Getting the French Country Feel & Peacock’s “Married at First Sight”

In this episode of the Uploft Interior Design Podcast, I share my mixed feelings about the arrival of colder weather, which often brings on seasonal depression, but also the excitement of new TV shows, especially the latest season of “Married at First Sight” on Peacock. I introduce myself for new listeners, highlighting my 20 years of experience as an interior designer and my passion for teaching aspiring designers. If you have questions for me, make sure to submit them here.

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[Music]

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Design inspiration, real life makeovers, and the latest in pop culture. This is the Uploft Interior Design Podcast with

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Betsy Helmuth. You all know that when the weather gets cold, when the weather drops below 60°,

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Seasonal Depression and TV Excitement

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I get depressed. The seasonal depression sets in whether the sun is out or not. I hate wearing a coat. I hate wondering if it’s going to be cold outside, how cold, jacket, scarf, mittens, uh, the whole thing just drains my life force. But

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what gives me energy, what excites me about this time of year is that the good TV finally kicks in. They’re finally dropping new seasons of shows I’m interested in. The summer blah, where nothing interesting is on the air is over. and October, November, I am locked in.

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Not only do I get the treat of watching postseason baseball, but also I have this backlog now of shows that I have to catch up on because they are all dropping. My favorite show, the show I would say is my favorite show of all time, that’s a big statement. I mean, maybe Sex in the City.

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And this show, this show, Married at First Sight, the new episodes have dropped. The new season is finally here, Married at First Sight, Austin, and it’s now on Peacock. I have so many thoughts and feelings. They have totally reformatted this show. I am really

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excited to share my thoughts, highs and lows. And of course, that’s coming up after one of your design questions because guys, why we’re really here, the origin story is that I’m answering your

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design questions. Do you know what’s occurred to me? And yes, it took me 500 episodes to realize this. Sometimes people are listening for the first time. Sometimes people are joining me 10 years

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into podcasting. They don’t know who I am. They don’t know what I do. So, let me just briefly, for those of you who are joining us on episode 505, introduce myself. My name is Betsy Helmouth. I’m

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an interior designer. I work in New York City and its suburbs as well as Washington DC transforming spaces. I own a firm with a team of designers, an amazing business manager, salesperson, shopper. We are just plugging along and

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we have been for 20 years. It’s a podcast on the air for 10 in business 20 years. So many clients that have been challenging, have been inspiring, have been exciting, and it continues. I have a handful of clients right now, this

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very second. So, if you didn’t know me, now you do. Not only do I run an interior design firm, I teach people to be interior designers because I have a program that I use to train my designers, whether they’ve been to

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interior design school or not. If you want to work with me, you have to go through this program that’s pretty rigorous. It takes about a month to complete when you’re working for me, but now I’ve put them all on videos, this program, so that anyone can take it. And

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so I teach people who have always dreamed of being an interior designer how to not only how to run business aspects of your new venture, but also all the foundational education you need

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to be a good designer. Because if you’re not a good designer, it doesn’t matter if you’re a good business person. Sure, you’ll make money, but you won’t have that foundation of confidence and you might be spending other people’s money

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in a way that’s not ideal because you don’t know those foundational rules of design. And yes, there’s more than just having a good eye for design. There’s a whole bunch of rules. All right, there we go. So, that’s about me. I have three

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kids, a husband, a dog, a cat. I live in the suburbs of New York City in Connecticut. And when I’m not designing for people or actually when I am because anytime I go into the city and take a design client, I take myself out to a Broadway show. So last night I was at Death Becomes Her.

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Last week I was at Queen of Versailles with Christian Chennowith. I had so much fun. Going to Broadway is just what fills me back up after a long day of work. Well, that’s not entirely true. What actually fills me up after a long day of work is going out to a restaurant

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in New York City because I love Connecticut. I would not move back to New York City in this phase of my life just with everything I’ve got going on and it’s nice to have a car, blah blah blah, but I miss the food desperately.

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Just throwing a stone and hitting an amazing restaurant is something you cannot do in Connecticut. So, whenever I’m in the city, right in the client’s neighborhood, I just Google noodles near me because Asian food, good Asian food is so hard to find out here in Connecticut. You can find good pizza,

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you can find a good burger, you cannot find good Asian food, but good thing New York has it in spades. So, I just Google noodles near me. Anything with 4.5 stars and above, I lock in. Last night I went to Handpulled Noodles on 47th Street.

