Design Court

Bill to...etc.

In this episode of Built to Etc., hosts Dena Holland and Ariana Paolino introduce their new segment, 'Design Court,' where they adjudicate design

Key takeaways

• The hosts recommend choosing marble countertops only if you are a 'Type A' person who is comfortable with natural stone etching and staining.
• For rental properties, they advise investing in mid-level furniture that can withstand wear and tear rather than high-end pieces.

Main topics

• Design Court dilemmas
• Kitchen renovation materials

Notable quotes

Make your house your house.

Conclusion

The episode provides a lighthearted yet practical guide to navigating

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:00) you Speaker 1 (0:02) Welcome to Built to Etc. I'm your host, Dena Holland, founder of Honey and Fitz Interiors. And I'm your co-host, Ariana Paolino, lead project designer. We're bringing you behind the scenes of running a design firm. Beautiful projects. Ugly budgets. Client curveballs. Vendor excuses. And all the chaos required to make a room look effortless. We're going to talk design. Speaker 2 (0:20) Business. How we stay in business. Objectifying men. Why our jeans aren't fitting this week. Who Speaker 1 (0:26) did something to piss us off and why we're right. We're going to talk about whatever we feel like. How's that? A Speaker 2 (0:30) quick disclaimer. Speaker 1 (0:31) We're Speaker 2 (0:31) opinionated, Speaker 1 (0:32) we're Speaker 2 (0:32) occasionally Speaker 1 (0:33) petty, and we swear like grown women. Speaker 2 (0:35) And Speaker 1 (0:35) while we love your children, this podcast is probably not for them. Because some things get billed to the client. And some things get billed to, et cetera. What are we starting off talking about? Let's talk about my face. Speaker 2 (0:49) Guys, are you zoomed in? Speaker 2 (0:55) I'm going to be so self-conscious about it. But. Speaker 1 (0:57) The whole time. Why? It's going to get better. Yeah. You're going to be self-conscious about it this whole time or while you're away? The Speaker 2 (1:05) whole time it's looking Speaker 1 (1:06) like this. I mean, whatever. Speaker 2 (1:08) Like, Speaker 1 (1:09) it's got to get better, bad before it gets worse. Better. Speaker 2 (1:11) It's got to get. Speaker 1 (1:12) I know. It's got to get worse before it gets better. I'm going tomorrow and I know she's going to fuck me up. Speaker 2 (1:17) I Speaker 1 (1:18) know. What kind of facial is it? Oh, she likes to do... Is it just like a customized facial? Yes, and she does like clear and brilliant lasering, and then she does like a chemical exfoliate. It looks like chopped liver after you're done. It looks bad. I have a picture of myself the last time I did it. But... The glow is so amazing. Like two days later, Speaker 2 (1:37) I was going to say like, how long does it take for you to get back? It actually Speaker 1 (1:39) probably takes more than two days. Yeah. She also will dermaplane me, which I have only ever, she's only ever done it once. And she never even asked me if she could do it. She just was like, Oh, gross. Look at all this hair I took off your face. I was like, what? So human. What? Speaker 2 (1:51) Um, Speaker 1 (1:52) she told, she, she, I felt so Speaker 2 (1:54) exposed. She was, cause I was like, I don't know what I could possibly be doing wrong. She's like, uh, are you taking a multivitamin? don't do that are you um did you change your laundry detergent why would you do that you stupid idiot oh she was amazing i loved her but like Speaker 1 (2:09) um Speaker 2 (2:09) is the Speaker 1 (2:10) derma planning giving you like like she was Speaker 2 (2:11) in the middle and she was like you've been derma planning at home haven't you i was like oh my god Speaker 1 (2:17) how Speaker 2 (2:17) did she know only a couple Speaker 1 (2:18) times Speaker 2 (2:18) yeah and she was like i can tell there's Speaker 1 (2:20) clogged there's clogged like hair i'll be like so hot so wait so now you're getting ingrown hairs yes i can't I was like, no, I literally did that because I thought it would help. Same. Like absorb the products, the