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- [00:02]
Caroline
Welcome 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.
- [00:11]
Taryn
And I'm Taryn and I'm a product designer.
- [00:13]
Liz
I'm Liz. I head of the creative team.
- [00:15]
Caroline
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.
- [00:22]
Taryn
Plus, we'll answer your decorating dilemmas at the end of each episode.
- [00:25]
Liz
We love answering your questions, so don't forget to email us@podcastallardesigns.net now on with the show.
- [00:35]
Caroline
Welcome back to the show. I'm Caroline and I'm here with Liz. Hi. And we have a very special guest, New York based designer and author, Brittany Bromley. She's known for her traditional take on interiors with layers of pattern and unique details. Her spaces are warm, luxuriously detailed, and brimming with timeless patterns and antiques. Her work has been featured in publications like Elle Decor, Traditional Home Veranda, and House Beautiful. And this spring, she released her first book, Relaxed Elegance from Rizzoli. Brittany, welcome to the show.
- [01:08]
Taryn
Thank you so much. Caroline, are you available to come on the road with me? I love that introduction.
- [01:13]
Caroline
Absolutely. You know what I would love the airplane points. No, I just was delighted to get your book. Obviously, the COVID is so pretty. It's, you know, you know, very blue and white. My favorite part was you opened with your own home, which you say 15 different contractors told you to run from, and of course you didn't. So I. Well, I loved. And the reason I loved it is just because I often find that designers own houses give us such a peek into what really interests them and their personalities. And so I love that that was sort of the opening kind of glimpse, and then it really flowed into all of your client projects. So maybe you can just start with your house. What drew you to it? What was your vision? And we can go from there.
- [02:02]
Taryn
Well, apparently what drew me to it is that I'm stubborn because to have so many different professionals tell me that I should think otherwise and then to do it anyway must mean that I have, like an innate prove you wrong sort of gene. But what I really loved about it, to me is that it felt like it had bones that were traditional and historic and therefore, to me, felt very relevant. And so even though it was suffering from we sort of term a case of benign neglect, I could see underneath it that there was so much there and so much beauty and it really felt like a challenge, and an exciting one at that.
- [02:45]
Liz
What were some of the things that you were being told, like, reasons to not get this house because it's a stunning home. You've really turned it into something amazing.
- [02:55]
Taryn
Thank you. I mean, there were entire rooms that hadn't had heating in several years. So sort of the idea that they were living in a very small portion of the home, and therefore what had been neglected had been really neglected as it relates to being either exposed to the elements or. Or. I remember once a contractor, after looking at the roof, told me that he had seen a lot less layers in a subway sandwich. So there were all sorts of things about it that would make a more cautious home buyer beware. But we were sort of just entranced by it and loved the challenge of bringing back some of that historic beauty.
- [03:42]
Caroline
To say that you've customized every room of this house is an understatement. You know, and for our listeners who haven't seen the book yet, there's just so many. And I said luxurious details in the introduction because that truly is what it is, and just very intricate, tiny little details that maybe on their own, could be easy to not notice, but when all brought together, it just creates this really, really special, special, like, every room. And I. I mean, I think we have to start with the dining room, right? Because of all the. The sculptural paper mache. So maybe kind of talk to us about your vision and how you just started layering all of the elements together.
- [04:29]
Taryn
Well, first of all, I would say, to your point, it's probably very much an occupational hazard for a designer to spend any appreciable amount of time in a space and not to constantly be conc. How you could add on to it or change it or make it better. So that's definitely something that comes from spending a lot of time in a space. The dining room was one of the most recently completed spaces. And I say that because that iteration is probably the most recent thing that I've done to the home. And it is very much a connecting space in our home. It connects the front hall, where we have our staircase, and our center hall colonial floor, to the kitchen. And because of that, it is a room that we pass through probably 65 times a day. So it needed to be something that felt comfortable in that regard. So we wanted it to feel like you were able to walk through it. And because we live in a more rural location, the idea of bringing the outside in always really appealed to me and our really dear friends at Casa Gusto had just installed their first paper mache paneling in their shop in West Palm. And I saw what they were capable of doing with that 3D paper mache. And from there it was sort of off to the races to figure out how we could use that to sort of have this be a room that felt like an experience each time you.
- [06:09]
Caroline
Pass through it, it's stunning.
- [06:12]
Liz
It definitely feels like an experience. I mean, there are sculptural paper mache flowers and leaves coming out of everywhere.
- [06:21]
Caroline
Yeah. Can you describe it just for our listeners?
- [06:24]
Taryn
Sure. It does feel very magical. So the entire thing is rendered in papier mache. And what that allowed us to do was to create boiserie paneling. So the entire room is done in a series of single 67 panels which are all numbered and pre measured. And the reason that it's important for them to flow in a consecutive order is because the design in that room was based off of a tree of life motif. And so that organic nature of that tree and the vines that come from it actually move all the way around the room in a sequential order. And then we have this really cool tile ceiling which is also papier mache, so it pulls in a little bit of color into what is otherwise a very monotone space. And my girls, and I think several people that have visited because I entertain in there often have said that it has almost an ethereal quality to feels. My girls, of course, their frame of reference is slightly more literary and specific to their age group, but they always say when they first saw it, they said it feels like Narnia, which I'll take to be the 10 and 12 year old version of. It's magical. Yeah.