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Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum. And then I went to Death Becomes Her and had so much fun. All right, that’s enough about me, guys. See, this is what happens when I give my bio. I go off on tangents because it’s all about you. This podcast is about me answering your interior

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design questions. So, if you’re listening for the first time, if you don’t know how to submit a question, it’s easy. Just go to uploft.com/mpodcast. Once again, that’s uploft.com/mpodcast.

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There you’ll see a little form. You’ll fill it out. It’ll get right to me and you will be featured on an upcoming episode of this show. How cool is that? All right, everyone. Without further ado, I am reaching into the mailbag, which is getting a little low. So, guys,

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if you’re working on some projects before the holiday season, now’s the time. Send me these questions because you can get answers before Thanksgiving, before Christmas or Hanukkah or Quanza. So send them. I’m here for you. My question this week comes from Gabby. And

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Gabby’s Design Dilemma

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Gabby is writing all the way from Fulsome. She did not put the state. So I don’t know where Folsam is, but Folsome Prison, that’s the only Fulsome I’m familiar with. Um, okay. Let’s let’s dig

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in. Maybe she’s writing from Fulsome Prison, guys. That would be a first that that I know of, somebody writing in from prison. But that would be amazing. Designing a comforting, cozy homelike prison cell. Wow. I mean, I think I’ve lived in a few prison cells,

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what with a 50 foot apartment and a 225T apartment. But designing a real prison cell would be a boon. Anyway, you write, Gabby. You write, “Hi, Betsy. You’ve answered some questions I had before about my family room and it was super helpful. I’m still working on it. I

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could ask a million questions, but I know you are so busy, so I’m going to limit it to one. Backstory. My style is luxurious French country. Walking that line between the soft lines and colors of French country and the clean, shiny

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elements of luxury. We might even be skating into traditional transitional. My problem is with these window treatments with treatments can I put here that oh what treatments excuse me what treatments can I put here that soften the space and go with the style. I can’t physically change the door or

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windows to the because the wall to the right is loadbearing. So the hope of knocking down that wall and reconfiguring the doors or windows won’t happen. I’ve tried Roman shades hung all the way to the ceiling, but it just looks bad and makes the door look out for place. I’ve also tried no treatments

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at all and it just looks bare and boring. The door is the main the thoroughfare for kids and pets and there is no way to divert this traffic to another door which conveniently makes positioning a table and chairs there fun

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as well. I thought of putting Roman shades all across, but not only does it get in the way of the door, it doesn’t look right because these walls are 9 and 1/2 ft tall. The other window by the sink is a weird one, too. It looks like

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a half circle inside of a box. Please help with these window treatments. If you have any advice on anything else, I’d be happy to take it. Thank you again for your time and for reading my long-

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Window Treatment Challenges and Recommendations

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winded, detailed dilemma. Of course, Gabby, that’s what I’m here for. Now, for those of you who are just listening rather than watching on YouTube, it would be fun to head over to YouTube

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because Gabby’s descriptions are really good and I’m going to be describing as I’m designing the space for her. But there’s nothing like seeing a picture. It really does say a thousand words. Um, but I’m going to try and say a thousand

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words to help you visualize. So, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Abby, for me, I do not like it when people hang really any window treatments, and I’m making a blanket statement. There are situations where maybe I would deviate, but 90% of the time, I do not like it when window

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treatments are hung more than six, yeah, more than 6 in above the actual window. I think it looks weird. I think it looks problematic. I think it looks like you’re trying to be Versailles. Speaking of Queen of Versailles, without having

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the architecture to back it up. I think it’s strange, especially with Roman blinds to have them be hung so high. Once again, I don’t mind them a little outside the window box at 6 in 4 in, but 18 in, I don’t think so. All right. So, you’ve got this kind of

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bay window almost situation with this door leading to the patio and then these two angled walls with windows on either side. And on the two windows, you have put these Roman blinds and then there’s nothing treating the door. Let me just keep looking around. All right. So, then you’ve got this

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window which has a curved upper window. So, basically, it’s got this arched window at the top and then just regular windows at the bottom above the kitchen sink that looks out into the backyard. It’s inset in a window box. Um, and yeah, the whole vibe of the kitchen in

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terms of the finishes that have already been selected with the kind of decorative inset paneling in the kitchen cabinets with the kind of warm caramelly brown stone countertops with the somewhat ornate bronze ‘s scroll work on the light fixtures. It’s definitely leaning transitional for sure.