active ingredients Speaker 2 (2:33) more. And she was like, she was like, yeah, if you like get it done professionally and like have your skin like prepped for it. But she was like, not if you're just doing it at home and like not. Speaker 1 (2:41) What prepping do you need to do to your skin? Like they probably use better, like Speaker 2 (2:45) more medical grade tool. I don't fucking know. Speaker 1 (2:49) Honestly, just bring on the lady beard at this point. It was like everything Speaker 2 (2:52) I was doing, I thought I was doing good. She was like, gross idiot. Dubby. Dubby. Wow. God, Speaker 1 (2:59) okay. Speaker 2 (2:59) I thought I was really doing something, changing my pillowcases once a week. I really thought I was on it. I thought I had my shit together. And Speaker 1 (3:05) she wants you to Speaker 2 (3:05) change them how Speaker 1 (3:05) often? Every Speaker 2 (3:06) other day. Like, Speaker 1 (3:07) be for real. We're not doing that. Not doing that. I can't. She was like, Speaker 2 (3:10) do you have cats? And I was like, okay. She was like, what does that have to do with it? They're walking all over your pillow with their stinky little litter feet. And I was like, yeah, I do know that that's Speaker 1 (3:20) true. Speaker 2 (3:20) Now you have cat litter Speaker 1 (3:20) face. Speaker 2 (3:21) Okay. Speaker 1 (3:22) Like everything. And I was like, Speaker 2 (3:23) yeah. No, you're so right about all of it. Peanut butter. Do you eat peanut butter? Do what? Do you eat peanut butter? Yeah. It apparently triggers androgen. I don't know what that is. It's the male hormone. Speaker 1 (3:36) What? Speaker 2 (3:37) Like estrogen? Yeah. Androgen Speaker 1 (3:40) is the male equivalent of estrogen. It increases Speaker 2 (3:43) oil production. Speaker 1 (3:45) And sebum. Sebum? I love peanut butter. Yeah. Yeah, sebum. And at Speaker 2 (3:50) the time that I started getting all these tiny little bumps, I was eating a lot of peanut butter. Speaker 1 (3:54) I was eating apples with peanut butter. I thought I was having Speaker 2 (3:57) a good, healthy snack. Speaker 1 (4:00) Wow. Fucking fatsy. Double. For real. Do you know what's happened to me this week? And I'm sure you can relate to this. When all of your maintenance things happen in the same week. It's the worst. Speaker 2 (4:09) Like, yo, I did a second job. Yeah. That was yesterday. Speaker 1 (4:14) Hair appointment. Yeah. Facial. Yeah. Chiropractor. See? Right. Nails. Tomorrow I have hair. And my facial. Yeah. You don't get your eyebrows done? No. Because you got it lasered? Yeah. Did you get your eyebrows lasered? I did get my eyebrows lasered. Oh, wow. Yeah. But it still comes in a little bit under here. I Speaker 2 (4:36) need to get... Don't look at me today. Don't. Speaker 1 (4:40) I need to get my whole face lasered. That's my next thing, I think, to do. I Speaker 2 (4:43) think in the fall, like, when we get back from Italy, I'm going to do my lip again. Oh. Because I tried, and I had, like, the six or eight sessions or whatever it was, and they were awful. It was not good. Like, it wasn't enough? No, like, I never saw the same person. Got it. And Speaker 1 (4:59) so Speaker 2 (4:59) they were all inconsistent in, like, the levels at which they were lasering, like, how thorough they were being. So it, like, didn't work. Like, I got my bikini wet eight times. I'm Speaker 1 (5:10) like, yeah, if that worked, this should have worked. Yeah, for sure. But your bikini line did work. Hell yeah. Oh, it's incredible, isn't it? It's great. I like barely have to shave anymore. I want to do my lip and then my armpits. And then I think I'll be good. I don't mind shaving my legs. You think that until you never have to shave your legs again. And you're like, oh my God. But I also like don't care. Yeah. Okay. Like I only care Speaker 2 (5:30) in Speaker 1 (5:30) the summer. And like at that, I only care when like I'm going to the beach. I like the... I like the freedom it gives you. Like, yeah. Would you want to go to the beach in an hour? I'm ready. I'm ready to go at any moment. Well, Speaker 2 (5:40) that's how Speaker 1 (5:40) I