Interior Designers React to Your Hottest Design Takes

Dear Alice | Interior Design - Alice Lane

In this episode of 'Dear Alice,' interior designers from Alice Lane share bold and often controversial opinions on common design trends and

Key takeaways

• Good design is defined by intention and personal style, not price point or trend-following.
• Prioritizing resale value can make a home feel inauthentic and joyless.

Main topics

• The value of personal style in interior design
• Resale value vs. personal fulfillment in home design

Notable quotes

"Expensive does not equal good design. Original decisions make good design."

"Cultivating your tastes and defining your personal style is the new luxury."

Conclusion

The episode concludes with a powerful reminder that the best interiors are those rooted in

Transcript preview

Speaker 4 (0:00) Hello everyone. Welcome to Dear Alice. We have a fun one for you today. It's a juicy one. Speaker 3 (0:06) We're Speaker 4 (0:07) going to be doing some hot takes. Speaker 3 (0:09) We've gathered them from a couple different places. You guys have sent some in. We got some from around the office. We have a couple to share with you. If you're not familiar, a hot take is an opinion that someone has that is maybe a little bit polarizing. Yeah, Speaker 5 (0:21) or Speaker 3 (0:21) absolute. Yes, Speaker 5 (0:22) or Speaker 3 (0:22) an Speaker 5 (0:22) absolute. An absolute thing that just needs either to be agreed with or argued with. And that's what we are about to do. Yes, Speaker 4 (0:28) we are. Speaker 5 (0:28) It's going to get spicy. But Speaker 4 (0:29) first, if you're new here, we're the designers behind Alice Lane. We are an interior design firm that spent the last 20 years designing custom homes, doing remodels and interiors. And we learn a lot from mistakes we've made. We've got a lot of insider knowledge, a lot of design principles. And we use these every single day with our own clients. So we just wanted to pay this forward to you. So if you're not familiar with Alice Lane, check us out on Instagram. We're at Alice Lane Home. And then at Alice Lane Interiors is our interior design side. You're going to love, love, love, love the behind the scenes there, especially if you love interior design. Should we get into the hot takes? Let's do it. Okay, perfect. The first one is expensive does not equal good design. Original decisions make good design. Speaker 3 (1:13) I would agree. I would agree with that. I Speaker 5 (1:15) think Speaker 3 (1:15) so too. Speaker 5 (1:16) That's the cool thing about this podcast, I will say, is that any of the things that we're talking about can be implemented at whatever budget you sit at. I think as far as if you're showing yourself good taste, you're going to recognize the best that you can afford and you're going to do things at the right scale and all those things and that's good design. Paying attention to those principles and making sure it feels like you, that's good design. Speaker 3 (1:37) It Speaker 5 (1:37) doesn't mean that you have to have an unlimited budget. No one has an unlimited budget. Speaker 3 (1:41) And I especially love the first part of that because just because it was expensive, it doesn't necessarily make a good design. This is a hot take with Speaker 2 (1:48) this, but it's a little, Speaker 3 (1:49) yeah, sub hot take, if you will. I think luxury is more within reach than it ever has been. Maybe in the existence of time. So with that, it puts a strong emphasis on cultivating your tastes and defining your personal style. So those that can do that will almost not be influenced by trends or outside opinion. Speaker 2 (2:10) So Speaker 3 (2:11) therefore, cultivating your tastes, defining your personal style, and doing so with confidence is the new luxury. Speaker 4 (2:18) It is. Love it. Mic drop. I love that take. That's a hot take. And cultivating your own personal style is really hard to do. But those are some of the most fun accounts to follow are people that are great at street style or people that pulled their space together by digging through salvage yards and different things to get this really exclusive, unique look. And those are the people that people are trying to hire is because they have personal style, because they know how to dig, because they know how to cultivate, because they've worked so hard for it. They didn't just phone it in with some luxury designer or luxury product, right? Speaker 3 (2:53) Or pay for it. Speaker 4 (2:55) Yeah, it's in them. Yes. Yeah, I love that. Yes, that's so good. The next two kind of go together, and that is resale value. That was mine. Speaker 3 (3:03) And this, unfortunately, is coming from realtors most of the time. It's like, don't do this because you need to think about resale value. It's like, well, I'm just buying the home. I'm not thinking about reselling right now. You know what I mean? I think you need to make decisions that are going to pay you back and not worry about the resale value or that goal. Because if you do that, you're always in service. Your home is always in service of someone else. It's not in service of yourself. And that's a difficult way to live. And Speaker 5 (3:32) I think there's no greater therapy than figuring out who you are and representing that in your space. Yep. As far as just you're painting everything neutral for the sake of a resale value, that is the murderer of joy right there. Absolutely. But if you do something and you're really introspective, there's no better time than right