The Next Right Thing with This Oak House's Annie Meyers-Shyer

The Install: Life & Design with Paloma and Caroline

Hosts Paloma Contreras and Caroline Jadier welcome Annie Meyers-Shyer of This Oak House to discuss her transition from fashion editorial to

Key takeaways

• Annie Meyers-Shyer leveraged her background at Harper's Bazaar and Chanel to develop a sharp eye for design and craftsmanship.
• The renovation of the Colcord house relied on physical mockups, such as plywood and cardboard, to visualize scale for complex architectural elements.

Main topics

• Career transition from fashion to design
• Home renovation techniques and challenges

Notable quotes

I've never had a roadmap with my Instagram. I've only ever gone to do the next right thing.

Conclusion

A motivating episode for creatives on how to leverage past expertise i

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:04) Hi, and welcome to The Install. We're Paloma Contreras and Caroline Jadier, and this is where we talk about design, business, and the real life behind creative work. What's inspiring us, what's challenging us, and everything in between. Hey, Speaker 3 (0:17) Paloma. Hey, Speaker 1 (0:18) Caroline. How are you? I'm Speaker 3 (0:20) doing good. Doing good. How's Speaker 1 (0:22) your Speaker 3 (0:22) week going? Speaker 1 (0:22) Oh my gosh, it's crazy. We're recording the week after Labor Day, so, you know, it's kind of nice to have a short week in some ways, but also... stressful because you've got to fit five days worth of work into four. Speaker 3 (0:36) Yeah. Speaker 1 (0:37) And my low this week is that my schedule is just insane this month. I had to take some time off in the summer and really like had to hit the ground running on my calendar come September. And I counted this morning, I'm in the office eight days this month, just eight days. I have lots of travel. We are opening the Southern Living Idea House next week. So since I'm doing a show house, that's been keeping me busy. I was there photographing it last week, home this week, there for the opening next week. The week after that, I go to Chicago to shoot a beautiful project in Kenilworth, which is a lovely suburb on the North Shore, right off of the lake there, Michigan. So I'm very excited because we've been working on that for a couple of years. So that'll be a fun one. And then I come to see you at the end of the month in Birmingham for an event that I'm doing with Visual Comfort and Veranda. And then you and I are going to do some fun pop stuff and catch up, which will be great. It's all good. It's all good things. You know, it's just it's a lot at one time. And then to simultaneously have to keep up with our projects. I've got to wrap up. the design of two houses this month sometime between all of that. You know, I will work on it on the road when I can. And then we're also hiring for two positions. We're hiring a project manager slash interior designer and then our studio manager role as well. So, you know, just like that's a lot of resumes interviewing Speaker 3 (2:08) people. Speaker 1 (2:08) Yes. So it's crazy. That is my high. I'm sorry, my low. My high, I guess, is knowing that. October is around the bend and all of this will be behind me soon enough. Yeah. But for now, it's just like one hour at a time. Bird by bird. Speaker 3 (2:24) Bird Speaker 1 (2:25) by Speaker 3 (2:25) bird. Okay. Well. Yeah, it's a busy time. September, traditionally, is always just going to be slammed, right? Because people get by. I mean, like everything gets crammed into, I'm going to say the first two weeks of October and September. Everybody wants their project moving and you got to get it moving if you're going to get it finished ahead of everything. So it's, you Speaker 2 (2:47) know, it's Speaker 3 (2:48) always crazy. But my high and low are, you know, I'm doing, I'm hitting a space in. And as with all things, it's like two sides of the same coin, my high and my low are kind of combined. I'm hitting a space in Tracy Anderson that I'm feeling like, like I'm really hitting on all four cylinders. Like it's going good. I'm feeling strong. Like I'm feeling like it's all coming together, you know, just really enjoying it. And then I like go and. I feel capable. You know what I'm saying? Like I have, like for so long you can exercise or you can do something and you just kind of feel like, um, just, I'm, you know, got a lot of work to do or, you know, whatever, I'll get there. I don't worry about it. Um, so I'm like in this space where I'm feeling good about it. And then I go to tennis and like my tennis coach, trainer, whatever we call it, the tennis pro, do we call it? I don't. My whatever. I don't know what I call her, but the lady who's like the tennis teacher. I think the Speaker 1 (4:01) pro. Speaker 3 (4:01) She is the pro, one of the pros, but I don't know when she's on the court with you what you call her. Instructor? Speaker 1 (4:07) Your tennis instructor, maybe? I don't think so. I think it's Speaker 3 (4:10) more like your trainer, but maybe that's because that's what we call those horse person. I Speaker 1 (4:16) don't know. Speaker 3 (4:16) Margo starts Speaker 1 (4:17) tennis on Saturday, so I will find out and report back. Speaker 3 (4:21) Okay. Okay. And she might have somebody