- [07:40]
Caroline
Yes, definitely. I mean, it's truly three dimensional paper mache plastered on every surface of the wall and ceiling. I mean, it's. I've never seen anything like it was there. I mean, is it delicate? Are you. I. I would almost be worried I'd break it by just walking past it or something.
- [07:58]
Taryn
No, it's actually the exact opposite of delicate. And I would say that with total certainty that we have indeed tried to break it, because as I said, it's very much a pass through and we are not precious people. And so because it's all articulated on wires, this paper mache is actually quite durable. And then the other thing I would say about it, which I really love, is that because it is wire and therefore flawless, fully moldable, and can be bent and moved, that if there's a vine that happens to be in your way, and you would prefer it not to be. You can always bend it up or bend it back or change sort of the contour of the way the leaves fall against the paneling. And obviously, as a designer who likes to tweak things, this, you know, this could be a full time job for me.
- [08:45]
Caroline
I hadn't even thought about that. Wow. Was there the you. You know, because there's this three dimensional vine crawling off the wall, there's not really an opportunity to add, you know, side, like a sideboard or a lot of other furniture. Was that something that you took into consideration? Was, you know, how did you kind of work around that? Is that like.
- [09:07]
Taryn
Actually that was very much an 11th hour decision and perceptive on your part to have called me out on that, because originally I had thought that one of the largest walls in that room would receive this really beautiful black chevonade breakfront to house another sort of occupational hazard, which is my china collection. But once we had the tree of life motif up, it just became very clear that to cover that up in any way with any kind of furniture would be sort of a design tragedy. So we shifted lanes, as one does, and found furniture sort of that is much more lacy and allows a lot more negative space. So we used an antique French potting table actually as a bar in that room. So that is a functional but also decorative element. The table itself shrunk down in that room. It's around and it has leaves. And we decided that it would be much more, on a daily basis, functional for us to have a smaller table in that space. And those are really the primary furniture elements in that room. And because there are so few of them, it both calls attention to them, but also allows the walls to speak in a way that they wouldn't if we hadn't done that.
- [10:32]
Caroline
Yeah, it's actually so smart for a room that you're, you know, kind of referring to as a pass through room, even though that implies that it is not as special as it is in order to like have that movement. Less furniture kind of probably helps, but without the furniture, how are you making your statement and like, you know, making it special. So the wall, gosh, the wall really does a lot.
- [10:52]
Taryn
Carries a lot of weight.
- [10:54]
Caroline
Yeah. Going even though into the hallway, like you've got these beautiful, you know, talking about all of the. The details you've added in. I loved kind of hearing your crafty moments, you know, doing the super glued ribbon on the wall. And like, where do some of these flourishes come from? Do you just sort of like do they pop into your brain? Were you like, I need more heaviness on the wall in the staircase. Like, where does it sort of the initial idea come from?
- [11:20]
Taryn
So the initial idea for having climbing prints is hardly original. I think that's something that's a trope that's been used many times to great effect. But because this was a light colored wall covering and because the frames themselves and the prints themselves had some of those colors in them, I wanted to do something that allowed me to hang them in a double and that pulled the colors from those prints. And so I wanted to do sort of an old fashioned application of having it hung on a ribbon. Next came the craftiness, because anyone will tell you that if I can't find something, then I will make it. And therefore, having those two unusual colors juxtaposed in the chocolate brown and the saffron yellow was really important to my overall vision. So that's where the glue gun came in.
- [12:13]
Caroline
Well, I love that you're like, I have a very specific thing that I need, and hell or high water, I'm gonna make this thing because I can't find it.
- [12:22]
Taryn
That's exactly hella high water or numerous blisters, which is normally the result of a glue gun session.
- [12:29]
Caroline
Oh, my gosh. Well, I, you know, you are clearly a lover of pattern, and so, I mean, your own living room, but so many of your spaces are just expertly layered in pattern. And so I, I mean, we have to, we have to discuss that because I would love to kind of hear, you know, your approach to pattern, not only where you start, but like, what is it about pattern that is so essential in one of your spaces?
- [13:02]
Taryn
I think people are always asking, and I, I find it to be an answer that's a little bit mutable and therefore can't always transfer to every space. But I would say there are some guidelines when it comes to pattern mixing. So I always like to start with what we call our hero fabric, which is a multi fabric that's either floral or in some cases geometric, but most often floral that has several colors in it. And it's something that you really respond to and you love and you understand that it's sort of the guiding light for that space. And then from that point you've dictated your color palette with that fabric, and then you pull from there to me, some sort of, like, standard elements. So I would say if it's a multi floral that you've started with, then you're looking at a geometric, then you're looking at a solid A geometric scent can sometimes be either, like an abstract hand block, batik. And if that's the case, then I'll often wave in something that's more traditional, like a ticking stripe or. Or a gingham. And from there, I like to bring in texture because texture, to me, is really important, and because it is often found in natural materials, it gives all of those patterns a moment of quiet relief, a grounding. And I think those elements are the most important when it comes to pattern play. But I would say this sort of undefined, like, je ne sais quoi in each of those spaces is something to which you gravitate naturally and therefore have confidence in that it will work. Because if you love something, I think there's an element of just going for it and saying, like, this works for me.
- [14:55]
Caroline
Well, I just love seeing them all together. And, like, there was one. I think it was your Pound Ridge project with the double. The living room with the double sofas that were back to back. You know, overall, the effect is so light and airy, and I wouldn't necessarily say calming, I guess, because there is a lot of energy, but, like, it's so open, you know? But there are so many patterns. I mean, there's the sort of geometric neutral on the chairs. There's the floral on the sofas, there's the ottoman, and they're all kind of in the same color palette. There's also a wallpaper. So do you. Do you find that people are ever, you know, concerned, or do you ever worry, like, it's, you know, gonna be too much or these aren't all gonna work together? I guess so.