feel about Speaker 2 (5:40) my armpits. Right. Because I'm just like, if I want to wear a tank top, I'm like, oh, fuck. Did I not? Speaker 1 (5:45) It's so nice to not have to think about it. Yeah. I know. But I should do my upper lip. You're right. You don't. I feel like you're so hairless. I am like a little Mr. Bicklesworth now that I got. Besides Speaker 2 (5:58) your occasional chin hair, which don't Speaker 1 (6:01) we Speaker 2 (6:01) all have? I, we went to the beach and then we went to, no, we went on a lighthouse tour and then we went to Ocean Mist last weekend. I get in the car after Ocean Mist. We have been gone for seven hours from the house. And you've grown a beard. No, I literally, I look and I was like, Speaker 1 (6:18) what? I was like, there's Speaker 2 (6:20) one singular, really like, you know, like wiry, whatever hair coming out of my chin. And I was like, oh my God, that's so embarrassing. Like, when the heck did this get here? And Steve was like, oh, I saw it when we left the house. What? How about a heads up? He was like, well, there was nothing you were going to do. Like, we didn't have tweezers. Like, I didn't want to point it out. I have tweezers in my car. I have Speaker 1 (6:38) car tweezers. Speaker 2 (6:38) Do Speaker 1 (6:38) that. One of my girlfriends got me a mirror. If I showed it to you, you'd be like, I'm sorry. Oh, what, like magnification? Magnification, but it has a hook and it hangs around your neck. And the mirror's right here. So your hand's free. The mirror's just hanging there and you're just doing your business. Yeah, it's crazy. I need that. See? No, Speaker 2 (6:58) I need that. She gave it to me. I was like, this is ridiculous. And Speaker 1 (6:59) I was like, wow, is this designed for me? Speaker 2 (7:01) All of my congestion happens. Hello, again. I Speaker 1 (7:05) know, Speaker 2 (7:05) I know. Let's do Speaker 1 (7:06) a Speaker 2 (7:06) point it out. So if it was Speaker 1 (7:07) on my... just be staring at it all the time. God, it's awful. Speaker 2 (7:10) When we moved into the house, the downstairs bathroom has one of those like hotel... Oh, the Speaker 1 (7:17) magnifying mirror thing? Yeah, like on the arm or whatever. At first I was like, what the fuck? No, no, it's the best. I have one upstairs. Steve was like, Speaker 2 (7:22) I'm Speaker 1 (7:22) surprised. I thought you would Speaker 2 (7:23) have loved that. Now I... You're Speaker 1 (7:24) obsessed. Speaker 2 (7:25) You can't do your makeup without it. If you can't find me, I'm in there. No, Speaker 1 (7:27) I don't even... It's not even Speaker 2 (7:28) makeup. Speaker 1 (7:28) I'm just like... Just looking. Yeah, no. Picking my skin for hours. I have a magnifying mirror up in my vanity and it's the best. I Speaker 2 (7:34) had one, but like not... I think mine is 10x and I only do my makeup Speaker 1 (7:37) in it. Speaker 2 (7:37) This Speaker 1 (7:37) one Speaker 2 (7:37) must be like 50x. I swear to God. Speaker 1 (7:38) Amazing. It's like Speaker 2 (7:39) I'm up in there. God, it's Speaker 1 (7:41) great. It's really great. But no one ever looks at you that closely. No. Yeah. Speaker 2 (7:45) No, you look at it Speaker 1 (7:46) and Speaker 2 (7:46) you're like, have I been walking around like this? That's how I feel. Speaker 1 (7:49) Like, I'll do my makeup without it and then look in the mirror and be like, okay, ashy. Speaker 2 (7:54) What is this? Speaker 1 (7:55) Do you Speaker 2 (7:55) blend? Speaker 1 (7:56) Exactly. Do Speaker 2 (7:57) you ever? Excuse me while I blend my concealer. All right. Guess what we're talking about today. Speaker 1 (8:05) All of the annoying things that people actually people DM me about this all the time. Yeah. I want to do this. But my husband says this. What should we do? Speaker 2 (8:12) They're basically just giving us a 411 on the fights that are happening in their house. Exactly. And they're just trying to settle things. Speaker 1 (8:18) Because I think actually a lot of people get stuck. Like they're not they're not finishing things in their house because they're like, well, we can't agree. Speaker 2 (8:24) So we're Speaker 