Onesie Funsie, Linen Drapes, & Netflix's "Sean Combs: The Reckoning"
In this episode of the Uploft Interior Design Podcast, I find myself recording from my cozy cottage in my favorite onesie, balancing the chaos of family life and my design work. I kick things off by encouraging listeners to add a comfortable onesie to their holiday wish lists, sharing my personal preferences for the perfect design. 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 Betsy Helmouth. I was really hoping I actually thought, you know, I’ve been doing this podcast for what, 10 years, and I have done it
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in my jammies on camera one time. I thought that’d be an anomaly. I thought it’d be a fun little sleepover thing to do. What a what a funny little strange happen stance. It might become the new thing. And not because I’m enjoying it. If you guys are watching on YouTube,
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you’re seeing me in my favorite onesie, a number one. Yeah. Uh, and it’s just because life happens. I have to have an episode for tomorrow and my husband’s away for work. I have three kids. I have a full-time job. I have clients who have presentations that are due. And I’m
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writing a memoir. And I was on a roll this weekend and got two chapters squared away. I am yeah illprepared for Tuesday’s show which means I crawl out to my cottage in the dark of night and we live on a dark property around our house well lit. Everything’s great. The cottage is way
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in the back down a little trail which used to have lights. I don’t know if a circuit blew or what, but it is pitch black. It is me and the wolves and the turkeys and the cottage and I’m here for you. And my daughter’s like, “Where are you going, mommy? I know. Don’t ask. But
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I have to come here to solve your design dilemmas.” I said, “Eden, I have purpose. I need to be there for my listeners. They need fresh content. What are they going to listen to while they have their morning coffee? I’m here for you.” Okay. Now, before I dig in to both the
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listener mailbag and then also, you know, I’ve got to talk about it. Netflix’s Shan Combmes The Reckoning documentary is what we’re covering in the second half today. Mind blown. But when you are creating your holiday list this season, when your friends and family are asking what they
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should get you for Hanukkah, Quanza, Christmas, you need to say a onesie. Now
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Holiday Wishlist: The Perfect Onesie
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you’re asking yourself, Betsy, you make it look so comfortable. Betsy, you’ve told us that this is basically your house uniform. What should we be looking for? I am very particular. I don’t like them to be too thick because then it’s overly hot, but I do like them to be a polar fleece
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material. I don’t like them to have feet or hoods because when I’m leaning back against my headboard, watching my shows, designing for my clients, I don’t like the scrunched up fabric back there. And I really never need that hood. And who needs feet? If you need feet, wear socks.
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Yeah. And then the other thing, it absolutely must have must have pockets because as I’m walking around the house, I’m gathering things, right? People are leaving things all around. It’s driving me crazy. My patience this holiday season is getting less and less because I’m still finding
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Halloween candy wrappers tucked in our upholstered furniture. Anyway, I’m in my cottage. Everything is in. Okay, but that’s what you need to be looking for when you put it on your holiday wish list. And my favorite onesies used to be available on Amazon.
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I would have happily shared that link with you here and instead they’re gone. I don’t know if tariffs or whatever took them away from my life, but this one and its red twin are the last two of the GradeA 10star onesies. Okay, now before we talk about Sean P.
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Listener Mailbag: Courtney’s Window Treatment Dilemma
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Diddy Combmes, which we must do, and I never thought I’d say that sentence in my life. I am not a fan. Now that I’ve watched the documentary, I’m really not a fan. But I am a fan of you and your questions. So, here’s what I need from you. I need you to write me some
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questions. I need you to go to uploft.com/mpodcast. That’s right, uploft.com/mpodcast. And there you’ll see a form. You just fill it out and you ask me your design question. I know that you’re working on something. Whether it’s for the holiday season or you want to make fresh start
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in the new year and have a new space that sets you up for your new goals. Well, I’m here for you. I have answers, free design advice. How many of you guys have thought, “Oh, I wish I could hire a designer.” Well, you don’t have to. This designer is sitting right here in her
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onesie waiting for questions to come in, and the mailbag is low this holiday season, which is surprising. Typically this time of year it is brimmming. So if you want to take advantage of the sales that are happening right now, send me a question and it’ll probably get
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answered before January. And you know, I used to say on this podcast, if you go back, listen to the archives, I used to say January and July are the best months for home sales because that’s when the inventory is switching over for the next season. That used to be a very accurate
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statement. What I have been noticing ever since I don’t know it’s been two or three well you know what it’s been since co since co I have noticed that prices are going up in January once the holiday season is over I swear was it last year the year before Pottery Barn raised
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their prices by like 20% and it felt like it was overnight from the lists I created right before Christmas to then when I was doing the presentations right after New Year’s, those prices were so much higher. Do not let that happen to you. Ask me your questions and start shopping. Now,
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I will tell you, somebody has taken my advice and I’m so glad to see it because Courtney has written all the way from Jeffersonville, Vermont, and she says, “Hi, Betsy. I adore your podcast and I heard in a recent episode that your mailbag is empty. I have been
