
- 6:57Not my thing.
- 6:59But yep, they are cheerful to look at.
- 7:03They have variety.
- 7:04Each one has a different color little hat.
- 7:07Okay.
- 7:08A little different outfit.
- 7:10So to each his own is right.
- 7:12Not my gig.
- 7:13Not my gig.
- 7:14Those are my little pet peeves.
- 7:16But I noticed this year running around the store, though, how just so many, I don't know, flowers, botanical patterns.
- 7:24That kind of stuff is just like, boom, it's back.
- 7:28Oh, yeah, it is.
- 7:29It's back in a huge way.
- 7:30All your grandma's draperies are now on your bed and your tablecloths.
- 7:36Yep.
- 7:37It's true.
- 7:37Well, there was no pattern.
- 7:40Yeah.
- 7:40There was no pattern for so long.
- 7:42No color for so long.
- 7:43Just like what you mentioned.
- 7:45And I just think this is just in reaction to that.
- 7:48I think people are tired of it.
- 7:49And honestly, there's a lot that's sort of Ralph Lauren inspired.
- 7:55Huge celebration of Ralph Lauren and his legacy in the past year.
- 7:59And so I think we see a lot of those plaids and florals, large scale, deep, rich colors, just sort of as an homage to his influence.
- 8:10And it can be really pretty.
- 8:12English hunting lodge is not bad.
- 8:14No, it's very fall.
- 8:16Timeless.
- 8:17Timeless fall.
- 8:18Exactly.
- 8:19Exactly.
- 8:20Really pretty stuff.
- 8:22It's funny because if you look at it, and this is something that I learned when Brass came back in, and, you know, I've talked about this before, I had a death Grip on not using brass because I was
- 8:34so, so scarred from the 90s and 2000s of.
- 8:39And I'm going to bash on quick set.
- 8:40But that Kwikset brass knob that was on every interior builder grade door that.
- 8:45Drove me out, that was a hit.
- 8:46They did a great job marketing.
- 8:49Yeah.
- 8:50But that's really where the trends are.
- 8:52If you were running around a few years ago when you and I last saw each other at the trade show, the 60s 70s colors that we all ripped out 20 years ago are now back with that new twist.
- 9:08Updated.
- 9:09Yeah.
- 9:10Are you seeing that really used though, or is that more of a thing at the show?
- 9:15Again, I'm in the Pacific Northwest, so we have a lot more of that mid century vibe where the Japanese feel and the contemporary stuff, so that's easy to use in that.
- 9:25That's just kind of meant for that.
- 9:27Am I seeing somebody's English tutor mansion having an avocado green bathroom in it?
- 9:33No, I'm not.
- 9:35Yeah.
- 9:36Yeah.
- 9:36I just don't have a huge call for that.
- 9:38I think people.
- 9:40Well, I always say spend it once and so I attempt not to do too much that might be classified as trendy because I just feel bad asking people to put something in they're going to want to take out
- 9:52and valid buyers.
- 9:55Yeah, those trendy things, especially when you're talking stuff like bathrooms, showers, toilets, vanities, that's kitchens.
- 10:04That gets expensive quick.
- 10:05Yeah.
- 10:06I just want to be.
- 10:07I want to exercise stewardship and be respectful of all the hard work that went into earning the things that we're spending on.
- 10:14What do you think when you think about fall, Eric?
- 10:17What is the one thing that you really like to make sure is in the house for fall?
- 10:23Do you have one certain thing that means oh, falls here and time to curl up and get cozy.
- 10:30For me, it's for me in the summertime, have a jacket in our vehicle just because it can always switch.
- 10:36But just in case.
- 10:37Yeah, just in case.
- 10:38But really it's a whole new set of clothes because up here we could have 100 degree days very easily.
- 10:45But now we're into the thing that maybe a warm day is 45 or 50 and it's going to rain forever.
- 10:50So it's one of those things that we could be a month in the 40s and it's a whole different lifestyle.
- 10:58So you have to pack up.
- 10:59Unless you've got a huge cover outside.