- [15:52]
Taryn
I never worry about whether or not the multitude of patterns a workout. But I have had times where clients have been less sure of the outcome. And I would say that I would never sort of die on the hill for something unless I thought it was going to really work. And by that, I mean there are times in a project where hopefully you've built up enough creative capital with your clients that if you say, you need to trust me, this will work out, and you'll love it that they agree.
- [16:23]
Caroline
Yeah.
- [16:24]
Taryn
And I don't think you get to use those cards all the time, but when you do play them, hopefully you play them to great effect.
- [16:30]
Caroline
Yeah. So, okay. Because there's so many patterns in this one room in particular, but the. The overall feel is not at all heavy, not at all overdone. Like, how do you think that that is. What is it that you've done in here? To you so much. But it Feel like not so much. Does that make sense? Well, I would see there's.
- [16:51]
Taryn
There's like a little bit of a lot.
- [16:54]
Caroline
Yeah.
- [16:56]
Taryn
I would say one of the things about this space is that it is a large room. Right. So you start with that, then you look at the architectural significance and sort of elements. You have a lot of really wonderful windows and doorways. You have some architectural interest in the columns. You have a non rectilinear room in the sense that there's a sort of alcove off of it, and then you have a central frame in that space, which is a mantel. So taking into account all of that, I would say you start with the wall covering, which is the understanding that you don't have that much of it in between each of these really large windows. And so it needs to work for you, but not be overpowering such that you're missing being able to trace that pattern around the space. So we chose a hand block batik because it gave us textural interest and also a repetitious pattern that you wouldn't for the windows in between. Feel like you were missing the offshoot of the vine or something like that. From there, we did the hero fabric, which is the Pierre Frais that we used on the sofas. And I would say that fabric did a ton of things for us because it has a light grounding background, but it has really strong color. And so it allowed us to pull the chocolate brown, the coral, a little bit of the blue, and then, of course, that natural feeling. And from there, you sort of wave in things that make sense. In other words, the hand block batik on the chairs, the grounding element of the black, which you'll see throughout that space. And you pull those elements into each of these seating areas. Because ultimately, this is a room that functions and is viewed as though it's three different spaces. It's two seating areas with different patterns, and then the game chair area.
- [18:48]
Liz
And I think you do something really beautiful with scale on those patterns, too. So the batik that's on the chair feels like it's maybe a sister or a cousin to the pattern that's happening on the walls, because they're both geometric, they're both kind of the same neutral vibe to them, but the scale really kind of helps bring them together and help them stand apart.
- [19:17]
Taryn
I think you're absolutely right about that. The scale of all of these things is very important. If we had had a super small scale on those chairs as we chose for that ottoman, they would have read from a distance more Like a solid. And we needed them to sort of read as though there was some pattern involved.
- [19:36]
Caroline
You know, you, you mentioned the room being so large. Is that one of the reasons that you needed more pattern in there? Like it sort of adds volume and.
- [19:45]
Taryn
Yes. And no. I would say there, in my opinion, there's probably a zillion different ways you could have done that room. And also then again, in my opinion, to various, various levels of success. Right. But to me it felt important that those spaces were, were chunky enough that they felt like you'd arrive somewhere. So that one side of the sofa sitting area wasn't have and the other was have not either as it relates to the floor plan, meaning having enough seating for everyone, or as it relates to the fact that each of those were strong enough to stand up to the repetitious nature of having those two sofas be covered in the same thing in two different seating areas.
- [20:26]
Caroline
I love the back to back sofas in there, just functionally. But I was curious. It looks like you're sort of walking into the sides of the sofas, right? So you're kind of walking in and then you have to pick like right or left because the sofa's in the way it. Is that ever a consideration? Like I, I think if, you know, I'm not, I'm not you, but if I were designing this room, like that would have worried me a little bit, like walking in and then having a stop. But maybe that's not like, I mean.
- [21:03]
Taryn
So you'll actually see in the book there are, as I said, a lot of doors and windows in this room. So the primary way that this room is accessed is from that front hall and from the front hall you're actually faced with only one of the sofas. And then beyond that you see the second seating area and the mantel. So you aren't really walking into the side of it. But even if you were, I think that's where form and function have to marry. And that, in my opinion is one of the reasons why we chose on one of those seating areas to have a really comfy plush ottoman where you could put a drink down and put your feet up and it's a little bit more relaxed. Those chairs, in spite of being small scaled, are very comfortable. And then on the other side of the seating area, it gets a little bit more formal. That's where you might entertain. There's a beautiful coffee table that's perfect for hors d' oeuvres and drinks. And then you have inlaid chairs that have a Little bit more of a, you know, you've arrived sort of a vibe to them, and so you separate out a little bit the function of those spaces so that you gravitate towards one or the other.
- [22:14]
Caroline
I just thought it was such a smart move and something that the average person doing their own house wouldn't, because they would. They would, like, be blocked by that idea of it's gonna make it feel smaller, when sometimes making it feel smaller is a good thing. And I think, like, House Hunters, for example, or, you know, design shows, has made us all feel like we have to always make our room feel bigger, whereas it's not a bad thing to make it feel small, smaller in some ways, you know. Yeah.