different than this lady at the club who like gets out on the court with Speaker 2 (4:27) people who are trying or who are playing and, and helps them. Speaker 3 (4:32) Yes. And here's my thing. If she wants to yell at me as I'm running towards a ball, I, here's what I can guarantee her. I am not going to be able to do whatever she is yelling at me about. Okay. I can't, I cannot take that information in when I am on the run, on the way to hit a ball and she starts screaming, get your racket back or whatever it is. I'm like, I can't, my brain just shuts down. And I feel like I look like when I'm playing tennis, I feel like Steven looks like when he's dancing. Speaker 1 (5:10) Okay. I mean, I've not seen Stephen dance. I don't mean to laugh, but I can imagine the picture you're painting. You know, like he is so coordinated with a racket and Speaker 3 (5:20) all that kind of stuff. But, you know, you can hit me. I'm like, I am very coordinated dancer. You can hit me with a five, six, seven, eight, shuffle ball change, shuffle ball change, pas de bourree, whatever it is. And I am on it, honey. I am with you every step and I can hit it back. But you put a racket in my hand and start yelling at me as I'm running towards the ball. And I just shut down. And I know I look absolutely ridiculous. Are you like a deer in the headlights? Like you do freeze? I don't know. And the other thing is we were laughing at dinner on Tuesday night. We had gone out for Stephen's birthday. Speaker 3 (5:58) And Lou loves tennis. She's very competitive. Stephen loves tennis. He's very competitive. We were talking about things and I was complaining about something. And Lou was like, you know, everybody else in the world. thinks of tennis as a competitive sport. You're like the only person in the world who thinks it's a game where people try to hit the ball back and forth to each other and like keep it in. I'm like, why do you have to be mean? Like, why would you not just hit it to me? Why are you trying to hit it where I can't get to it? Like, that doesn't Speaker 1 (6:31) make any sense Speaker 3 (6:32) to me. They're like. Because it's a competitive sport. And Stephen's like, even when we're out here playing tennis cardio, which is just to get exercise, people are trying to make it where the other person can't hit it. And I was like, that's just nonsense. This is crazy. Why would you do that? It's not nice. What's the point? Like the game doesn't keep going. We keep having to stop the game when Speaker 2 (6:57) somebody can't get to it. That's funny. Speaker 3 (7:03) So that's my low. Every time she screams at me, I'm like, no, sorry. Speaker 1 (7:07) That's intense. I don't do well with that kind of thing either. And I don't like getting, I mean, not that you're like in trouble, but I just don't like being yelled at or getting in trouble or anything like that. I hate it. So I would probably shut down too. Speaker 3 (7:21) I really have had to work through a lot of shame in my, or shadow, I guess that's what we call it, to work through tennis as an adult with her. As a kid, I never cared. My mom sent us for tennis lessons all the time. It was her goal that we would be able to play tennis well. My sister, it took with me. I just never could get into it, and I didn't care anything about it. But as an adult, I enjoy the exercise, but just not. Speaker 1 (7:50) I'm with you. I got it. Are you watching anything new these days now that it's fall? I feel like shows are starting to come back. Speaker 3 (7:58) You had recommended The Gentleman, Speaker 1 (8:01) which Speaker 3 (8:02) we started and we made it to episode three and I'm out. Speaker 1 (8:09) You're out? Speaker 3 (8:10) Yeah, Speaker 2 (8:10) I'm out. I can't watch it anymore. Why? Speaker 3 (8:12) Because Speaker 2 (8:12) it's too intense for me. Speaker 3 (8:14) It's very intense. I cannot deal with... mafia, somebody putting a bat and like killing somebody and like strangling them and all that kind of stuff. And we have to see it and know that it's going on. It's just like, no, sorry, I'm out. It's really beautiful. There's Speaker 1 (8:30) a pretty backdrop. And pretty eye candy. It's beautiful. Speaker 3 (8:33) And the people are all beautiful. But I can't bring that darkness into my life right before I go to bed. I just can't do it. Because then I get all worked up as if we've actually hurt this gentleman and killed him and then like dug him in a grave and put him on the other side of this building and taken off. And now we're getting deeper into the mafia troubles. Like I can't. Speaker 1 (8:56) Buckle up because it just gets more intense. I know. Speaker 3 (8:59) So I'm out. No, I'm not. I'm not. I'm not doing anymore. I just I can't. We also started May Day and, you know, we didn't get 30 minutes into that. I was like, what is the deal with the guns and the violence? Yeah. Everybody just stop. Speaker 1 (9:13) I feel like television in general is like very, very intense these days. There's very little that you can watch. It's like just pleasant. Why Speaker 3 (9:20) does it have to be so aggressive and violent? Speaker 1 (9:25) Yeah. I don't know. I guess it's a commentary on our society and where we are as a culture, unfortunately. But I will say I love The Gentleman and I do recommend it. Like