- 11:01You can barbecue, but you're not using the outdoor living space like you want to.
- 11:05Even with heaters, it can be a little harder to use in December, January or impossible.
- 11:12But for me, I like, I just love the warm brown colors, like the brown leather chairs or that kind of stuff is really, to me feels like fall versus the bright colors of the outdoor patio.
- 11:26Yes.
- 11:26And like those deep, rich, rusty reds and the burgundies and like that I wouldn't call forest green, but like that mossy, deep sage green and more jewel tone versions of those colors I think are so beautiful.
- 11:41Beautiful.
- 11:42And it's interesting up here when you design in the Pacific Northwest because it's kind of, if you're designing up towards Tahoe, let's say for you, if you're up that way, there's so much green outside.
- 11:52If you do too much of that in your house, it gets lost because now it's just matchy matchy.
- 11:58It does.
- 11:59It does.
- 12:00Yeah.
- 12:00In our own cabin, I painted all the walls a deep, dark green, but all the other colors are the rusty reds and navy blues and those deep cozy velvet browns and like the leather tufted chairs and the whole.
- 12:18And yeah, when I think about fall, it really is the cabin.
- 12:22Yeah.
- 12:23Everything turns.
- 12:24You can see all the colors up there probably better than you see them down here in the valley.
- 12:28So it's always nice up there around Thanksgiving time.
- 12:32It's fun.
- 12:32Oh, yeah.
- 12:34And then here too, lighting is big because we go from the sun, like getting dark outside.
- 12:40It can be 10:15 at night in July and there's still daylight outside.
- 12:46And then we get into December, January, and it's 4:15 and it's dark.
- 12:53And so for me, that lighting is such a key that I need to have that really under control because.
- 13:00And you and I both talked about it in the piece about layered lighting and having that.
- 13:05To me, if it's too bright in the fall, it seems odd.
- 13:10I like to have a little dimmer, a little warmer, a little.
- 13:13I need to have that color temperature to be more like an incandescent light bulb than outdoor light that's coming through the outside.
- 13:22That's me.
- 13:22That's me.
- 13:23You just feel harsh for some reason, I think.
- 13:26Yeah.
- 13:26In contrast to what's happening outside.
- 13:29Exactly.
- 13:30So that's big.
- 13:31But what are you seeing out there?
- 13:33For Elisa, for instance, she likes to go out and get the blue and green ones that you see at the stores.
- 13:37Oh, yeah, Those are fun.
- 13:39But what do you like?
- 13:42I like, I just feel like that cozy element.
- 13:46So.
- 13:47And I try not to use too many pillows because I know that's sort of like a marker of going overboard as a designer or a Decorator, rather, I guess.
- 13:56Yep.
- 13:56Absolutely.
- 13:57Definitely decorator.
- 13:58Those big cozy throws that are just super soft and feel so good.
- 14:04And some toss pillows.
- 14:06And then I just love the greenery.
- 14:10Yeah.
- 14:11Not the printed floral like what you've mentioned here and there where it makes sense.
- 14:15But I love to bring in a magnolia garland on the fireplace mantel with some pretty candles in brushed brass.
- 14:27Nice brush.
- 14:28Brash.
- 14:28I mean, a little bit of warmth here and there.
- 14:32And like the colors that you mentioned.
- 14:33I love to do that with ribbon.
- 14:35I grew up next door.
- 14:36My parents had their jewelry store and right next door to that was this beautiful little store called Country Living.
- 14:41And she had wired French ribbon, which is where I learned to love all of that.
- 14:48And she'd have velvet and satin and all these beautiful ribbons weaving those through the garland and little things like that.
- 14:58And I have a really fun time setting the table for Thanksgiving.
- 15:03That is super fun for me because I have little vintage things like little vintage pheasant salt and pepper shakers and little everything is somehow coordinated in the mix color wise.
- 15:15And that's fun because I also love to do a friendsgiving that's really fun for me.
- 15:22You smell the turkey and you have the cider and the whole.