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And I can see where you’re bringing in elements of French country with like the rustic wood on the um light fixture above the dining table with the willows on the island with the damisk print on the Roman shades. And then you’ve got some interesting decorative molding on the wall behind

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the dining table that you’ve put um inside these sort of niches wallpaper that somewhat mimics the damisk from the Roman blinds while being a little different. One thing I want to say, and yes, I’m going off on a tangent. I see this all

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the time. The other day I was designing a nursery for a client. She just had me there to look at the nursery. She didn’t want me to look at anything else, even though I did have some thoughts. But she’d only hired me for that one room.

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So, I try and put my blinders on. But in order to discuss the nursery floor plan, we went out to the dining room and sat at the table. And it was a round table with four chairs. And she had it such that when the chairs pulled out, it was somewhat, if you will, parallel to the

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table in that one of the four chairs would be right across from the wall. Then sort of the other chairs, they would all sort of be facing a wall, if you will, or parallel to wall. Let me change your life forever, Gabby. not with the other comments I’m going to make,

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but with one comment. You’re going to want to turn this table 45° so that when

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Dining Table Arrangement Tips

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you pull out your chairs at a circular table, they’re actually more in alignment or directly across from the corners of the room because that’s the longest line is the diagonal. So, right now, when you pull out your chair,

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you’re very close to the wall. you’re practically hitting it. But if you were to shift this table 45 degrees, you’d be angling towards the corner of the room, which would give you so much more space, would make this room feel better and

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would visually just look a lot more spacious. Okay, so that alone, if if you do nothing else, will transform this space. But let’s talk about what else we can do to transform this space because I

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have lots of thoughts and feelings, and they don’t all have to do with window treatments. Let me rapidfire some window treatment suggestions right now. First of all, I don’t think you should do anything above the kitchen window. When

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I’m looking out this kitchen window, which is very problematic and going to be difficult to dress and even if you do dress it, it’s going to have some kind of header at the top because it’s going to be a blind and that is going to take

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away from the beautiful shape of the window, not to mention eat up some natural light. If you don’t need the privacy, I would not dress the kitchen window, the one right above the sink. If you do need privacy, I would do a blind that’s inset mount

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inside this deep window box, but that’s set relatively close to the window itself and would just fully come down. I’m not convinced it would be a Roman because that header is going to be so big and going to visually eat up a ton of this window that’s really only 3 or 4

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feet high. Instead, I might do a very slim line, even translucent blind that when it came down still allowed light to come through and had a very minimal header at the top. So that way I can see the beautiful shape of this unusual window. Now,

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because the door that’s in between these sort of bay window type moments, because the door is used so often and because there’s a light switch beside the door, my first inclination, my first answer would be to not dress it at all,

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to not put anything there. People are coming and going. I don’t want, you know, shoes next to the fabric of drapes, next to high traffic, blocking, obstructing, and then people can’t even find the light switch. I would do nothing with it unless you are finding that you need the privacy. Now, there’s

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also this way to dress it that is um kind of a French door application where on the door frame itself, there’s a small rod at top and bottom and then there’s a somewhat gathered fabric panel that’s taut from the top right above where the glass starts to

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the bottom right below where the glass starts. There’s two little rods and then the fabric is taut. And sometimes you can have like um tieback that gathers in the middle. So kind of a strip of fabric

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with Velcro on the back where you can have it create sort of an hourglass shape with the fabric. And then you can remove that fabric tieback piece if you want total privacy, which is what I did in my last bedroom when I had a glass door just like this. And I bought it at

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J C Penney. so affordable. I didn’t need it for privacy so much as blackout because the big glass pane in the middle of the door just let all the light through in the morning and I love to sleep in total darkness. Now, the two windows on the side would get treated with a rod that is somewhere,

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you know, up to 6 in above the window box and is hung outside the window as well. So that way when you push the drapery back, it is not obstructing the window. Now, one thing I might do here because you like the French country look and because these windows are so narrow,

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they look like they’re under 24 in wide. This is a perfect time to do a swag drapery treatment, which I almost never do because it looks a little bit dated, but French country is dated and that’s

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the look we’re going for. I would do something translucent, something that feels sheer, gauzy that I can see through. And again, you would use that tieback, but they would go on the outside edges of the window. So, you’d only have one panel per window. And the panel would have a tieback. I