1 (8:25) just Speaker 2 (8:25) forget it. Yeah. It's not worth the fight. It's not worth the fight. So whatever. Or it's not worth the fight. So we'll just do something that neither of us. I guess it's one of two Speaker 1 (8:33) options, right? Maybe three. It's not worth the fight, so we're not doing anything. Yeah. Thanks for your opinion, but I'm doing what I want. That's usually the way. What's the third one? I don't know. Or I don't care enough, let him win kind of thing. Sad. Speaker 2 (8:47) So... Yeah, Speaker 1 (8:48) that Speaker 2 (8:49) does happen. Very rarely. I Speaker 1 (8:51) asked for people to submit what their ongoing dilemmas are, and we have a whole bunch of them. We're going to rule on them, like design court. I did think I ordered a gavel, but I guess it hasn't arrived in time, so... Speaker 2 (9:00) Jeff Bezos, get it together! If it arrives during the pause, then I'll get the gavel. Do Speaker 1 (9:07) you have any of these in your own house? Speaker 2 (9:11) I mean, definitely. Speaker 1 (9:12) I'm just like trying to think off the top of my head. Things that he wants to do that he's like, obviously, that's the right answer. Actually, you know what? Speaker 2 (9:20) My God, I'm blanking. You Speaker 1 (9:21) texted me one time over the weekend, the kitchen renovation one. Speaker 2 (9:24) Oh, yeah. Yeah, it was. Speaker 1 (9:27) Just a symmetry thing, right? It was a Speaker 2 (9:29) symmetry thing because of how we're laying out the new kitchen where we're putting the stove. You can't have the same size cabinets to either side of the range while also having the same size gap to either side of the window. Like you had to Speaker 1 (9:46) choose one or the other. So it's Speaker 2 (9:47) like, Speaker 1 (9:47) which Speaker 2 (9:47) is Speaker 1 (9:48) worse? Speaker 2 (9:48) Yeah. And he was like, the window gap absolutely needs to be the same. And I was thinking like the cabinet. is more in your face like physically it's like projects more off the wall so it's symmetrical Speaker 1 (10:02) reveal around the window yes Speaker 2 (10:03) or symmetrical cabinets Speaker 1 (10:05) around the range right right right Speaker 2 (10:07) and i was like i would rather have the symmetrical um cabinet size around the range because it is quite literally more in your face um and he was like no that i don't care about that like i need the and he's he's very like ocd in that way and so i texted you because i was like which i like Clearly we're square. I'm judging you. And you ruled his Speaker 1 (10:29) way. I think it's a personal, it's like what bothers you more? And I guess I'm with Steve. That would bother me. That would strike me first. Yeah. Like the space around the window. And Speaker 2 (10:39) like. Speaker 1 (10:39) But I could certainly see the argument for the other side too. Yeah. I mean, Speaker 2 (10:42) because it was also unfortunate. It's like not, it wasn't wide enough of a space to just like do shelves. Yeah. And like hide it that way. It was like too skinny. And then it was like, what is this? 12 inch I don't Speaker 1 (10:53) know Speaker 2 (10:53) it was gonna be stupid so we're gonna go with um symmetrical around the window and then asymmetrical yeah and we were going to bypass that whole thing or at least blend it a little bit by doing a range hood right instead of oh I remember this now instead of the just like People know what I mean. The hood instead of like the metal piece. Like a wood hood instead of just a stainless steel hood. Speaker 1 (11:19) A wood Speaker 2 (11:19) hood instead of a stainless steel hood to kind of just like blend the eye so you don't see it as much. But of course, the cabinet finish that we selected is new and they haven't come out with the matching range hoods in that finish yet. So I'm like, oh, so I could do black, which like theoretically... Speaker 1 (11:34) But Speaker 2 (11:34) then it stands out more. Exactly. Theoretically, I don't mind that look. I actually think it could look cool, but it would not help in the blending of it. Speaker 1 (11:42) So... All right. Well, we've got a bunch that we're going to go through. It's