- 15:26The real fragrances, not the ones that you get at the grocery store where you walk in with your little cart and you're just those pine cones.
- 15:37I don't know what they do to those pine cones.
- 15:39I don't know.
- 15:39But they don't smell like pine cones.
- 15:40I don't know what they do.
- 15:41So mean.
- 15:42Poor little pine cone.
- 15:43It was doing fine on its own, Wendy.
- 15:46We were out on vacation up in the.
- 15:48Up in northeastern Oregon.
- 15:50The funny part was a couple of the stores that I'd rent in Joseph, Oregon, which I just love that town.
- 15:55It is not changed in 50 years that I've been going up there.
- 16:00So it's just the same bronze statues.
- 16:03But a couple of those stores that I walked in was scent overload.
- 16:09It hit you like a sheet of plywood to the face.
- 16:14It was graphic walking in there.
- 16:17It was like, oh, wow.
- 16:18It was like smelling salts of floral and country.
- 16:21And it was hard to walk in.
- 16:24The door like junior high boys with Drakkar Noir.
- 16:28When we were in junior high, right?
- 16:31Just like, oh, some things were in.
- 16:34Later years, the Axe body spray.
- 16:36It was just the whole, oh, wow.
- 16:40And beautiful stuff was just dry.
- 16:42I couldn't take it.
- 16:43I'm not the person who says don't wear perfume normally because.
- 16:47And thankfully I don't have allergies and major reactions to things like that.
- 16:50And I know there legitimately are people who really struggle that way.
- 16:54But I just.
- 16:56I want to smell a real turkey, a real pumpkin pie, real cider, real coffee.
- 17:03Oh, yes.
- 17:05I'm a coffee snobby.
- 17:06Oh, every day.
- 17:08Oh, I grind and brew local beans every day.
- 17:12We.
- 17:12My husband grinds them at night and gets them ready for the next morning.
- 17:16I have the bougie machine that grinds it all at once.
- 17:20So are you a light, medium, or dark roast person?
- 17:24In the summer, I'm lighter.
- 17:27Fall, I go darker.
- 17:29And when I.
- 17:30Everything I consume like that, I have a trend with that, like in the summertime.
- 17:35Oh, a nice white wine outside is great.
- 17:39If it's 100 degrees, I don't want a big cabernet.
- 17:42It's just where I'm at.
- 17:44And so I'm much more of a gin and tonic guy.
- 17:47And then get into the whiskey in the fall as a occasional cocktail.
- 17:52But it's all in moderation.
- 17:53I've got a sensitive nose.
- 17:54I'll be the first one to say that.
- 17:56I can walk into a house and go, mold and cats.
- 17:59Okay, here we go.
- 18:00I am probably the most.
- 18:04No, I literally, I've walked into homes and went, great, I'd love to see your kitchen.
- 18:09We're talking about today, but where's your mold problem?
- 18:12And I can tell because I'm allergic to mold.
- 18:14It hits me.
- 18:16I can just go, oh, we've got an issue.
- 18:18Where is it?
- 18:19And we go off on a tangent because I can smell that.
- 18:22I can sense it.
- 18:23It hits me.
- 18:25Sense or like everything else, it needs to be in moderation.
- 18:28Like orange.
- 18:29Orange needs to be in moderation in the fall.
- 18:32Yes.
- 18:32I don't like that bright Halloween pumpkin orange color.
- 18:36I like, leave that for Home Depot or outdoor decorations.
- 18:41Like, a lot of people I'm noticing are doing outdoor decor for Halloween so much, and it's.
- 18:48Then they have to take it all down and do it again for Christmas.
- 18:50They're very ambitious.
- 18:51Good for them.
- 18:52There's a guy probably three miles from here that was really close to my old house, and he starts out decorating his outside on Labor Day for Halloween because it takes him about a month to set it up.
- 19:05And he is one of those guys that looks like on the Christmas special stuff of what they do.
- 19:11I mean, there's 150amps of LEDs out there and blow up things and tombstones and it just gets absolutely wild and awesome.
- 19:21If that's your.
