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In this guest episode, I sit down with Chicago-area interior designer and author Maida Korte to talk about what happens when a “tight ship” personality runs headlong into a house that refuses to be controlled.

Maida’s new memoir, Gutted: How an Old House Remodeled Me, set out to be a book about renovating a hundred-year-old house in Woodstock, Illinois. What it became, she told me, was a book about giving up the need for things to be finished and correct on her own schedule — and what that release made possible in her marriage and with her four daughters.

Subscribe to hear the full conversation: the sentence a stranger said about her house that made her burst into tears, the moment her husband asked if they would ever “saunter,” and what she’d tell her daughters differently if she could do it again.

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In this Think Like A Designer episode, I sit down with Debbie Mathews, a Nashville-based interior designer and antiques dealer, to look through a curated selection of the rooms she's designed — from a sunroom in Belle Meade to a ranch outside Franklin, Tennessee.

Every good client relationship starts the same way: the client names a problem and a few basics — a color they love, a piece they already own — and hands the rest over. What happens in that handoff is where a designer actually earns her keep, and it's usually invisible to everyone but her. This episode makes it visible.

Subscribe to see and hear the full portfolio review: the sunroom nobody used until Debbie figured out why, the custom-built solution to a very specific bedside problem, and the trick she uses to bring a two-story room down to human scale.

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In this solo episode, I'm going deep on one of the five physical elements of every Slow Style home — and arguably the most personal one: Heritage and Culture.

It's about heritage as authorship. Not just the objects you've inherited, but the idea that your personal history — however much of it you know, however complicated it is, however far back it goes — is a story you get to write, edit, and hand forward. Most people treat their heirlooms as decorating problems. I want to reframe them as creative resources.

In this episode, I show specific objects from my own home and the stories behind them, how to handle heritage when it's complicated, why the house itself has a history worth honoring, what to bring home from the world when you travel with intention, and the room in my house that proves you don't have to inherit heritage — you can make it.

Subscribe to the show to access future episodes! Going forward, we'll continue to publish 1 free episode per month.  If you'd like to have access to the other 3-4 episodes each month, please click on the subscription link, above. 

Take the quiz: What's Your Style DNA?

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In this Think Like A Designer episode, I sit down with Liz Williams, an Atlanta-based interior designer known for symmetry, elegance, and an eye for detail, to look through a curated selection of her portfolio — from a grand formal home on the Chattahoochee River to a barn in Madison, Georgia, that is rustic on the outside and quietly refined within.

It's about the last decision most rooms never get: the finishing detail that takes a space from considered to complete. Not the focal point, not the statement piece — the trim on the pillow gusset, the tape on the curtain hem, the nail head on the wingback. The thing most of us talk ourselves out of before we ever try it.

Subscribe to see and hear the full portfolio review: how Liz mixes comfort with formality, why she reaches for trim where most designers reach for nothing, and the moment a set of plain white lampshades became something worth remembering.

Subscribe to the show to access future episodes! Going forward, we'll continue to publish 1 free episode per month.  If you'd like to have access to the other 3-4 episodes each month, please click on the subscription link, above. 

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Want to avoid renovation regrets? I talk with interior designer Danielle Nicholson about the thing that causes more renovation heartbreak than bad tile choices or blown budgets: starting before you’re actually ready. Danielle’s book “Don’t Start Without Me” is built around a single idea: the real work of renovating happens before you even talk to a contractor.  Or even a designer. Before anyone shows up with a truck. Before the showroom. Before the finish selections. Very specific questions related to your vision have to be answered first — and most people skip them entirely. Subscribe to hear the full conversation: what Danielle wishes every client would bring to the table, the mistakes she sees made over and over, and why “I just want to get it done” are the words that make her cringe.

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In this Designers at Home episode, I tour the home of Jill Litner Kaplan, a Boston-area interior designer whose approach to decorating stopped me in my tracks — not because it's flashy or maximalist, but because of a single idea I couldn't stop thinking about after I left.  It's about how color palates emerge from storytelling as opposed to the "pop of color" advice that's been watered down into a band-aid solution. 

