Uploft Designer Shannon Major: From Teacher to Design

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Fall Trends Part II & TLC’s “Seeking Sister Wife”

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I continue our Fall Trend Series by exploring five key design trends that are currently shaping the market. I discuss the importance of layered lighting to create mood, the shift towards curated maximalism that embraces vibrant decor, and the growing emphasis on biophilic design with plants and nature-inspired elements.

If you have questions for me, make sure to submit them here.

[Music]

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Design inspiration, real life makeovers, and the latest in pop culture. This is the Uploft interior design podcast with Betsy Helmouth. As promised, this week we are continuing on with our fall trend series. Every season, these are my most listened to, most asked about episodes. Betsy, can

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you report on the fall trends? And I most certainly can. Even though I’m not changing my current design, nor my client’s current designs to bend to those trends. Rarely will I buy something specifically because it’s trendy. But it is very important to know what the trends are because that’s what

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you’re going to be seeing on the shelves. The retailers are leaning into the trends. They’re not only creating them, but they’re getting books about trendy colors, trendy lines, trendy patterns well before the season is even here. So, they can manufacture things that are going to

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feel fresh, feel current, feel like something you have to buy right now, even though you already have 16 pillows. So, you need to know how to shop, how to navigate these trends. And I’m going to be sharing with you what I feel is timeless, what are trends I think you

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should avoid. And as you know, I’ve already covered four, no, five last week. So, you’ll want to go back and listen to those five trends if you haven’t already. And then this is part two, the last five that I want to talk about today. So, the first is layered light. and really using light not only to

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illuminate the space but also to set a mood or a vibe. And so we’re talking about like sculptural light fixtures that involve maybe sort of a mobile quality like a chandelier that’s kind of movable so it’s always shifting around the space. meaning the light is not always consistently spread, but it’s

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more about creating that really cool vibe and look or even having task lighting or small lamps that involve globes or things like that that are meant to really be more conversation pieces than they are something that you should be able to read War in Peace by. So, as you’re shopping for lamps right

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now, you’re going to see a lot of them that you’re wondering, is this going to thrust enough light? But really, what we’re going for is the wow factor in the space, which might mean that you’re going to want to break free from what I normally say at least three lights in

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any room that are on a human level, whether they’re table lamps, floor lamps, nightstands, wall sconces, in other words, outside of the overhead lights. But if you’re choosing some lights that are pretty much just sculptural or kind of cool, but they don’t really provide that much additional

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illumination, well, you might need more than three. And so that’s something to keep in mind. For instance, I was just designing a studio in Hawaii and it had huge ceilings. It was quite a small footprint at under 400 square f feet, but it was over 11 ft high. Amazing. And

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beautiful views of both the pool and the ocean. But the problem was that, you know, that means that those overhead lights are really far up. They were all recessed cans and she was renting. So, we don’t want to go installing anything. Even if we could install a chandelier or

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something dangling down to create to create dramatic effect. Please excuse me in the background. My Chihuahua has a tracheal collapse and he’s choosing to nest right now during my show. Anyway, all right. I digress. So anyway, I knew that even though she has a lot of recessed cans in

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the ceiling, that that’s not going to really create a nice atmosphere 11 ft below. So, we used wall sconces on either side of her artwork. We use these really cute sculptural um globe lights on a brass base that aren’t going to let out a lot of illumination, but they look so cute on

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the bookshelf divider that’s separating the bedroom area from the living area. And we did a couple so that it’s kind of repeating this sculptural look. And then I knew we need something above the piano as well. So, we did another little point of light that’s cute, um, but doesn’t

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necessarily have a huge area in which it’s illuminating. These are things you can be thinking about when you’re thinking about layering light. But you want to make sure that if you are using like a really amazing overhead gosh, guys, sorry about the dog. It’s highly

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distracting. Um, maybe you guys have little dogs who have a tracheal collapse and I should have not brought him with me to the podcast studio today, but he looked so sad and forlorn. It’s the same reason I should not let him sleep with me cuz he, though he’s medicated, wakes

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up coughing and hacking in the middle of the night, which of course wakes me up. I can’t remember the last time I got rim sleep, but I can’t not let him sleep with me cuz he’s my little baby. Sorry, guys. Sorry. All right, let’s move on. I hope that the layered lighting was intelligible because I’m

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somewhat distracted by my poor baby. Luckily, he’s created a cozy bed on the dayb bed in the corner of my office on a pillow. Okay, this next one we’re really moving away from the stark minimalism that was so popular with Scandinavian design, um, with this modern design that

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was popular not even so long ago, like I would say just about two seasons ago, everybody was asking for clean lines, no accessories, empty shelves. I want the Scandinavian look and feel. And now it’s more about this curated maximalism having lots of books, lots of candles,