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love the tiebacks at Anthropology. I think you’ll find a lot of good French country styleesque tiebacks there. And it would be right above the chair molding. So that you would swoop the drapery panel on each window. There

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would only be one. And swoop each drapery panel on each window off to the side when you don’t need that full privacy. And that would really create a beautiful shape on either side of this door without actually treating the door. So that’s how I would do it. And then I

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think you also need a rug under the dining table. I think it would really help to formalize it and bring in a little bit of texture. I think inside the niches where you’ve put wallpaper, you should also do a piece of art. I think that would really help tie it

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together. And one other thing I have to say, Gabby, even though you didn’t ask, is that I really hate square hardware on a cabinet door. Not because I hate the shape square, but because first of all,

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I think it looks dated, but not in a French country way, in like a 90s way, which is not good. I’m not talking 1890s. I’m talking 1990s. No, it’s not working out here. But then the other reason is because even if they’re a skew

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a little bit, like after so much opening and closing of these cabinets, you can see where it could start to skew. A circle does not betray this. Now, you heard me slow down in my cadence of talking because I think I’m going to eat crow on this one. I think I’m going to

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change my mind. Typically, square or rectangular knobs shift and typically they don’t look so great. As I was zooming in, I noticed that these have kind of a larger back plate. Now, I could be into I could be open to not into I’m still not into them. I could be open to these

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rectal linear poles because they have the larger back plate. Okay, there’s first time for everything. Gabby, I know you have a million more questions and I am here for you. Keep writing in. As you’ve heard, the mailbag’s a little bit light. So, send in those questions because it is time to

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add the art. It is time to add the rug. It is time to get the appropriate window treatments with the appropriate rod. You’re going to have even more questions after I’ve just answered this one. Guys, guys, guys, guys, guys,

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Married at First Sight Recap

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tonight, yes, I’m saying tonight I am watching another batch of Married at First Sight episodes. Sure, there’s a World Series game on. Sure, my husband wants to snuggle and watch a movie. It ain’t happening. I’m watching Married at First Sight in my bed, snuggled up under

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my electric blanket with a Trader Joe’s chocolate chip sea salt cookie and a glass of ice milk. Yes, I like ice cubes in my milk. And that’s going to be my evening because I am loving the new format on Peacock. If you guys have not

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been watching Married at Foright, first of all, you have 18 seasons to catch up on, you lucky duck. But second of all, the new move to Peacock and the reformat of this show has given it a fresh life.

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Not only are they dropping more than one episode a week, the first week they dropped four episodes and I didn’t know that, right? I wasn’t expecting that. So, I sat down to watch one episode on Peacock at about midnight. Then, I

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realized there are four 1-hour episodes. I stayed up. I watched them all. I got no sleep. The next day I was a wreck. I had to take a nap, which I never do. I was unable to function and it was 100% worth it. Oh yes, it was. Anyway, tonight three episodes are dropping. I

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will be watching. I will be riveted because let me tell you what’s different. They got rid of the picking out wedding dresses which was slowing everything down. I wish Love is blind would take that note. They got rid of like the matchmaking process and seeing these um different potential candidates

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and going to their homes and deciding who’s going to be paired with who. I don’t need any of that. Thrust me into the action. The very first episodes were these total strangers, people who had never seen each other before in their

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lives. They didn’t even know each other’s first names getting married at the altar in front of their friends and family. What a way to kick off the show. I love the fast pace. Another thing I love in recent seasons, recent past seasons, it seems like these people have not

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taken it very seriously. It seems like a lot of the people that they have selected just want to be influencers. They just want Instagram followers. They never want to work at a real job again. Instead, they want to be selling love

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it, like it, look it on their social media and Tik Tok pages. It has led to disastrous outcomes where, you know, they’re not being real on camera. All sorts of stuff is going on behind the scenes and then it comes

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out when they’re being catty like on camera that all this drama happened behind the scenes or that they just stayed with this person because they wanted to stay on camera or they wanted to go on the big trip honeymoon

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situation but they didn’t really care about the person. It’s been a hot mess and I’m sick of it. like it was losing a lot of fans because of course I follow Facebook groups dedicated to these shows and I’m reading in real time what people

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are thinking and I was like how are they going to turn the ship around? Well, did they ever? I think the way that they turned the ship around was taking a note from ABC the Golden Bachelor and now getting older couples involved. So, there’s two older couples who are over

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45. Is that considered older? Because I’m freaking over 45. There’s older couples involved, which I

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New Format and Couples on the Show

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am so here for. And additionally, there’s younger couples as well. But I love that the older couples can kind of um at a maturity level bring a seriousness, make it not so catty, make it not so viral, if you will.