Subscribe to see and hear the full home tour with Jill — room by room, object by object — and a masterclass in what visual storytelling actually looks like in a home.

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Take the quiz: What's Your Style DNA?

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What does a 2007 issue of Domino have in common with a room you'd design today? More than you'd think.

In this episode, I dig through a stack of old design magazines — Domino, Flea Market Style, House Beautiful, Veranda, and Country Living, spanning 2007 to 2019 — and ask the question I find myself returning to constantly: what still holds up?

We talk suzanis, suzanis (yes, still), the case for painting all four walls instead of just one, why the humble breakfast nook deserves a comeback, and what the best white kitchens actually have in common. I share my ongoing plinth hunt, make a confession about Country Living being my Bible in the late '90s, and make a gentle but firm plea for the death of the accent wall.

If you've got a pile of old tear sheets, a half-finished vignette, or a dining room that could use some bookshelves — this one's for you.

In this episode:

• What Domino got right about sustainability back in 2007
• Minimalism vs. maximalism — and why neither is ever really "out"
• The case for the jewel box room (powder rooms, butler's pantries, and going all out in small spaces)
• Layered window treatments, bed canopies, and other things that keep coming back around
• Why I think the accent wall's days are numbered
• Treating your kitchen and bathroom like actual rooms

Subscribe to the show to access future episodes! Going forward, we'll continue to publish 1 free episode per month.  If you'd like to have access to the other 3-4 episodes each month, please click on the subscription link, above. 

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This week's episode is a little different — and honestly, a little vulnerable for me. After ten years and more than 400 episodes of Slow Style Home, I'm pulling back the curtain on what it's really taken to create this podcast, and why I've decided to make a significant change. I've always believed that what we choose to surround ourselves with reflects what we truly value, and lately I've been turning that same lens on my own work. I've reached a point where I need to ask an honest question: Is what I'm creating something you value enough to support? So I'm shifting to a mostly paid model — not as a sales tactic, but as a way to align my work with what it's actually worth and to connect more deeply with the people who genuinely feel that pull toward creating a meaningful home. This isn't about pressure or persuasion. It's about making an intentional choice (the same kind I talk about all the time) and finally being willing to stand behind the value of what I've built.

Subscribe to the show to access future episodes! Going forward, we'll continue to publish 1 free episode per month.  If you'd like to have access to the other 3-4 episodes each month, please click on the subscription link, above. 

Take the quiz: What's Your Style DNA?

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I keep thinking about how often we walk into a gallery already convinced we don’t belong there and how quickly that belief starts to shape what we choose. In this week's episode, I sit down with gallery owner Liz Lidgett to talk about her new book “Art Is For Everyone”. Because collecting art isn’t about having the right words or the right budget, it’s about being willing to notice your own reactions and trust them. We talked about how your taste develops through exposure—by looking at a lot of art, by saying no without apology, and by getting curious about why something pulls you in. A good gallerist isn’t there to judge you; they’re there to help you translate those instincts into something tangible. And yes, we got into the practical side: price, scale, the mistake of buying small just because it feels safer, but what matters more is understanding that art isn’t meant to match your room, it’s meant to lead it. When you let yourself buy from that emotional place, you’re not just filling a wall, you’re creating a home that reflects you in a way nothing else really can.

Subscribe to the show to access future episodes! Going forward, we'll continue to publish 1 free episode per month.  If you'd like to have access to the other 3-4 episodes each month, please click on the subscription link, above. 

Take the quiz: What's Your Style DNA?

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The Slow Style Home podcast is is for you if you're tired of cookie-cutter decor but you don't know how to pull of a mix of styles, you want to know when to save and when to splurge, and if you care about the health of our planet and and getting off of the disposable decor hamster wheel.  On this show, you’ll learn about all of the various aspects of my Slow Style framework for creating a home you love, without breaking the bank or following the trends, no creative experience necessary.  You’ll also hear interviews with some of the most inspiring professionals working in interiors in the U.S. and abroad.  

Subscribe to the show to access future episodes! Going forward, we'll continue to publish 1 free episode per month.  If you'd like to have access to the other 3-4 episodes each month, please click on the subscription link, above. 

Take the quiz: What's Your Style DNA?