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considering sending in my dilemma for a while now. I have no idea what to do with the window treatments in my living room/playroom. We live in a historical home from the 1800s and our style is cozy transitional. This room looks tidyish enough today, but often it’s filled with
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toys which I keep in the built-in cabinets. Many of the features of this room are new to the space. So, the only major aspect we’re ready to change right now are the window treatments, unless you see a major issue. Currently, we have natural linen looking drapes. I
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thought this was a safe safe choice, but I can’t stand the way they look. I loved the curtain rods photographed at first, except they extend almost 4 in off the wall, which creates a gap I cannot unsee. Help. Should I do different rods, different curtains, Roman shades, a
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pattern? I can’t figure it out. This room gets very poor light with the southside windows having a porch overhead, and the north side has a not so great view of a weedy hill. We do occasionally pull the drape shut on the back wall, large window when the sun
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peaks in during the afternoon. What do you think? I’d love your feedback. Disclaimer, these photos do not show a chair we’ve positioned across slashdiagonal from the couch, and the built-ins are a work in progress. Yes, the TV cords will be covered soon. Haha,
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the coloring of the photos don’t do it justice, but the walls are Grant Beige and White Dove by Benjamin Moore. The dog bed is living there temporarily to make room for our Christmas tree in another room. Thanks, Courtney. Well, let me describe the images for people who are listening.
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So, yes, you do have linen drapes
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Design Advice for Historical Homes
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against sort of this light colored wall that almost feels like it’s the same tone. I’m looking around the room and what I’m thinking to myself is a few things. First of all, I love a historical home. So, as I look in this space, I am seeing the first thing I
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notice are these beautiful beams across the ceiling. H, you had me at beams. I love a historical house. I love New England. And this is just making me feel so cozy. Love it. I mean, I’m here in Connecticut. It’s got a very similar vibe. Now, you’re really hating on these drapes.
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I’m looking throughout the room to see if there’s any other thoughts I have. I mean, I really like that you layered the rugs. So, you’ve got a cy rug with a wool rug over top. You’ve got a nice green sectional with a square leather ottoman/coff table that I’m sure you can
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put a tray on if you want to have drinks. Your in tables are unusual. They’re both round. One of them is like 30 in in diameter round, whereas the other is a more appropriate perhaps like 18. I really love that you’ve put the in table lamp on a stack of books.
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That is so cute and is just adding to the cozy charm that you mentioned. But that really big 30in end table. Ouch. I mean, unless this is some kind of distortion from a wide-angle lens, it is not working out for me. And if I was going to have two round white in tables,
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they would have to match. If you’re going to have two in tables that don’t match, whether it’s a nightstand or a living room, they have to look very different because otherwise it just looks like twins and one of them like didn’t get the memo that they need to match, right?
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I It’s just odd rather than cool and unique. Now, the problem that you’re having with this room is not a problem I’m completely having. I like the linen. In fact, I just did a Tik Tok that should be releasing anytime in the next week or so about linen drapes. I love linen drapes.
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I love the off-white. I love the translucency. I love the texture, but there’s a couple things I don’t love about this scenario here. The first is that they are too similar in tone to your wall color. So, they’re really not doing anything. They’re not really
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creating any contrast, even in texture, because they almost seem to get lost against these creamy walls. The other thing that’s bothering me is you did not take my advice. Have you read my book? And gone with the grommet top panel. You went with a rod pocket, so there’s lots
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of gathered fabric at the top that prevents these drapes from really squishing all the way to the side like I would prefer. So, first things first, get grommet top. Second thing is I think it’s a missed opportunity for color in here and I would have used it for a
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splash of color because I do like the neutral wall color with the architecture. My recommendation is to pull out some of the blue from the rug. So, your rug features greens, blues, beiges, creams, and we’ve already got a very big green sectional. So, I think we wouldn’t want
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to try and replicate that green on the drapes without it feeling like too strong of a dose. I really like the idea of bringing in this powder blue. I think the navy from the rug might make things too dark because you say there’s already a problem with natural light in this
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space. But when you get those grommet panels in the blue, you’ll find that you’ll be able to scoot them over to the side a bit more and they’re adding a splash of color and doing something for the room. I am okay with the idea of doing a pattern. However, there’s a lot going on in this
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room from the sectional with all of its pillows to the built-in which covers an entire wall and seems to be relatively full with books and chachkis and pictures. And of course, if you’re going to have all those beautiful shelves, I would like them to be utilized. So, I’m
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not upset that it’s full, but I just don’t think we need a lot more visual clutter in this space. And I’m worried that incorporating a pattern that’s too lively or has too much contrast could push us down that road. My advice, probably a solid or a very subdued pattern, very subdued.