now. There's so much influence around us as far as what is. Good taste. What is luxury? What can be personal? I think you'll be the happiest in your home if you pay attention to those things. If you do have to sell your house, if you do it in good taste, it's going to sell. Speaker 4 (4:03) Everybody's going to want it. Speaker 5 (4:04) It's Speaker 3 (4:05) going Speaker 5 (4:05) to Speaker 3 (4:05) have Speaker 5 (4:05) memory points like all over it. So that's the one that's going to be bought quick. Speaker 3 (4:09) Yeah. So true. Do Speaker 5 (4:10) it for you, not for a resale. Speaker 4 (4:12) Along with that, we have written down going all neutral is not designer or memorable. So that's sort of the whole resale value thing. And I get it. Sometimes neutral is the only thing that you and your significant other can agree on. Speaker 3 (4:25) But Speaker 4 (4:26) it's not that interesting. It's not that personal. I'm so Speaker 5 (4:30) bored. Speaker 3 (4:30) Yeah. I think if you were going neutral, let's say on cabinetry. Speaker 4 (4:34) Sure. I Speaker 3 (4:35) understand that. That's a large investment. But there are other ways you can pull interest into your kitchen that are not so permanent. We had a kitchen episode that came out a couple weeks ago. I kind of think if you're doing a white kitchen. Speaker 3 (4:48) Go more bold on the countertops. I know that is still a permanent fixture Speaker 3 (4:54) But it does something to bring interest to your cabinetry. Or there are other ways. You Speaker 4 (5:00) have to go more rolled on the countertops. You've got to make a really interesting hardware choice. You've got to make your white kitchen feel so special and interesting. Otherwise, it's just going to look like everything else out there. Speaker 3 (5:11) But neutral on neutral is not interesting. You Speaker 5 (5:14) have to spend money on your hood now. It's going to get expensive. For real. Speaker 4 (5:21) Our next one is accessories with no meaning or function. Oh, Speaker 3 (5:24) shoot. I Speaker 4 (5:25) hate this, guys. I Speaker 3 (5:26) think of you every time I have something like this on my own, by the way. Speaker 5 (5:29) This is the stuff that as far as like as far as when I'm looking at other design and I'm like zooming in to be like, what did they put on that book? Also, why is there so much stuff on top of all the books? Speaker 3 (5:39) That means Speaker 5 (5:39) you don't open the books. I know sometimes it's a little bit of lift and we're composing all the time. So sometimes you do do that. But. Accessories that have no meaning. When we go into a client's house, again, they need us because their home doesn't feel right. We're going in there because they filled it all up with a bunch of stuff from TJ Maxx that's ridiculously unimportant and unpersonal. And like, it just takes up space. And luckily they called us because a lot of people stopped seeing it and they just have a shelf full of unmeaningful things that have no function, nor meaning, nor any personal story. And you feel that. I think we've all felt the other side when you go into a home. that feels curated and that feels personal and that feels warm. And you're like, my gosh, everything was done in such thoughtfulness. It doesn't have to be expensive, but it was thoughtful. Speaker 1 (6:24) And Speaker 5 (6:25) that is how you should style. That's how you should accessorize. And that's how you feel a pulse when you look at that image or when you're just in the space versus just getting things to get things. And honestly, just clear your shelves right now. Go throw that stuff away. Go donate it. You don't need it. Be personal. Speaker 4 (6:40) Condo art, Sue. How do you feel about condo art? Will you define condo art for the people? Speaker 5 (6:45) Also, my now four-year-old, whenever he is mad at something, he'll be like, you need to go clean your room. Ugga. So when I say that, that is in reference to Louis. So Ugga. Condo art Ugga. So gross. What condo art is, is exactly what it sounds like as you see it in dental offices. It feels so low budget because it's just a printed canvas, usually not framed, and it's likely an abstract with zero brush marks, with zero signature, with zero soul. Speaker 3 (7:13) It's never the right size. It's a Speaker 4 (7:14) murder Speaker 5 (7:14) of... Speaker 4 (7:15) It's always neutral, too. Speaker 5 (7:17) It's so unpersonal, and I just, I hate it. And often, a lot of times, they are abstracts. Or Speaker 3 (7:22) a Speaker 5 (7:22) landscape. Yeah. Especially Speaker 4 (7:23) if you're dealing with a landscape, Speaker 5 (7:24) I expect to see some brush strokes or something to show that it was like, you know... Speaker 3 (7:28) Painted. Speaker 5 (7:28) Yes, exactly. So, anyway, do yourself a favor. Don't buy it. I don't care if it was cheap on Facebook Marketplace and it's going to fill that wall. You'll never replace it. Don't buy it. It's ugly. Don't buy it. Speaker 3 (7:39) So just wait until they... Wait, I'd rather Speaker 5 (7:41) see a blank wall. I'd rather see your kid scribble with pencil on that wall versus seeing bad art. Speaker 4 (7:46) There it is. Hot Speaker 5 (7:47) take. Speaker 4 (7:47) Hot take right there. Here's another one. Quartz often looks better than marble. Quick repeat. What? Quartz, not quartzite. So this is the man-made material. Often looks better, they say, than marble. Oh, God. Okay, Speaker 5 (8:03) yeah. So, of course, everybody, that's the fake art of countertops. It is. Condo. Speaker 3 (8:08)