- 19:22If that's your jam, that's what you love.
- 19:24I'm happy it's not next to my house, but to each your own.
- 19:28If you love Halloween like that, awesome.
- 19:31Yeah.
- 19:31I like Thanksgiving.
- 19:33I like fall and Thanksgiving.
- 19:35I'm not so much a Halloween girl.
- 19:36I'm sure that comes as a wild shock to you, but I'm clutching my pearls here.
- 19:40I'm soft.
- 19:41I like all the cheerful holidays with cheerful meanings inside.
- 19:46I do love a beautiful fall wreath on the door.
- 19:49There you go.
- 19:51I do.
- 19:51You have to be careful with those up here.
- 19:54Oh, really?
- 19:55Because fall is also spider season and aggressive wasp season for us.
- 20:00Oh.
- 20:01So anything hanging on a door can easily get drug inside.
- 20:06So it's one of those things you got to be really careful with what you do because they're not poisonous spiders.
- 20:13So we say.
- 20:14But they're just big kind of these wolf spiders that are golf ball size.
- 20:18That.
- 20:19That no one likes that spider season around here.
- 20:22So think about making sure you're not dragging stuff inside every time the door goes in those climates.
- 20:29This is a very important thing for me to know.
- 20:31Thank you for sharing.
- 20:32Yeah.
- 20:33I had no idea.
- 20:34Yeah.
- 20:34I've literally, when I've done reits on the front door, I've gotten stung because you open the door up and they've been hanging out in there looking for someplace to nest.
- 20:43Because it's undercover, it's safe for us.
- 20:47Late July, August, September, October are those times of the aggressive wasps and hornets.
- 20:54So you have to be a little careful.
- 20:56I feel like I live with those all summer long where we are.
- 20:59Yeah.
- 21:00And they always make their house right over your outdoor dining table in your umbrella.
- 21:05Yeah, whatever.
- 21:06Yep.
- 21:07Delightful.
- 21:07I get aggressive about June with the traps and try to get them before they get crazy.
- 21:11And I did that at my shop a few weeks ago and I hung one of the traps up.
- 21:16Just one of the bag traps you just put out there.
- 21:19And in about 20 minutes there was literally a hundred around it.
- 21:23And I'm like, oh, wow.
- 21:26Happy I did that.
- 21:27So I put two more up and now they're gone.
- 21:30So it was a good control.
- 21:31Yeah.
- 21:33Let's climb it.
- 21:33What happens in your area might not work in mine.
- 21:36Yes.
- 21:37Agreed, Agreed.
- 21:39So by orange we would both say no to.
- 21:41Yeah, absolutely.
- 21:42And I think we'll agree on the heavy fragrance stuff.
- 21:45Those horrible skeletons.
- 21:47Why do people.
- 21:48The 10 foot tall ones.
- 21:49Yes.
- 21:50I've seen two of those Santa hat on.
- 21:52Because it's too hard to take down or something.
- 21:55Well, yeah.
- 21:55So then they're going nightmare before Christmas stuff.
- 21:58It's like, what Disney does with the Haunted Mansion.
- 22:01Yeah.
- 22:02I just don't find that to be in good taste.
- 22:04That may sound snotty, but I feel like as a designer, every once in a while I can play that card.
- 22:11I get it.
- 22:13I'm done with the fall, live life, love, whatever quote things that you put up.
- 22:17Oh, I'm done with that.
- 22:20Yes.
- 22:21It reminds me of the.
- 22:23Remember how in the 90s and 2000s you'd walk into somebody's office and they'd have the motivational posters.
- 22:29Right, yes.
- 22:30Maybe you were buying a car and there was the motivational poster, and then out came a guy selling the demotivational posters, which I thought were way funnier.
- 22:41It was the wrecked ship that was half sunk that said, no need to be an example for everyone else.
- 22:47Stuff that I thought was amazing, but yeah, the quotes.
- 22:51So that can be too much.
- 22:54It can.
- 22:55Instead, you could just buy a beautiful book of Mary Oliver poetry talking about nature and the change of the seasons, and you could put it on your coffee table.