if you can handle that kind of thing, knowing that it's fictional and you enjoy the intensity, it's really good. I think it's really sharply done. The characters are great. And there's actually like. solid character development, which I think a lot of shows lack these days. And then the back, like the backdrop, the setting is beautiful. The basically in a nutshell, the second son of a Duke inherits the estate after the father dies. And then there's drama with the elder son, who's a hot mess. Speaker 2 (10:08) And Speaker 1 (10:09) they come to find out that somebody's growing marijuana on the property and the dad had allowed it because he was getting compensated for it. And so it sort of takes this turn into this underworld. But the estate is set at Badminton. That's the exterior. And then they do film some things in that entry hall, which is so beautiful, that Speaker 3 (10:30) beautiful blue room with the horse paintings. So Speaker 1 (10:33) it's for me, it's fun because I enjoy the scenery. And then, as you said, you know, the characters, like all the actors are very attractive. I do a great job. So I've been enjoying it. And Fabian watches it with me. And it's rare for us to watch a show together these days. So that's been fun, just having that shared experience. So I'm hanging in there. But season two gets more intense, actually. Like this last episode we watched the other night. No, Speaker 3 (10:56) that's what Stephen Speaker 1 (10:56) had already seen. I was like, ooh. Speaker 3 (10:58) Yeah. Stephen had already seen season one. So we started with season two. So I'm talking about episode three of season two. And I'm like, I can't do it. Speaker 1 (11:06) Yeah, no, if you'd started with season one, I think you would have hung in there and you would have gotten through season one. Season two starts out very intensely. And I know exactly the scene you're talking about because that stuck with me, too. But I mean, yeah. Speaker 3 (11:19) And then the end of the episode two, I was like, oh, my God, what? I mean, like, yeah, no. Speaker 3 (11:29) Well, I can't. I just and I thought, well, maybe it'll just be this one thing and then we'll keep going. But it creeped me out with the little weird man and the scratches on his back and all that kind of stuff. That was weird, too. I was like, why do Speaker 1 (11:40) we have to keep showing him? You know what I said to Fabian? I was like, this feels extraneous. It feels like it's just like it's an unnecessary detail that doesn't add anything to the story. It's really Speaker 3 (11:51) meant to make you uncomfortable. Yeah. Speaker 1 (11:54) And it does that. It certainly accomplishes that. It's sort of like I was saying, it's like the nursing home storyline in Landman. I don't know if you watch Landman, but I feel like that's like that whole show. Well, compared to this, it's not violent, but it's just I know people really enjoy it and we watch it, too. I feel like that is so unnecessary. There's so many things in that show that I feel add nothing to the plot. There's so much more character development that could happen. And I feel like this Taylor Sheridan man, I have not watched all his shows. I've never watched Yellowstone. And I know that people are big fans. But I feel like he doesn't respect his audience because he thinks like I think he thinks very lowly of his audience and thinks that they're very dumb. And maybe they are because it's all just like low hanging fruit. So anyway, it's not my favorite. I feel like this does a little better job. Anyway, so that's what I'm watching. Speaker 3 (12:48) I Speaker 1 (12:49) will say Speaker 3 (12:49) we, on your recommendation, also we watched The Other Bennett Sister. And, you know, I said I'll have to watch that on my own because Stephen won't watch it with me. And I think he listened to that episode because he was like, hey, what do you want to watch? Or I saw you were watching The Other Bennett Sister. Do you want to watch it? And I was like, are you going to watch it with me? And he was like, yeah, of course. Did he like it? Did you like it? And at the end, one of us loved it and one of us hated it. Which one Speaker 1 (13:23) do you think it Speaker 3 (13:24) is? Speaker 1 (13:24) Well, it sounds like he probably loved it. He loved it. Speaker 3 (13:27) You're Speaker 1 (13:27) a hater, apparently, and you don't like Speaker 3 (13:29) anything. What will it take to satisfy me? I know. I didn't hate it. You didn't like it? I Speaker 1 (13:36) mean, you have to. Speaker 3 (13:37) I Speaker 1 (13:38) loved the Speaker 3 (13:39) setting and seeing the beautiful interiors. But I'm a Jane Austen purist, and it got off on the wrong foot with me because I was like, this is not how this book is written. This is not who these characters were. Speaker 2 (13:55) This is, you know, so I'm Speaker 3 (13:56) like, I'm that. Speaker 3 (13:59) No, it is like it takes the characters and then creates something out of whole cloth. Speaker 2 (14:04) So maybe Speaker 3 (14:06) that is what an adaptation is. But so I got off on the wrong foot and I was spending the whole time like this is not. And Steve was like, whatever, we're rooting for Mary. I Speaker 1 (14:16) know. It's so sweet. Just let me be happy for Mary. Exactly. Get out of here. Speaker