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lots of voses in a cluster, but everything is not a mishmash. It’s clearly done with a specific eye. Whether you’re color drenching one corner and want to have accessories that are all eggplant purple or whether you’re dispersing like picture frames mixed with objects from your travels

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throughout the space. It’s done in a very thoughtful not at all haphazard way. So that’s what they mean by curated maximalism which is why you might be seeing a lot more chachkis on the shelves these days gearing towards small object those picture frames I was discussing things

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like that you know I’ve got clients who never would have asked for centerpiece bowls before now not only asking for the centerpiece bowl but what do I fill it with? I know I’m never going to eat 12 apples. So, is there something I can put in there that has staying power? It’s

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been funny to see my clients responses to the inspiration images they’re seeing online because they’re asking for a more maximalist approach, asking me to find these items for them, whereas before they were like, I want nothing on the dining table. All right. So, the next trend that has

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been around for a while is biofilic design. Whether it is wallpaper that has plant imagery, whether it is adding a ton of plants to this space, whether it’s working with um nature inspired decor that could be, you know, just colors of leaves and nature. Just anything to make the space feel more

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soulful and calming, but certainly this sort of leafy motif is what they’re talking about with this biofilic bent. And yes, I have been seeing this for a while and I’ve been seeing for maybe a couple of years now clients saying, “But Betsy, it’s really important for me to

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have plants. Where are the plants going?” And for me, plants are the afterthought. Once everything else is set, then we figure out places to find plants. For many of my clients, they’re letting me know, Betsy, this is our priority. In that initial list we’re creating of things we want to see in the

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space of functions we need this space to perform. One of them is where to put our plants or where to incorporate plants that we’re hoping to have. Seeing that emphasis on plants and nature is something that is new to me for the past two years. And it’s funny because I’m

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also feeling it in my own home. Um I never really had a green thumb. I was never really interested in incorporating plants until about 3 years ago when I moved from my space in Westchester to my home in Connecticut and I was working with Ashley Tapley of House Candy Home

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to stage my space. She was giving me a virtual consult and she said, “Betsy, each room needs to be one plant shy of a jungle.” I was like, “Oh, well that’s a lot of plants.” And she’s like, “When you’re staging, that’s the aspiration. That’s what people want to see and what

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they want to actually have.” I went to Trader Joe’s. I went to Home Depot. I went to the local nursery. I stocked up on plants and so many of them have survived and thrived. And so, not only do I have them in my new house, I’ve added to the collection being so inspired by their longevity and what

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they’ve really added to my home. And I really get excited to even take care of them, which is something I can’t say I’m looking for additional responsibilities in my home, taking care of more things when I have this tracheal collapsing dog. I have a senior cat, and I have

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three children and a husband. But I have these plans and I couldn’t be happier. All right, this last one, statement marble and stone, is something that’s really exciting to me and something that feels very new. Sure, marble has been around for a long time. Like, let’s just take it way back.

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And I love mixing marble with other textures. It’s always been integral in my spaces. But now when I’m looking on the market, you can actually choose what color marble you want. I was buying an in table at our house the other day and they had three different types of

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marble. You could pick white, black, or green. It was so fun to have a choice because it used to all be the Carrera marble, the white with gray veining, and now there are so many options that are very complex and interesting and make the pieces feel so unique and of the

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moment. So for me, the thing that’s new about the marble is not the texture itself, but the new options we have within the patterning and colorways, which you’re finding at lots of different stores, whether it be CB2 or RH House, Restoration Hardware. It’s very exciting to me that we can have

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this texture that is such a classic, but get some new choices at a retail level. Choosing your own color of marble used to be something that only custom designers got to do. And I’m really excited that now it’s accessible for my clients as well. Guys, there you go. Lots of trends. I wonder which ones

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resonate with you. I want you to write me and let me know what you’re incorporating in your space. And now I’m going to tell you what you should be watching. So, last week I talked about Sister Wives on TLC and how it’s getting a little humrum. I just don’t know how

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they’re going to keep turnurning out storylines unless they get some new sister wives now that the family has dissolved in so many ways. But this other show on TLC, Seeking Sister Wives, oh my goodness, guys. Um, Seeking Sister Wife is not boring, not old. There are all new couples that I think

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are so intriguing. I wait each week for this to drop. And season one or I’m sorry, season 6, episode 1 just dropped and did not disappoint. So, let’s talk about my favorite returning couple, the Marfields. I actually follow them on social as well, Danielle Maryfield and

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Garrick. So they are very religious and they say that they are drawn to seeking sister wives because the Bible has said that having multiple wives is divine and things like that. Now they have tried so many times and they have really tried like poor Danielle has had her heart

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torn out of her chest multiple times. She’s obviously seeking connection with a sister-like person in her life, with another mature woman that she can have as a best friend, have as this deep connection. But it’s clear that there’s a lot of jealousy for her and that it’s