- 23:05That could be your fall literary nod.
- 23:08Yeah.
- 23:09Yeah, There you go.
- 23:10I like that.
- 23:13Reading that article.
- 23:14There was one thing that you covered that I went, oh, yeah, that was thought provoking to me.
- 23:19And that was kind of the Greek pattern, that Greek key back S.
- 23:26Yeah, you're right.
- 23:27Totally blew my mind because I'm like, oh, I wasn't thinking of it, but you're dead on.
- 23:34Yeah, you're seeing a lot of that again.
- 23:36And you can see it carved into the skirt around dining tables or desks.
- 23:40You can see it on the lead edge of drapery.
- 23:43You can see it on really pretty decorative tape on toss pillows.
- 23:49And that is a very timeless thing.
- 23:51So I feel like you could invest in some really beautiful things and it won't time out anytime in the near future, which is good.
- 23:58But it's just a really pretty subtle design element that pretty much goes with everything.
- 24:06One trend that I see that has gone away, that I wonder if it's coming back.
- 24:10And this kind of reminds me of that, is find China in people's homes.
- 24:16Remember how everybody would get married and they had their china that they had to have?
- 24:21Yes.
- 24:22I don't see that anymore.
- 24:24No, they are.
- 24:25I know.
- 24:25Which is unfortunate because actually, because you're a coffee connoisseur, coffee is supposed to taste better in fine china than it does in a regular mug.
- 24:35Did you know that?
- 24:37No, but it makes sense.
- 24:40You can try it and let me know what you think.
- 24:44Well, I think that's why I like table setting, because I love the fine china in the beauty.
- 24:48There it is.
- 24:48There's the holiday table setting that if you're out there with just the Costco or the Ikea white plates.
- 24:56Isn't this fun?
- 24:57It bothers me.
- 24:58I didn't think I'd be this person.
- 25:00But I don't want to eat on a paper plate at Thanksgiving.
- 25:05No, that's for camping.
- 25:07I want my grandma's silverware.
- 25:10I want to see her silverware.
- 25:12I loved her.
- 25:14I want to see my dad's mom's water glasses.
- 25:19I want to see those little pheasant salt and pepper shakers.
- 25:24I want to see that Noritake gold band that matches the pretty charger that match.
- 25:30We don't live a fancy life.
- 25:32We really don't.
- 25:32But every once in a while, it is fun to be fancy.
- 25:36And it's fun to be fancy for your friends and your family.
- 25:40If they'll appreciate it, great.
- 25:41If they don't, fine.
- 25:42As long as you do.
- 25:44But it's nice to have something beautiful every once in a while and not just roll over and give in because you're tired or you don't think other people will appreciate it, because it is.
- 25:56There is something to making things special.
- 25:59And I think maybe that's part of the allure of the fall is okay, we made it through spring and summer.
- 26:06Now we're in fall.
- 26:07Now it's harvest.
- 26:08We have things to be grateful for.
- 26:10We made it this far.
- 26:12It is time to celebrate.
- 26:13It's not so hot that we're all going to die out there of exposure when it's 105, but why not make it pretty?
- 26:21There's.
- 26:21You only live once.
- 26:23Yeah, I'll give you that.
- 26:24I'll give you that.
- 26:25And that's the other thing, is you just have to make sure that you can throw it in the dishwasher.
- 26:29Most dishwashers you can now.
- 26:30You can now, it used to not be the case, but most of them, you can do it.
- 26:35Ash and Cove, you're set.
- 26:37No problem.
- 26:38They even have a fine china and crystal setting.
- 26:41Yes.
- 26:42So there's no excuse.
- 26:44You and I are the same.
- 26:46Bosch Cove.
- 26:46I even throw in a little Mila in there just because they do a nice job.
- 26:50They do.
- 26:51But, yeah.
- 26:52That's the only brands that I really like to go with just for quality of washing.
- 26:57Great.
- 26:58Yeah.
- 26:59Otherwise you're just fighting it constantly and it's so frustrating.