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I’m excited for what they’re bringing, even though I do not think that the matches made with the older couples are going to ultimately work out. Let’s get into it. Let’s get into it. Josh and Jaylen are giving me life. I think that

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they are an amazing couple. He owns a roofing company and basically, you know, built it from nothing. She’s a realtor who seems fun, funloving. They both seem to be in it for the right reasons and they have an instant connection. The other thing I’m really excited about is

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like all these couples have already had sex. Oftentimes there’s people who wait and you can tell they’re just not into each other. People who, you know, don’t want to get physical at all. They don’t even want to touch the other person or they’re using physical touch as like a power play.

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I love that all these couples just got real real. Uh, let’s move to the next couple, Patrick and Rhonda. So, Patrick has been married before, as has Rhonda. She has like all these amazing kids, four amazing kids who love her. She’s over the top. She, I think, is going to

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turn out to be a pretty difficult personality. And he seems to be loving her funloving nature right now. But ultimately, I think it’s going to rub Pat the wrong way to be with somebody so gregarious, so out there, so in your face. I think it’s not going to last. Now, let’s talk about Derek and Megan.

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So, Megan is in her late 30s. They both are. She uh is a realtor. She works with her family in some ways. Her mom is very overbearing and she’s had a lot of work done. Megan She seems like maybe our past

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contestants where she might be into the viral situation. She may just want to get Instagram followers. I’m not sure what this is leading to. Then Derek is an entrepreneur, an e-commerce professional he calls himself. And again, he seems like the kind of person who’s just in it for the followers, for

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the visibility. I’m questioning their motives, but I think that they’re a perfect fit. And they’re both 38. Not to say that age should force somebody together, but the clock is ticking, especially in Texas. You know, 38 in New

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York City is the new 28. 38 in Texas, I have a feeling, is 48, but I don’t know. I don’t live in Texas, so you guys can you guys can let me know. Now, let’s talk about Chad and Belinda. This was the jawdropper. This I did not see coming because I don’t like to Google ahead for spoilers. Belinda is

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Jacqueline’s mom of Josh and Jacqueline and she has been set up with Chad who has been married three times previously. Whereas Belinda got married to like her teenage sweetheart. Chad seems very protective, very doing.

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Belinda’s funloving and seems very easygoing. I don’t think they’re going to work out. Chad’s been married three times before and it’s crashed and burned. She was married once and had a very difficult marriage with lots of infidelity. I think his marital history is going to

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feel like instability for her. He seems, even though he’s in his early 50s or whatever, he seems like he’s 65, but she is only 47 and she seems like she’s 65. I don’t know. I’m not seeing them lasting, but I love that they’ve infused

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older couples with marital experience in this show. I think it’s fascinating. I think it’s really going to take the show in a new direction. Now, let’s talk about another couple who I can’t believe they were ever matched. What were the experts thinking? Will and Britney. Britney’s 29. Will’s 30.

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Will. And this has been my problem with the show for a while. then picking guys who are obviously closed off, hard-headed, and uh not open to exploring their feelings. Like, when you pick a guy like that and

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thrust him onto a show where you have to immediately lay everything bare, where you’re so vulnerable, where you’ve just married this person, you have to pick somebody who’s going to be somewhat malleable, somewhat flexible. And so I just think that they really picked the

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wrong man and she’s immediately feeling skeptical and I don’t blame her. This is not going to work out. Well guys, I want you to explore for yourself. I want you to let me know what you think. I cannot

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wait to talk all about this show on future podcasts. Speaking of, we have another podcast dropping later this week

29:25 Closing Remarks and Future Episodes
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and then of course next week a fresh new episode. So stay tuned and I’ll talk to you soon. Bye. 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,

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your trusted source for expert interior design. Visit uploft.com to explore our services and book a consultation with one of our talented designers. If you’re enjoying the Uplift and Tear Design

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podcast, please support us by sharing the show with friends and leaving a five-star review on Apple Podcasts or 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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