a lot of my husband thinks. And like, listen, girl, if you need me to tell you your husband's wrong, here I am. Here we are. I'll do that. You don't even need to tell me what it is. Right. Just call me up. What did he say? I'm sure it's incorrect. Speaker 1 (12:00) Totally. So I guess we're just going to go through and give our opinions. Yeah, do it. Okay, here we go. There's a lot of these, actually. Okay. Several of them are about the same thing, but I'm just going to wrap it up into one. My husband thinks that curtains should be one to two inches off the floor for, quote unquote, airflow versus touching the floor. What kind of airflow do we think he means? Exactly. Speaker 2 (12:20) Is Speaker 1 (12:21) it over a vent? Because you're going to get that airflow either way. It's different if it's over baseboard heat. But even over baseboard heat, we hang drapes. In front of baseboard heat all the time. Speaker 2 (12:30) All the Speaker 1 (12:30) time. And I've never set anything on fire. Not on wood. Yeah, right. People Speaker 2 (12:34) think that if Speaker 1 (12:35) the fabric is touching, but I mean, they do all kinds of things. How Speaker 2 (12:37) hot are Speaker 1 (12:37) you running your heat? But also, like, is it electric heat? Is it hot water heat? We've used fire retardant linings. It's like, it's actually a non-issue. It should be, I don't even, I'm like looking at my fingers, like a quarter inch. I think it's personal preference. I think some designers, I mean, whatever, you're too young to know this, but in the 90s, everybody was puddling. Oh Speaker 2 (12:57) my God. I am not too young because I... Did your mom do that? I don't know if my mom did that or if I grew up going to a lot of houses. Well, you're Italian. I'm sure you did. Yeah, yeah, Speaker 1 (13:07) yeah. I've seen it. I've seen Speaker 2 (13:09) the pooling. My mom did the tiebacks. Yeah. That was her. Speaker 1 (13:14) So like that was a look. It was very like whatever French country. I don't know. And I don't know. It's not my look. I don't like it. Yes. Opulence. Opulence. I prefer them to be just touching, which is kind of a hard measure to hit. Speaker 2 (13:31) Think of it like suit pants. Speaker 1 (13:34) Yes. I don't like a Speaker 2 (13:35) break. Yeah. You want a slight break. Yeah. But not even. Speaker 1 (13:39) Right. I Speaker 2 (13:39) think that that would be the equivalent in suit pants. I agree. Like you want it. Off the ankle bone. Yeah. Speaker 1 (13:44) I don't know why he thinks there should be airflow behind there, but he's wrong. Wrong. So we've decided. Rules. That's not correct. Yeah. Because Speaker 2 (13:53) also, I would rather have the tiniest break. Than have them be too short? Than have them be too short. 1,000%. Like, I would rather them be touching and, like, have, like, eh, just, like, a slight break than them be, like, two inches off. That's insane. The other Speaker 1 (14:10) thing, not to overcomplicate this, but, hi, that's what we do. Speaker 1 (14:14) When you're going for that exactly right, skimming the floor, depending on the content of the fabric, Speaker 2 (14:20) if you've got a fabric Speaker 1 (14:22) with a lot of linen, it's going to stretch as it hangs there and you're perfectly at the floor skimming length might end up being breaking and hitting after a few Speaker 2 (14:29) weeks. Yeah. So you need to like account for that when you're hanging them. Speaker 1 (14:32) Yeah. Or just have your person back out to hem them or, you know. Yeah. Sorry. But over baseboard heat all the time. Not a problem. Speaker 2 (14:39) All the Speaker 1 (14:39) time. Airflow for what? What are we flowing? That doesn't even make any sense. Beverage fridge in the kitchen or adjacent dining room. Dining room? Speaker 1 (14:53) Beverage fridge in the kitchen or in the adjacent dining room? Speaker 2 (14:55) Well, Speaker 1 (14:56) I Speaker 2 (14:56) have questions. I have follow-up questions. Is it like a dining room with a built-in bar situation? Must Speaker 1 (15:02) be, yeah. Speaker 2 (15:03) I mean, I could guess I could get behind that, but I also find that a little odd.