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Other advice I would give you in this room, you have a large mirror above the sofa and it’s really cool. It’s got sort of like this ornate decorative carving on the sides and then it’s got like this very big wooden wreath on top of this mirror that almost has like a beautiful
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ivory magnolia flower on the top. Guys, if you are following along on the podcast but not watching us on YouTube, you are missing out. Not only are you seeing me, are you not seeing me, excuse me, on this beautiful Monday evening in my onesie, you’re also not seeing this
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very interesting mirror. You’re also not seeing the fact, full disclosure, that my amazing teen girl convinced me to do press on nails. I was having so much fun. They looked so great. It took me 5 minutes to do them, and now I cannot get one of them off. So,
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yeah, that’s a thing that you’re seeing on YouTube. Betsy has one very beautiful manicured nail and the others are coated with dried glue. Wow. People ask about the life of a designer. Am I always stylish? Am I always sophisticated? Yes. Yes, I am.
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All right, Courtney. I hope that helped. I really want you to write in and let me know what you decide to do with this space because it has a lot of charm architecturally and then with the furnishings that you’ve layered in. Now, we just need to polish, tidy some of
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that visual clutter, and send me some fresh pics so I can let you know what I see.
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Transitioning to Pop Culture: Sean Combs The Reckoning Doc
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All right, everyone. It’s the moment you’ve been waiting for. Kids, leave the room because we are about to discuss Shan Col’s The Reckoning on Netflix. I had no interest in watching this documentary, but I have a friend, a former work colleague, and we love
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reality TV. We love documentaries. We love true crime. So, she writes me and she says, “Betsy, have you seen The Diddy Dock?” And I’m like, “No, no, no, no.” And she’s like, “You got to watch it. It is so great.” Okay, if she says that, I’m going to watch it. And I do. I
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start watching it that very evening. The first two episodes are a total bore. It’s It’s got a lot going on, but it’s all about hiphop and the dynamics within the hip-hop world, which are interesting, but not enough to captivate me for four or five hours, which is the
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length of this series. So, you know, it’s interesting to learn more about Tupac and Biggie. It’s really interesting to learn about Biggie. I
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Revelations About Sean Combs and Bad Boy Records
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will say that that got very interesting, but for me, it was a little hard to follow initially. I have never had a fondness for Shawn Combmes, so I wasn’t really feeling any type of way about him. And you know, as they described his childhood with sort of a dad who was
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killed early in his life, but was also sort of a hustler and a gambler and then a mom who was putting him in all sorts of strange situations and kind of getting in all these relationships that were also tumultuous. It was just I wasn’t enjoying myself. It was, you
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know. Yeah. Okay. As the documentary went along, I was shocked when the allegations came rolling in, when people started coming forward. I had no idea what this man was doing. First of all, I had no idea how much he was scamming everybody who was under his record
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label, Bad Boy Records. I mean, people were not getting paid. In the contract, it was pretty clear that, you know, you’re going to get famous, but you will never see a dime. What? And people were signing these contracts and basically he was taking all the money. I mean, even when Biggie
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died, who was under Bad Boy Records, Shawn Colmes made Biggiey’s estate pay for his own funeral, even though Shawn Colmes was most likely somewhat um complicit or involved with Biggiey’s death. Not to mention Tupac’s death. I mean, after watching this documentary,
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I’m like, “Yeah, he did it all. He killed Biggie. He killed Tupac. He is guilty as charged. I couldn’t believe the um trail of violence and crime that all leads back to Shaun P. Diddy Combmes. Now, they interviewed some people from his world, like his assistant, which I
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thought was very compelling. They interviewed his girlfriend, Cassie, who I think we’ve all seen in the video where he’s beating her in the hotel. And the thing that was most fascinating to me is that they had all this behindthe-scenes footage of Diddy as he
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was being um charged with these crimes as things were coming to light because he was allowing people he was allowing a film crew to follow him around. I’m not sure what he was going to do with the footage and I’m not sure how he lost control of the footage so that these
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filmmakers namely 50 Cent who’s trying to sell P. Diddy down river got a hold of this footage and now used it against him. I mean there’s just a lot going on. And then now we all know that he was acquitted of the major charges and got off very light. But of course he threw a ton of
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money at these lawyers and you can buy your way out of trouble. We all know that if we just look at Donald Trump and some other unsavory characters that are out there right now. So, buying your way out of trouble is a real thing. And P. Diddy has been able to do that his
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entire life with other people’s hard-earned money, I must say. But where was I going with that? See, this is why you don’t podcast at 11:00 p.m. Okay. But, um, I don’t know where I was going with that. Anyway, I thought it was fascinating because you
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even saw his lawyers behind the scenes kind of talking about the situations, kind of sharing how dubious it was. And then, this is something I had not heard. I’d heard about the freakoffs. I’d heard about the baby oil. I’d heard about the trash hotel rooms. I’d heard about the