- 27:03But, Wendy, what are things that you do around the house?
- 27:06Not even decorating.
- 27:07But is there things that you do to kind of get ready for that as you're spooling up.
- 27:12If I'm going to host Thanksgiving, it's sometimes it's at home, sometimes it's at the cabin.
- 27:18I love to cook, so I like to work on the menu first.
- 27:22What kind of interesting things do I get to try to make?
- 27:26And recently I've been collecting these little pumpkins with the little lids, the little.
- 27:30The baby soup terrines that you can put at each spot because they're so cute.
- 27:36And I just kind of drag out all my linen and all, and I just try to find all those fun things.
- 27:41And then based on whatever scheme I set for that, I just bring it through the rest of the house and it's just fun.
- 27:47I always try to make sure there's something pretty in the bathrooms.
- 27:51There's something to me about bathrooms being well appointed that's important to me.
- 27:57Instead of walking and going, oh, no, instead, oh, it's so nice in here.
- 28:02And this is so pretty.
- 28:03And this fragrance is so subtle.
- 28:05So I think I start with probably the table, to be honest.
- 28:08And even if we don't get any further than that, then at least the table is really pretty and so sparkly and a little bit fancy.
- 28:17What do you start with?
- 28:19For me, it's always just a little bit of decluttering.
- 28:23What caught up in the summertime.
- 28:25Is there stuff that we can kind of put away for the year?
- 28:29Are there things that we're not using?
- 28:31And a lot of that sometimes has to do outside.
- 28:33Okay.
- 28:33I don't need the hoses and stuff out.
- 28:35And maybe some of the outdoor furniture goes and gets put away because it's just going to get destroyed out there with the winter weather.
- 28:43So some of that is pre decorating of organizing.
- 28:46Good declutter sometimes is a good stage before you bring the other stuff out.
- 28:50Yeah.
- 28:51Because you can start to drown pretty quickly in stuff if you don't.
- 28:55It's the slow death, it's the crab in the water kind of thing.
- 29:00It sounds great, for example.
- 29:04I think that's true.
- 29:05And more and more we're using a professional decorator on our organizer on our projects.
- 29:11And she's been so helpful to so many people because it's just.
- 29:15It's just sort of establishes a routine and a system and a method.
- 29:20And so the upkeep of that just doesn't become as overbearing as it once was.
- 29:26So I found that to be really helpful for clients in particular, that just.
- 29:31And then they'll have her come back maybe twice a year for just a quick little maintenance Touch up thing.
- 29:37And it makes a huge difference.
- 29:40Well, one of the other things, too is especially if you got the holidays coming up, maybe going through and cleaning out the fridge, cleaning out the pantry, doing some of that stuff, because there's probably going to be a
- 29:49Costco or to the.
- 29:51To your local store to get that stuff and to stock up.
- 29:54So I tend to have a little bit more food around that is not perishable because we can lose power for four or five days.
- 30:03So you kind of need to have yourself dialed in for that just in case that happens.
- 30:08Oh, yeah, I can see where that would be a concern.
- 30:12Sometimes that happens at the cabin, Knock on wood.
- 30:14It has not happened yet in the valley here where we live every day and work every day, but that would not be fun at all.
- 30:22So do you have a generator?
- 30:23Oh, yeah.
- 30:24Oh, yeah, I have generator.
- 30:25And that makes sense.
- 30:27So not a whole house one, but I can just switch stuff off and plug in my last house every year because I was living in Lake Oswego at the time.
- 30:35All these 200, 300, 400 year old trees.
- 30:40And so we get the windstorm or the ice storm in, and there were three years in a row that I had no power for five days straight.
- 30:47And so the generator became a function of life.
- 30:51And so a little emergency preparedness goes a long way.
- 30:54I think this year is going to be easy for us.
- 30:55But as soon as I say that, I know it's not going to be,.
- 30:58Yes, El Nino here.
- 30:59Yeah, you guys get some rain, though.
- 31:01So that's a win for California.
- 31:03You need it.
- 31:04You do usually.