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a very fraught relationship. Even though I think she’s good at keeping the turmoil inside versus projecting it on to that other woman and making the other woman feel uncomfortable from what I’ve seen on TV. Danielle just internalizes all that crap, which is probably not all

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that good for her. But the two women that they had moved forward with in Brazil at different times each left in devastating ways. Like guys, if you have not been watching the show, go back, started season 1. It is worth it. And Garrick has just been bumbling along,

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obviously wanting to get laid. I’m sure it’s deeply based in religious roots, but he’s having sex with these women before they’re married. He says he can have sex with them after they’re engaged, which I’m not sure the Bible is saying. Um, then Danielle has a surprise. Turns out she’s pregnant. So,

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there’s just a lot of drama. And now, after those two devastating breakups with the other sister wives where he had sex and Danielle thought she was connected and had these new sisters, now she’s having to start all over again with this poor other woman. I just don’t know how this is going to go.

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I’m sending good vibes and I can’t wait to watch week after week cuz he is such a dog in my opinion. and she is such a lost little puppy in my opinion. I do not think that adding another spouse is exactly what they need even though I think they need something something. Okay. Uh now we have Nick,

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April, and Jenny Davis and they have been struggling to find a new sister wife. So Nick stays at home and he is like the dad um the stay at home dad. What am I trying to say? And the women are the breadwinners and they all sleep in one huge bed which I just find to be

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fascinating. And they have been trying to court other wives and it has had highs, it has had lows. It has been really fascinating but they found someone new and she is super into Nick. Now, I do not get the connection. Nick, for me, I’m not sure how all these women are so

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obsessed with him, and I think that this is outside of a religious context. So, I think that they’ve been having sexual relations from the jump um with the new women that have been involved. So, maybe he’s just really good in bed. I don’t know. But I can’t stop watching because

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this bed just gets bigger and bigger and they keep adding mattresses to the end and um like who gets to sleep next to who and blah blah blah. I mean I have a hard enough time sleeping next to my husband who snores um and who steals the cupboards. I cannot imagine having like

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four other people in the bed and trying to navigate what that looks like. Okay. Then there’s this new family from Indiana and it’s Reese and Billy Gene Williamson and they have struggled with infertility and they don’t necessarily want a sister wife like he doesn’t want

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a sister wife but she can’t have any more children or struggles to have children and so she just really wanted a big family and needs somebody else to make more babies. Now, I want to say to her, you know, there’s such a thing as surrogacy or there’s other avenues to

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get more children that don’t necessarily involve also getting an adult woman in your family, but this is the path they’ve chosen. And I’m excited to see what happens there. And then there’s a couple from Connecticut. Now, they have two children. This is Yel and Danny

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Peralta. and she has two children from or no, he has two children from a previous marriage. They have two children together. She is a nurse who’s I guess a traveling nurse, so she’s often away and he needs support around the house. Now, you can see on YouTube that I am

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chuckling a little bit, but here’s the deal. I had my girlfriends come over the other weekend. They just came over for fun. Um, and I was cooking and making things and you know, whatever. and they did all the dishes after dinner. They helped me with the cooking. They helped

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me tidy up after the children before we all went to bed. It was amazing having these female helpers that just pitched right in. I think I might start seeking a sister wife. Just putting that out there. And then there is another family, the Johnson family from Providence,

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Rhode Island. And they’re the least interesting to me, but it’s fine. We’ll get into it on another episode. Hopefully, they’ll become more interesting as we move through the season. But if you are not watching this show, go back, do yourself a favor, start with season 1 and binge, binge,

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binge. You’ll thank me for it. All right, everyone. Speaking of binging, we just passed our 500th episode. Can you believe it? I think I need to like have a party or something because this is our 10th year of podcasting. This is my 20th year in business. And this is our 500th episode.

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What should I do? You know, I’m really bad at celebrating things. I can mark these milestones, but then I just reach for the next goalpost, the next thing that I want to achieve versus celebrating what I already have achieved. I really need some help carving out celebratory moments.

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Let me know. How do you carve out celebratory moments? How do you really honor the hard work you’ve put in before just getting back to the grind? I’d love to know because I am not all that good at it. But happy happy 500th show. If you haven’t been following us since the beginning, this is an

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invitation to go back to episode 1 and have some fun. All right, bye everyone. A big thanks to our producer Jeremy Young and to Eton and the Embassy for our theme music. And shout out to our parent company, Uploft Interior Design, your trusted source for expert interior

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design. Visit uploft.com to explore our services and book a consultation with one of our talented designers. If you’re enjoying the Uploft Interior Design podcast, please support us by sharing the show with friends and leaving a five-star review on Apple Podcasts or

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wherever you listen. It’s the best way to help new listeners find us. Thanks for tuning in and we’ll see you next week with more pro tips and pop culture dish.

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