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domestic violence. I had not heard, and yes, I am going to use this as a verb, about him cosbeing people, about him giving people drugs to knock them out and then raping them, which is apparently what was going on in a pretty major way at his parties. And not only
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were these people unsuspecting women, unsuspecting reality show contestants from his show Making the Band, which was filming right down the street from me, I was actually dating one of the cameramen from the show, funnily enough. Um, so anyway, but
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then it turns out like some of his male friends, some of his male work colleagues were victims as well. And people are coming forward saying, “Yeah, I saw you passed out and I saw him and somebody else, you know, raping you.” What? What? And so, of course, he’s been
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acquitted of those major crimes. He has to do a little jail time for a couple of crimes, but he has 77 pending lawsuits against him. I hope this man never sees the light of day again. When you watch this documentary, it goes so much further than baby oil that I could not
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stop watching. So, the first two episodes I slogged through. The last two episodes I was like, I will stay up all night to finish this thing. What the heck is going on in this hiphop universe? And one of the things that was extra shocking, I remembered that
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thought that had slipped my mind was that they interviewed two jurors. Now, I really would have liked more of a pool of the jurors because these two that they picked were Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs. The first woman was obviously a raving fan of Diddy’s. I mean, she listened to
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him when she was little. He was a major influence in her upbringing in terms of everybody in her click was listening to him. She bought every album. She was watching him on TV. and he was actually, even though this is not supposed to happen, uh he was sort of looking back
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at the jury, making faces to the jury to kind of get them on his side to kind of curry favor andor charm them. Then one of the other jurors, it was repulsive. it was a man who was talking about the situation and being like, you know, um, this woman stayed in the relationship,
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so the sexual assaults and the domestic violence couldn’t have been that bad. If you stay, is it really a problem? What? Like, do we have no emotional intelligence? Have we not learned over the years that these abusive relationships are so difficult to leave
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and try layering on power, fame, money on top of an already very complex, very toxic situation. What it just made me very concerned about the jury pool.
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Final Thoughts on the Documentary and Its Implications
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And if these are two representatives, I would hate to see the other 10 or however many because it was shocking the things that they were saying on camera about how they were feeling as they were assessing whether or not he was guilty of these charges.
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Long story short, I highly recommend this watch because it shows you there is still so much work to do around people in power with money in the showbiz industry. Whether it’s Harvey Weinstein, whether it’s Bill Cosby, or whether it’s Shawn Colmes, this stuff
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isn’t stuff of only the past. This is happening now. How many stars and celebrities and producers and other people in power maybe in corporate environments are doing these atrocities and getting away with it because they have money and connections. Oh my gosh.
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Because the other thing you realize is that everybody in his crew knew. How could you not know? They’re walking by the door where these people are getting, you know, assaulted and they’re not saying anything and somebody Diddy’s bodyguard or somebody is being like,
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“Ah, it’s not what it looks like. You know, they’re consenting. It looks like they’re passed out, but they’re not.” Blah blah blah. I mean, I just couldn’t believe it. Um, so yeah, I hope that Shawn and all of his brands fall like dominoes under the
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weight of not only this documentary, but the pending court cases that I hope all go in favor of the plaintiffs because this guy is truly a monster. And even if he’s only done a fraction of the things that were outlined in the documentary, it’s insane.
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So, it was very entertaining. It was very eye opening. I learned a lot about the hiphop industry in general with the east side versus the west side and all of that. Um, so that was educational. But if you have four to five hours to kill that, pun intended. Oh my gosh, pun
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intended. That’s one way to do it. All right, guys. I get jazzed over over good
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Closing Remarks and Recommendations
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TV, excellent documentaries. If you have a recommendation, something you think I should watch, well, head over to uploft.com/mpodcast. Of course, you can send me your design questions, but I would also love some watch recommendations and some read
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recommendations cuz I’ve got some books coming up that I think are going to be pretty mind-blowing, too. Well, everyone, have a great holiday season. Be sure to send me your questions. And until next week, and maybe another onesie. Bye. A big thanks to our producer Jeremy
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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 design. Visit uploft.com to explore our services and book a consultation with one of our talented designers. If you’re
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enjoying the Uplift Interior Design 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
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week with more pro tips and pop culture dish.
Links:
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