- 31:06You need it usually.
- 31:07Yes.
- 31:08Yeah.
- 31:09So getting into fall and getting into winter, it's always a quick turn.
- 31:13Right.
- 31:14To get into the next season because all of a sudden, Thanksgiving is done at dinner and the Christmas lights are on in the neighborhood and the Christmas songs have been on the radio for over a week.
- 31:25It's true.
- 31:27It just keeps going.
- 31:29Yes.
- 31:30More and more, I'm seeing clients start to decorate for Christmas in October.
- 31:36Well, they're sold out.
- 31:38They're sold out at Costco by Labor Day of Christmas.
- 31:40So that makes sense because they want to get a jump on it, they want to enjoy it longer.
- 31:45I started this whole design journey as a kid in high school decorating homes for Christmas.
- 31:52Nice.
- 31:53Yep.
- 31:54The joy of Christmas decorating isn't for me what it might be for others.
- 32:00And so I like fresh stuff and pine and cedar and all of that.
- 32:06And it smells so good.
- 32:07And that's great.
- 32:09But I'm not good at covering Every surface of everything with Christmas decor.
- 32:16And.
- 32:17And it's one of the most busy seasons for me as an interior designer because everybody wants to get in before Christmas.
- 32:23And not only do we get them in and style their home, we also have to reset their entire Christmas decor story.
- 32:31And it's just a huge amount of work, which I'm very grateful for.
- 32:35But sure, then to turn around and come home and do it at my house is just.
- 32:40It's not really that appealing.
- 32:42I get it.
- 32:43And then, of course, you've got the clients that are starting the January 2 construction schedule because they wanted to get through the holidays.
- 32:48I don't let people do that.
- 32:51I know, but it happens.
- 32:52I'm not tearing my house up for the holidays.
- 32:54January 2nd is the.
- 32:55Is demo day.
- 32:56Well, they can organize and put things away on January 2nd, but we're not there until the week after.
- 33:01And here's the thing that people, I don't think, really talk about in our industry, but I'm sure you must have noticed between Thanksgiving and New Year's World Shut, everyone goes away.
- 33:13No one wants to go to work.
- 33:14I have noticed many times something happens like you have these deadlines, things are still going on.
- 33:22Everybody's still on the job schedule.
- 33:24We all know it's supposed to be happening week to week, but everything kind of grinds to a halt.
- 33:31Here's the thing.
- 33:32Many cabinet companies out there and production facilities will shut down, like for a week or two at the end of the year because they can retool, they can do inventory because of that.
- 33:47And of course, you've got everybody that's from the tile installer to the.
- 33:53The excavation company that's doing the outside work.
- 33:56They're off visiting grandma for the week of Thanksgiving.
- 33:59Yes.
- 34:00Then they're playing catch up on the stuff that they're behind on, trying to get the thing done so people can move into their house before Christmas.
- 34:08But you can only push that schedule so far.
- 34:11Yeah, I try really hard to have that honest conversation with clients.
- 34:15Now I just say, well, if we're not starting before mid September, we won't start until after the new year because you'll be nothing but frustrated.
- 34:26Like, we can do all the planning.
- 34:28We can have everything purchased and on site.
- 34:31We can do all the pre work so that it's easy.
- 34:33Once we get in there and do demo, bam, the project will go and it'll be terrific.
- 34:37But if you're not on the schedule and it's right now, middle of September, and you call and you say, I want to do whatever, because I just.
- 34:49I want you to like me later.
- 34:50How come you didn't tell me about this strange occurrence where everybody goes on vacation for two months and nobody goes to work?
- 34:58It is weird.
- 35:00It is.
- 35:00And then on top of if you've got maybe that kitchen install or the bathroom install, and you're like, oh, I need two sticks of crown molding and a filler because it was damaged.
- 35:09You're gonna see that in January.
- 35:11Yeah, yeah.
- 35:12It's not shipping, too.
- 35:13We got so much holiday shipping going on as well that what took you three days from UPS is now six on ground.
- 35:20Yes.