- [22:44]
Taryn
And burst it out into sort of usable zones. You know, you have a room that size, and I think if we hadn't put a game table over in the alcove, they may never have walked over there.
- [22:54]
Caroline
Right. Yeah. Well, I love. I just loved the. All of the pattern in the book because, you know, I think for a while now, maybe the last. In, like, all of the 2000 sort of tension, there was so much solid and so much, you know, neutrals and solids and. Which are beautiful, but we kind of. I don't know. I feel like there's been a fear of pattern. And so I love seeing all of the pattern, not only because, in many ways, functionally, you know, it's easier to live with, like, more forgiving, but it's just so much more fun and so.
- [23:29]
Taryn
Much more exciting and very personalized. I would say the one thing about sort of the oughts as it relates to. To design trends is when it did feel like there was a lot of gray and white. I suppose you really could be the person that loves gray and white, but it was being used in such profusion that it made it difficult to believe that it was what everyone was gravitating towards. Whereas having more color and more pattern allows a specificity that feels very personalized.
- [24:00]
Caroline
Yeah. Yeah.
- [24:02]
Liz
And that's one of the things that I took away from this book, is that there's so much pattern and there's such a fearlessness with your use of pattern that it started making me go around my house and be like, okay, well, where can I be fearless with pattern? And how can I add some more things? And I just feel like that's. That's always the. A good success for a. For a design book.
- [24:26]
Caroline
It's a nice thing.
- [24:27]
Taryn
Yes.
- [24:27]
Liz
I love redesigning my own home while I'm.
- [24:29]
Taryn
I love hearing that. That makes me so happy.
- [24:34]
Liz
I wanted to talk about the Bridgehampton residence. I thought that that was such a fantastic use of pattern, but also humor, I feel like in some of the pieces and choices. And one of the things that I also noticed, because you've got playfulness, you've got sheep in the entry, you've got a bit of tradition with a portrait of a gentleman that's kind of given a side eye. You know, there's. There's a lot of humor going on there, but a lot of tradition. What were your thoughts when you were doing this home?
- [25:11]
Taryn
I think that it is always fun to have clients that are willing to. Not just willing, but encouraging you to sort of conceptualize it from start to finish. And this was a really wonderful project for that reason, because they really trusted our vision. And because of that, it felt like we were sort of doing things with like a wink and a nod that allowed it to feel, as you said, a little bit more light hearted. So, for instance, in that entryway, the juxtaposition of what would be a very traditional sort of ancestor style portrait with these very like sort of modern Lalanne esque black sheep just felt like a really interesting moment. And pairing all of that with this sort of antique inlaid very like irreverent front hall table, all of it together just felt really interesting. And I would say that throughout the house there was sort of that capability to sort of be like, well, what would be interesting to. To do in this space as opposed to just pleasing.
- [26:24]
Liz
Yeah, there were some other things about this project that made me kind of stop and recognize some things that you've done in some other projects as well. And I think for here it was the scale of art and mirrors in the living room of this home. It has, you know, the double height ceilings in the living room and you just went huge, huge with these botanical prints and then stack them and then over the mantel there's a giant mirror. And it also, I think, does that play with a little bit of humor with something that feels like it should be a precious small botanical. How'd you go about the living room?
- [27:20]
Taryn
So the living room was sort of like a guiding light for the entire project in that this home is in the Hamptons. It was very light, very white and a lot of white when we took on the project. So the first thing that we really wanted to do in this great room was to warm up those walls and in doing so, call attention to some of the things that, you know, someone might have looked at as being possible obstacles. But to us Felt more like opportunities. In other words, that you have this really big climbing wall and have really interesting shaped windows and then a roof line that cuts through all of that and a mantle that looks like, you know, you might be able to roast a boar in it. I mean all of those things scale wise were really un. And so turning that on its head, making that have that natural faux bois wall covering that was the beginning of warming that space up. And then as you suggest, taking something that's traditionally quite diminutive and often very feminine and rendering it in grand scale appropriate to that of the war roasting fireplace mantel, and then calling attention with the contrast in the molding in the windows around that fireplace allowed us to make that a focal point as opposed to something that would detract from the rest of the space.
- [28:50]
Caroline
I loved that room. For the, I think example that people can take from it. You know, we get so many questions about double height living rooms. I think for the, the non designer, but someone who's trying to make sense of the space. It's. It's so challenging and you know.
- [29:11]
Liz
Yeah, this felt masterful.
- [29:13]
Caroline
Yeah, yeah. Because. And we kind of talked about this actually on a recent episode. You've. The. Everything on the wall is very overscale, right. The, the art, the mirror, the. Even the light fixture. But then all of the furniture is normal human scale, which I think often people almost get that backwards. Like they want to fill this huge sectional in a room like that and then they put like teeny tiny art over the man. Like. No, like you're going to drown in the sofa and then you're never going to fill up any wall. And like it's, you're, you're doing it backwards.
- [29:50]
Taryn
I would always rather have traditionally scaled furniture and more of it than something that's so large that you'll never use it again. And this room presented an opportunity and a challenge because it's a great room. So it is open to the kitchen, it is open to the front and it's open to the sun room. And so every one of those angles, when it came to conceptualizing this floor plan had to be considered. So there had to be a delineating element coming from the kitchen towards that seating area. And that's where we used the console with a pair of stools and the pair of lamps. Conversely, we didn't want you to feel obstructed the way energy moves through a space from that entry hall looking towards the beautiful sun room. And so choosing a sort of daybed style sofa allowed that side of the square to be open. And then the same really coming from that sun room back into that great room. We have low scaled chairs in there. And I would say the other really crucial thing that we did in this space, and I remember actually marking up a photograph to show my clients. What I was trying to convey in words is that when we took on the project, that sunroom window was white, as were the walls around it. And so there was no understanding of how it related architecturally to the room or the space outside. And so I remember marking up in black on a photograph showing my clients what I thought we should do.
- [31:27]
Caroline
And.
- [31:28]
Taryn
And that is the direct view from that entryway out that window. And I remember describing it to them. And I believe this is what it did for the space as imagine what it would feel like if you didn't have any eyebrows and then you had eyebrows. They're framing things out in a way that's really important and you don't even realize you're missing it until they're gone. And that's what the black trim around that window did.
- [31:54]
Liz
It's so gorgeous. And for our listeners, this window takes up the entire wall. It's just this window on that wall that is that framed out in the painted black. And it just, it seals the deal on this whole room.
- [32:08]
Taryn
I'm so glad that you like it. I thought it turned out very nicely too. And I know that framing out that view for something that is often a seasonal residence is. It's really important.
- [32:19]
Caroline
Yeah. Well, I loved this house because we haven't really talked too much about color, but you're definitely not afraid of color. This house in particular had so many great examples of neutrals and neutrals, and it done in a really interesting, fun, layered, textured way. And if you have any kind of suggestions for people who love neutrals, maybe aren't really ready to go full color in their space, but how can they make their rooms more interesting and. And not just kind of sticking to like something that will grayish? Yeah, yeah.
- [32:54]
Taryn
I would say that my best advice in that department, and it's really evidenced by this project, is that you can have color without it being a primary color application. And so instead of we go back to the Crayola box, instead of choosing a cobalt, which has a ton of color value and is really bold, you might choose like a duck egg blue that has a little bit more yellow and blue in it and reads as more of a muted color. And I would say we did that throughout this project. So it's a Delft blue, a duck egg blue, a persimmon coral, you know, a green that is so dark it's almost black. But that's a color complexity that as the day goes on you start to see the different, a blushy pink, a sagey green. So none of those are what we would term as being true colors. They're very much permutations of color. And that is often perceived, I think to be a much more sort of like shallow end application of color. And it, it is extremely effective.
- [34:09]
Caroline
You've used tons of neutrals, tons of textures, and you've woven the color in, in, in kind of accents. But the colors that you've used. Yes, are, are very muted and they're like the neutral of the color on the color, right?
- [34:27]
Taryn
That's right.
- [34:28]
Caroline
They're the neutral version of the color. Color. Yeah. That makes so much sense because then your room has the energy that color is going to bring it. But it, the overall effect is still really kind of streamlined and calming and like serene and the things you're kind of looking for with a neutral space.
- [34:50]
Taryn
But, but, and it's just a really nice way to sort of experiment. I mean you can start with a room that's largely neutral and weave in a segee green and weave in a, you know, sort of Delft blue and not feel bowled over by the color value that those represent relative to everything else around it.
- [35:08]
Caroline
Uh huh. Do you think you're talking about color value? Do you, do you think it makes sense to stay in the same value? Like if you're using say a mid tone kind of brown as your, as your main neutral, do you then use mid tone like coral or blues or.
- [35:26]
Taryn
Can you go, I hate to constrict anybody, especially the viewers, like that. I think it's all relative to that to which you gravitate. In other words, an example in this project would be in the bedroom where I did a very neutral grass cloth wallpaper, has a little bit of reflectivity to it, a lot of warm wood. And then we chose a multi that had a Delft blue and a charcoal and a little bit of a gray black. But then we popped everything in that space by choosing something that had a major color value, which is that sort of mustard saffron color that we wove into there. And in my opinion, if we didn't have the mustard and saffron, then the other things wouldn't have been nearly as interesting without the juxtaposition.
- [36:11]
Caroline
I am obsessed with that fabric, that, that floral in that room. It's so Pretty. It's.
- [36:19]
Taryn
I love it too. I love it.
- [36:21]
Caroline
The brown. H. Yeah, it's.
- [36:23]
Taryn
And it's honestly very difficult to find a fabric that has all of those colors in it. The Delft blue, the soft sage blue, the yellow, the charcoal, the brown. All of those things are just really interesting.
- [36:40]
Caroline
It's really lovely. You have such an. A unique eye for pattern. You know, a lot of the patterns are not super prevalent, I think, in other design work, which I think really makes the spaces feel unique and special because, you know, it's not full of things that you've seen before. It's. It's really.
- [37:01]
Taryn
I like that. That makes me very happy because obviously, like everyone that loves design, I spend a lot of time looking at what other people do. And so while I'm often inspired by it, I hope I'm never just patterning anything after it. So that it. That's a very, very nice compliment.
- [37:20]
Caroline
Thank you. I'm sure you really have to go out of your way to find new things and, you know, search for new fabrics that are.
- [37:28]
Taryn
Well, honestly, textile designers have made our lives so much more interesting in the last five or six years. I would say the sort of advent of the ability to have small batch production. These much smaller, more independent fabric lines. It's just. It feels to me as though it's really opened up a door to talent that before now might have been something that didn't have the ability to create an audience.
- [38:00]
Caroline
Are these mostly like digital printing when you're small?