- 35:21Many trips have been made to the FedEx place because they just can't find you or something has happened and you have to go pick it up yourself because you can't wait the three more for it to be delivered
- 35:32to your client's house.
- 35:33That happens a lot at Christmas, too.
- 35:35I tell people on the radio show here and podcasts that if you haven't started that major remodel at Labor Day, if you don't have the design part of that done, don't start it.
- 35:46Yeah, start the design part.
- 35:48Start the construction in mid January.
- 35:50Yes.
- 35:51When everything is all bulleted out in beautiful design documents and everything is clear and purchased in advance and the holidays are well over because that.
- 36:00Just a whole other layer of stress that people don't really recognize till they're in the middle of it.
- 36:06I had a lady, poor lady, hysterical, in tears at the end, and her house was absolutely gorgeous.
- 36:15But the pressure of the family and the friends and the expectations socially that she had every single year piled on top of a major gut job remodel was just too much.
- 36:28And she just.
- 36:30It was awful.
- 36:31I had a house like that that I was doing on the waterfront in the Seattle area, and I went out there to measure it.
- 36:37It was first of the year, new construction.
- 36:39They had just started getting the framing up.
- 36:41Interior walls were framed, so I wanted to see how close it was accuracy to the plans.
- 36:47I stick in there, and the homeowner's there and the contractor's there, and the homeowner goes, hey, when do we think it's going to be done?
- 36:53And he goes, oh, it'll be done by early July if everything goes good.
- 36:56He goes, good, because my daughter's wedding's in the backyard on July, fourth weekend.
- 37:00And I was just like, oh, no.
- 37:03Yeah.
- 37:03And in July, fourth weekend came up and it looked like extreme home makeover because he had 32 trades and landscapers out there.
- 37:10They were rolling outside the Day before the wedding.
- 37:13And I'm like, no, no, don't ever do that.
- 37:16Don't ever do that.
- 37:18So on a positive note, we gotta wrap this up.
- 37:21Let's wrap this up.
- 37:23I think my takeaway from this and people can read that.
- 37:26I'll put the link for the parade article so people can see it on the show.
- 37:29If you're watching, if you're checking it out on video or podcast, you can see it there.
- 37:33But I think really part of the holidays, part of fall is really making your space your own.
- 37:42At the same point, make it comfortable, but don't fall into the traps of too much.
- 37:47Of a good thing.
- 37:48Yes, my brother in law says, looks like Santa vomited on that house.
- 37:55There's a nicer way that he could say that, but it is true.
- 37:59And.
- 37:59Or like the Great Pumpkin or whoever for whatever part of the holiday.
- 38:03But yeah, less is more.
- 38:05That is true.
- 38:07It is.
- 38:08So Wendy, if somebody wants to find you, if they're like, oh my gosh, I gotta have her work out of my place for the holidays.
- 38:14You need more work next year.
- 38:16For next year.
- 38:17Exactly.
- 38:18How do people find you?
- 38:19You can find me at Wendy Glaister Interiors, G L A I S T E R on the web and also on Instagram.
- 38:26And I'd love to have you follow us along.
- 38:28Thank you, Eric.
- 38:29No problem.
- 38:30Wendy.
- 38:30Thanks for coming on today.
- 38:31It's always a blast.
- 38:33You and I could sit here and do this for hours on one subject.
- 38:36Thanks for coming on today.
- 38:37Thank you so much for having me back.
- 38:39I really appreciate it.
- 38:40And happy fall.
- 38:42Happy fall.
- 38:43I'm Eric G.
- 38:44You've been catching around.
- 38:45The house about the night they went to bed.
- 38:48Counting them.
- 38:48She catching seats, Getting beauty ribs.
- 38:51Acting your age don't make a good story.
- 38:54Knock one back, no buzz, no glory.
- 38:57No one ever talks about the shots.
- 38:59They didn't take drinks, they never drank.
- 39:02Hell they never raised.
- 39:03Yeehaw.
- 39:05It's only 9:30.
- 39:06No one ever talks about the night Early.