- [38:05]
Taryn
To be honest with you, I think there is the digital printing aspect of it, but I think whether that's computer assisted drawing has allowed you to create it. And because you're able to print it in smaller batches, you're not necessarily beholden to the same production requirements that you would be for, you know, 500 yards or 50 bolts or whatever it used to be. And if you just think about how much fabric you would have to be shilling to the world to have 500 bolts be your normal order versus 5 bolts. You think about how much more simple it is than it used to be to have something that people haven't seen before.
- [38:49]
Caroline
Yeah. And I guess maybe 20 years ago, you would have to go to, you know, an ADAC or the design center in New York to get represented. And now you can just reach out to designers probably online, hey, can I send you my swatches?
- [39:04]
Taryn
And I love that more than anything. I would say we have discovered some amazing textile lines, and that, to me, is a great joy and a great sort of Capability that both social media and just in general, you know, the world Wide Web, as my dad calls it, has brought to all of us. It's the great equalizer.
- [39:25]
Caroline
Yeah. Yeah. It's funny, I would have never. I guess I never really thought about it changing the textile industry in that way, but. But that makes so much sense. Okay, you are a major lover of the natural fiber rug. Tell us about this.
- [39:39]
Taryn
That's true. I've barely ever met one I don't like. I'll tell you what I mean. I am a mother of pets and a mother of children, and both of those things tend to be messy versus clean. And so a natural fiber does so much from a standpoint of tonal variation and also just forgive everything that goes down on it. And in particular, in my mind, I like sisal. It's a little bit stricter. It's like the, like, slightly more uptight teacher, but I prefer newt. Jude's like the substitute teacher that's like, yeah, we can have class outside. And I love that because my children spill constantly and my animals do things I wish they wouldn't do indoors. And, you know, we have all of those things. And because that has movement and the jute is really, really soft underfoot. That's another thing. I would say your mother's natural texture rugs were not something you would want to pat around barefoot on. Whereas I would say this generations, particularly jute are really, really soft underfoot. Whenever I propose it for a project, I always encourage them to take their shoes off and step on it because it is actually very comfortable. And the title of my book is Relaxed Elegance. And what is important about that to me is that nothing feels too precious. And so not having to worry about my children or my dogs or my clients children or dogs or even just my clients dropping a strawberry popsicle on the rug and running the entire space. That's the definition of that to me, is that it's not precious. You are able to live in these spaces and enjoy them without having to worry about stain treating every last thing, starting with the rug.
- [41:31]
Caroline
Yeah. I will say you use some very fine antiques, some very fine fabrics and beautiful fabrics, a lot of traditional elements that might, I suppose, be interpreted as more formal. And so that natural fiber rug really kind of cuts it all and brings it that. That relaxed vibe that you, you know, obviously love.
- [41:54]
Taryn
And I do, I do. I love it so much. I love it so much.
- [41:57]
Caroline
I wrote a book about it.
- [41:58]
Taryn
But I will say the other thing that. That I will often do. And I also think this is really interesting is that I don't ever want a space that we design to feel like we just popped it in, like we're popping an ice cube out of a tray. I really want them to feel like they have patina and they're layered and they reflect the interests of the people that live there. And to me, one of the ways that you do that is the understanding that a room is often built over time. It's things you've collected, it's things you brought back on your travel. It's something you hadn't seen before that you just brought in. And because of that, I think layering rugs, starting with a natural texture like a jute, and then layering a dury or something you found in your travels, or a beni arras or like any of those things that sort of reflect that layering capability, then your room really starts to feel collected. And that, to me, is what we always want for any project. I never want anyone to walk in and say, oh, you just redecorated.
- [42:55]
Caroline
How lovely. Right.
- [42:57]
Liz
Well, that's one of the things that stuck out to me too, is that there were some fabrics that you mixed in that felt like they were sun drenched already or like bleached a little bit, or the outdoor furniture was worn in a way that made it feel like it was already there for a few seasons, so they didn't feel like they were.
- [43:19]
Taryn
Yeah, that's exactly right. I love. I love a patina, as they say. I really do. I think it makes everything more interesting. I like antiques. I like it when things have little bits of wear. I often, particularly in my own home, won't repair a water spot or worry about a marble spot spot where it's taken the finish off of it. And I always say, just on the subject of marble, the best thing to do, because we do a lot of kitchens and marble is a living finish in the sense that it interacts with the environment around it. But it is an organic finish in that it is often has color variation, movement in the. In the slabs themselves. And I love that. And so when people say something to me like, well, I'll be so nervous to cook on there, or I'm just worried of what it will look like if I put this down and there's an etch mark, the best possible scenario for someone who put in marble, which is what I did the day mine went in, in the kitchen, open up eight cans of crushed tomatoes, pour the tomatoes all over.
- [44:27]
Caroline
Oh, you did not.
- [44:28]
Taryn
Yes, I did. Oh, pour the tomatoes all over the countertop and then get out a new sponge and put it all into the disposal. Because that level, to me, of worrying about your countertop such that you don't want to cook there, or you don't want to entertain there, or you're constantly telling your children they need a coaster, that's not living to me.
- [44:50]
Caroline
Okay. That is genius. And also unhinged.
- [44:55]
Taryn
I know I've often been accused of both, so. Oh, my God. Consistent, if not nonetheless.
- [45:04]
Caroline
Oh, my gosh. That is so funny. You didn't even make, like, a tomato soup, a tomato sauce, nothing.
- [45:11]
Taryn
But actually, now if I did it again, I'd probably use curry.
- [45:15]
Caroline
Oh, my. Yellow.
- [45:17]
Taryn
Yeah, that yellow things, they just can't be precious, in my opinion. They really can't be. Otherwise you're not living with them. You're. You know, we say in our house, and my children will repeat it to me anytime anything is said, stained, or damaged. Love people and use things and not the other way around. So if you're not enjoying your people. I like that.
- [45:40]
Caroline
Yeah. Since we have a little bit more time, we didn't actually talk too much about color. And I would. Wanted to ask you about color because there was one of the projects that, you know, we talked about neutrals, you talked about pattern and how you kind of use your. Your hero pattern to inspire the color palette. But that Park Avenue apartment had those incredible persimmon, coral, orange. I don't know what color we would call it. Orange, I guess, really dining chairs. And they were so fabulous. It had this sort of just the lightest shade of blue you could possibly use on the walls. And the color in this project seemed to really stand apart from the rest of the rest of the houses in here. Almost like there was more saturation. They were almost more primary colors. So maybe kind of share a little bit about that and how you've used color in here differently than some of your other projects.
- [46:41]
Taryn
So I would say one of the things about this project, which was so wonderful is that it was probably the fourth or fifth home that I've done for these clients. So when I refer to creative capital, which is what you hopefully accrue after asking someone to trust you on something and finding that they do is that you get a little bit more rope when you say, I think this would be really wonderful. And the wife has become an amazing, wonderful dear, dear friend of mine. And they have an incredible art collection. And she, as we were conceptualizing, sort of giving this space new life after they purchased it, One of the things she said is That I, I want this to feel almost calming, like white. And she said, but then I, I want there to just be a few pops of color. And so we chose that really, Really. I mean, for me, probably the quietest of the quiet wallpapers, which is that silk cream colored Pierre Frey, so it gave a little bit of texture to the walls. And then from there, the next sort of most important fabric was the very painterly fabric that we used from Pierre Frey, which almost feels in and of itself, itself like an abstract painting. And those colors allowed us to pull just a few other pops of color in what is honestly very neutral space for us. And because the architecture of this home is sort of around a central gallery, meaning that formal living room is off of that gallery, the den is off of that gallery, and then the dining room is off of that gallery. With very large public style openings to those spaces, they needed to all be able to relate and speak to one another. And so we once again chose in that dining room to do a very quiet, what we call almost like a whisper of blue on the walls in that lacquer. But then the pop is that cheer, and I find it. And this probably goes back back to my very first job, which was working at a cosmetic company where I had lots of interaction with makeup artists. And they taught me one of the most interesting juxtapositions in color palette is a cool and a warm, and they make both more interesting. And so this very cool toned wall in this whispery gray blue with this extremely warm, warm coral persimmon color, it really just pops both of them, actually, in a very interesting way. And then, of course, in that room, because it was visible many times from that gallery, instead of having just the solid color on the fronts and seats of those chairs, we chose to do a pattern on the back of the empire style chair, because then it's interesting from the back as well as from the front.
- [49:45]
Caroline
I love that. Is it a flame stitch? Is it a chevron? I love the back of those chairs. I, like, need that fabric.
- [49:51]
Taryn
It is a flame chevron pattern, but it doesn't have any. There's no embroidery to it, so it's a print.
- [49:57]
Caroline
It's so pretty. I love that. I mean, what a just wow moment. I mean, it's definitely a wow in the book when you turn the page, you know, But I. I have to assume it looks wow from in. In person as well.
- [50:15]
Taryn
It's very fun. And that's the other thing I would say. I love these clients so much, and they are fun and Light hearted. And I think this apartment, this home feels that way. And so it feels like them.
- [50:30]
Caroline
Yeah. And there's a little bit of that color in lots of the rooms. You know, you had that little, um, cerused oak armchair in the, in the bedroom that had that color, that tortoise shell library. I mean, with the chevron little sofa. There's a little bit of it in the living room.
- [50:51]
Taryn
And the cutest sleeper sofa that's ever been made. Oh, is this how we refer to it in our office? The best sleeper sofa ever.
- [51:01]
Caroline
Oh, I didn't know that. That is a great looking sleeper sofa. Yeah. But I love that that your client asked for an like, all white and you're like, you know what accent color we need is bright orange. Yeah.
- [51:18]
Taryn
Still gotta be me.
- [51:21]
Caroline
Amazing.
- [51:21]
Taryn
No, it's, it is funny because it does. You're. What you're saying is correct, which is that the recipe isn't always the recipe that, you know, if you use a teaspoon, it isn't always better than a tablespoon. Mm.
- [51:35]
Caroline
Yeah. And it's, it's, it really unites all of the spaces together and is such a fun and energizing accent color.
- [51:44]
Liz
How does this space differ from the other spaces that you've done for that client?
- [51:48]
Taryn
Yeah, they're very different. And I would say that that actually is something that makes sort of our lives in our firm so much fun and so interesting. And that is that because we now work all over, we are able then to participate in more of, like, the common vocabulary of where we are. In other words, like, I believe that things should have, like, a sense of place and time. And so in other words, their home in, you know, a more rural country location is very different than the, in downtown New York as well it should be. And so having a bit more formality, a bit more lacquer, a bit more antique. Those are appropriate on situ as opposed to in the country house where, you know, you really want sort of a mud room that's an acre long and a zillion drawers in which to put your boots and wellies. And, you know, all of those things make much more sense as opposed to this space where you're, you know, trying to figure out where you might want to make a martini.
- [53:02]
Caroline
Yeah. And you also have a office in West Palm. So how does your West Palm, like, projects differ from your, you know, New York and Connecticut projects?
- [53:17]
Taryn
Well, I always say that they are very different. Right. Because I do believe in a sense of spirit and place. But I would say that there's usually a river that runs through it, and that is that while we may be able to use either a slightly different palette or a slightly different application, that there are consistent things throughout those, which is our use of color. The other thing I would say about having been in this industry now for some time and the evolution of it is the new selection that's now available to us of performance textiles that don't feel like outdoor fabric. And that is an incredible gift because whereas once we would put a boucle on a sofa and pray that no one ever used it, or scotch guard it and fiber seal it into submission, now we can use something that has a hand where it feels like it's indoor, but if someone pours something on it, it just beads right off of it. So. So particularly in Florida, where it's likely to be, you know, a little wet tushy in a bathing suit. That's much appreciated.
- [54:23]
Caroline
Yeah, yeah, yeah. You, you know, a lot has. Has developed in the performance fabric world, but do you find yourself using more solids in West Palm just because there's a lot of pattern options, but maybe not quite as many as a non performance fabric?
- [54:40]
Taryn
Yeah, I. I don't know if that's true, to be honest with you, because I would say that there are so many of our favorite fabric lines now that have introduced very similar, if not exactly the same patterns in performance. And so, you know, faced with the option, and I'm just using this as an example, but faced with the option in one of our favorites, Skyler Samperton, am I going to do it in the non performance or the performance? I'm almost always going to recommend that we do it in the performance because again, that's sort of the equivalent of pouring tomatoes on the marble countertop. Why worry about it?
- [55:19]
Caroline
Yeah. Well, that's good. Yeah, that is. It is so nice to live in. Live in that time where we can. It really is the option. Yeah.
- [55:28]
Taryn
And it doesn't have. That's the other thing I would say. I mean, there were a lot of nice options for performance textiles. Don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to throw 2016 under the bus, but I would say that not knowing when you touch it, if something is performance really feels like progress as a designer. The hand has changed.
- [55:48]
Caroline
Yeah. Yeah. And especially if you've got a pattern and a performance, then, like, you're good.
- [55:55]
Taryn
Because as we say, win. Win.
- [55:57]
Caroline
Yeah, exactly. Well, thank you so much. Again, relaxed elegance. It was such a beautiful book. And your first book. Are you going to do It. Are you going to do another one?
- [56:08]
Taryn
I don't know. It's like asking someone right after they've had a child if they're going to do it again. Yeah, I think the answer, of course.
- [56:17]
Caroline
Did you enjoy the process?
- [56:19]
Taryn
I loved the process, actually. I like. I like it even more in retrospect. Honestly. It was really rewarding. It was exciting for us to go back and revisit these projects from both a sort of editorial standpoint, in other words, thinking about what the aims and the goals and the sort of, like, way that we arrived at the final design concept. So it was an opportunity for reflection.
- [56:46]
Caroline
Yeah.
- [56:46]
Taryn
In a way that maybe we don't always get to do. But then also, I would say the compilation of them is very satisfying. You know, just to sort of, like, look at all of these things that we have been lucky enough to have a hand in creating as a compendium is. I mean. Yeah, that's about as good as a cat's. It was awfully fun.
- [57:08]
Caroline
Yeah. Well, I so enjoyed it. I know our listeners will enjoy it, so thank you for coming to chat with us about it.
- [57:15]
Taryn
Thank you so much for having me to come and chat with you about it. This was really a wonderful way to spend the afternoon. I look forward to seeing you both.
- [57:25]
Caroline
Yes. Before you go, will you tell everyone where they can find you and follow you and obviously pick up the book?
- [57:29]
Taryn
Absolutely. So they can find me on Instagram at Bitty Bromley. That's B I T T Y Bromley. For those of you that are wondering if that's my actual name, I will tell you that I am old enough to remember when Instagram was not your calling card to the world. And so that was my childhood nickname. And you can find us online@bebromley.com and you can purchase our book, which is through Rizzoli, at a number of different places, hopefully starting with your local bookshop, because we want to support them in every way possible. And then if that is not feasible, I would suggest heading over to Amazon.com because I know Jeff has it.
- [58:11]
Caroline
Yep. Okay. I had to talking about your name. I did have to, like, go do a double take and I was like, wait, this is the same person. Right? Because I know I followed her on Instagram, but, like, that's this year anyway, so I definitely almost called you Bitty several times.
- [58:29]
Taryn
That's a carryover. And I'll just. I'll admit this on the record for the first time. When I was younger, my name was Brittany Horne and I couldn't pronounce. My R. So I used to say I'm Bittany Han. And so Bitty became my nickname.
- [58:45]
Caroline
That's cute. Well, it's a great name. Yeah.
- [58:47]
Taryn
Thank you.
- [58:49]
Caroline
And that's our show. You can find all of the show notes on our blog, howtodecorate.com Piper to.
- [58:55]
Taryn
Send in a decorating dilemma, email your questions to podcastallarddesigns.net so we can help.
- [59:00]
Caroline
You with your space. And of course, be sure to follow us on social media. AlardeSigns.
- [59:04]
Liz
Don't forget to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss an episode. And please leave us a review. We'd love to hear your feedback.
- [59:11]
Caroline
Until next time, happy decorating.